Salaries in San Jose.
3,445 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 1.38x national average. Last updated June 2026.
3,445 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$502,000
Technical Fellow
Median of All Roles
$215,000
Aerospace Backend Engineer
Entry Level
$46,000
Home Health Aide
Salary data sourced from Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, H-1B Labor Condition Applications (DOL), state pay-transparency job postings, and community submissions. Ranges reflect 25th to 75th percentile for full-time positions. Cost-of-living adjustments use Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2025 index). Last updated June 2026.
San Jose, CA has a cost-of-living index of 1.38x the national average. The highest-paying role is Technical Fellow at $502,000, while the median across all 3,445 roles is $215,000. San Jose is the capital of Silicon Valley, home to Apple, Google, Adobe, and Cisco.
About the San Jose market
San Jose is the capital of Silicon Valley, home to Apple, Google, Adobe, and Cisco. The city consistently ranks among the highest paying metros in the country for technology roles. Competition for talent is fierce, with employers offering aggressive compensation packages including equity, signing bonuses, and premium benefits to attract and retain engineers.
Technology & SoftwareSemiconductorsArtificial IntelligenceNetworking & HardwareClean Energy
Top 50 salaries in San Jose
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Technical Fellow | $502,000 | $392,000 – $653,000 |
| 2 | Principal Quantitative Researcher | $483,000 | $377,000 – $628,000 |
| 3 | Principal AI Research Scientist | $464,000 | $362,000 – $603,000 |
| 4 | Principal AI Agent Architect | $461,000 | $360,000 – $598,000 |
| 5 | Distinguished Engineer | $451,000 | $342,000 – $574,000 |
| 6 | Senior VP of Security | $450,000 | $352,000 – $586,000 |
| 7 | Principal AI Compiler Engineer | $448,000 | $350,000 – $583,000 |
| 8 | SVP of Product | $445,000 | $347,000 – $578,000 |
| 9 | L7 Software Engineer | $445,000 | $347,000 – $578,000 |
| 10 | Chief Security Officer | $442,000 | $344,000 – $574,000 |
| 11 | Senior VP of Product | $441,000 | $344,000 – $574,000 |
| 12 | Principal Cryptographer | $439,000 | $343,000 – $571,000 |
| 13 | SVP of Technology | $439,000 | $343,000 – $571,000 |
| 14 | Principal AI Agent Engineer | $435,000 | $340,000 – $566,000 |
| 15 | Chief Science Officer | $432,000 | $337,000 – $562,000 |
| 16 | Principal AI Safety Engineer | $429,000 | $335,000 – $558,000 |
| 17 | Principal Computer Vision Engineer | $428,000 | $333,000 – $555,000 |
| 18 | Principal LLM Engineer | $428,000 | $333,000 – $555,000 |
| 19 | Chief Strategy Officer | $428,000 | $334,000 – $556,000 |
| 20 | Staff Quantitative Researcher | $424,000 | $331,000 – $551,000 |
| 21 | Principal Deep Learning Engineer | $422,000 | $329,000 – $549,000 |
| 22 | Chief Legal Officer | $422,000 | $329,000 – $549,000 |
| 23 | SVP of Strategy | $422,000 | $329,000 – $549,000 |
| 24 | Chief AI Officer | $419,000 | $311,000 – $541,000 |
| 25 | Principal AI Engineer | $419,000 | $327,000 – $545,000 |
| 26 | Principal Quantitative Developer | $417,000 | $326,000 – $543,000 |
| 27 | SVP of Finance | $416,000 | $324,000 – $541,000 |
| 28 | Staff AI Research Scientist | $415,000 | $324,000 – $539,000 |
| 29 | Principal Kernel Engineer | $415,000 | $323,000 – $539,000 |
| 30 | Senior VP of Design | $415,000 | $325,000 – $540,000 |
| 31 | Principal Applied Scientist | $414,000 | $323,000 – $538,000 |
| 32 | Chief Technology Officer | $412,000 | $306,000 – $540,000 |
| 33 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $411,000 | $307,000 – $537,000 |
| 34 | Principal Machine Learning Engineer | $411,000 | $320,000 – $533,000 |
| 35 | SVP of Engineering | $411,000 | $321,000 – $534,000 |
| 36 | Principal Quantitative Analyst | $411,000 | $320,000 – $533,000 |
| 37 | VP of AI Research | $408,000 | $318,000 – $531,000 |
| 38 | Chief Growth Officer | $408,000 | $318,000 – $531,000 |
| 39 | Principal Distributed Systems Engineer | $407,000 | $317,000 – $528,000 |
| 40 | Senior Head of Security | $407,000 | $318,000 – $529,000 |
| 41 | Lead High-Frequency Trading Engineer | $406,000 | $317,000 – $527,000 |
| 42 | Senior Director of Security | $405,000 | $316,000 – $525,000 |
| 43 | VP of AI | $404,000 | $307,000 – $530,000 |
| 44 | Chief Design Officer | $403,000 | $314,000 – $525,000 |
| 45 | Principal AI Platform Engineer | $402,000 | $313,000 – $522,000 |
| 46 | Chief Machine Learning Officer | $402,000 | $313,000 – $522,000 |
| 47 | CTO | $402,000 | $313,000 – $522,000 |
| 48 | SVP of Sales | $402,000 | $313,000 – $522,000 |
| 49 | SVP of Operations | $402,000 | $313,000 – $522,000 |
| 50 | Chief Platform Officer | $402,000 | $313,000 – $522,000 |
Tax considerations
California's top 13.3% state rate applies fully here. While gross salaries in San Jose are among the nation's highest, the tax burden means net pay may not stretch as far as expected.
Negotiating in San Jose
Always negotiate equity alongside base salary. San Jose employers expect candidates to evaluate total compensation including RSUs, and leaving equity on the table is leaving money behind.
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