On-Device AI Engineer.
St. Louis.
$164,000
median salary, 6% below the national average
$124,000 to $213,000. Last updated April 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
A On-Device AI Engineer in St. Louis earns a median of $164,000 in 2026. That is 6% below the national average. The range runs from $124,000 to $213,000, and where you land depends on your experience, your skills, and how well you negotiate. Salary scales with expertise in model compression and deployment across diverse hardware targets.
Salary range
Where do you fall?
Salary by experience
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $147,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$107,000
to $131,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$139,000
to $172,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$180,000
to $213,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$205,000
to $254,000
Salary trend
+5% YoYTotal compensation
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $44,000 to the total package.
Base
$164,000
Equity
$25,000
Bonus
$16,000
Signing
$3,000
Estimated total: $208,000
How St. Louis compares
St. Louis, MO
$164,000
Cost of living: 10% below average
National Average
$175,000
St. Louis is $11,000 below
On-Device AI Engineer salary by city
Salary by role in St. Louis
What you should know
Here is what the On-Device AI Engineer market actually looks like in St. Louis. St. Louis offers one of the most affordable major metro areas in the country, with a strong base in healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing. The region's anchor employers include Boeing, Centene, and Washington University's medical campus. A growing biotech and plant sciences corridor centered on the Cortex Innovation District is attracting new investment and talent. Salary scales with expertise in model compression and deployment across diverse hardware targets. Engineers optimizing transformer models for mobile NPUs and edge TPUs earn premiums. Experience with Apple CoreML, Qualcomm AI Engine, or MediaTek NeuroPilot adds 10% to 18% over generalist ML engineers.
Junior on-device AI engineers start around $132,000 porting models to mobile frameworks. Mid-level engineers designing custom on-device inference pipelines earn $173,000 to $198,000. Senior engineers leading edge AI strategy for product lines reach $228,000 to $280,000. In St. Louis, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Device manufacturers offer RSU grants vesting over four years with annual refreshers. Annual bonuses of 12% to 18% are standard, with patent bonuses of $5,000 to $15,000 per filing common at hardware companies. And on the tax side: missouri's top income tax rate is about 4.8%, and St. Louis City adds a 1% earnings tax. The low base cost of living means your after tax salary still stretches further than in most metros. When someone quotes you $164,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Emphasize your willingness to work in person at Cortex or the BJC campus. St. Louis employers offer higher packages for candidates who commit to the local innovation hubs. The range for On-Device AI Engineers in St. Louis runs from $124,000 to $213,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: SEC filings, H-1B LCA (DOL), BLS OES, 50+ job posting platforms. COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified April 8, 2026. Full methodology
Considering a related role?
- A AI Creative Director in St. Louis earns $165,000 (1% more)
- The highest-paying role in St. Louis is Chief AI Officer at $276,000
Common questions.
On-Device AI Engineer salary in other cities
Other salaries in St. Louis
Related
Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
Want this data on your site? Embed the salary widget — one script tag, free forever.