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  1. Home/
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  3. Unstructured Data Engineer/
  4. Cincinnati

Unstructured Data Engineer.

Cincinnati.

$135,000

median salary, 11% below the national average

$102,000 to $178,000. Last updated April 2026.

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Data points to own the conversation.

Cincinnati is 10% cheaper than the national average. For Unstructured Data Engineers, that shakes out to a median of $135,000, with the full range spanning $102,000 to $178,000. Unstructured data engineers specialize in processing text, images, audio, and video at scale for AI applications. Know the range before you walk in.

Salary range

25th Percentile

$102,000

per year

Median

$135,000

per year

75th Percentile

$178,000

per year

Where do you fall?

$102,000$178,000

Salary by experience

The gap between entry and lead level is typically $121,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.

Entry (0-2 yrs)

$88,000

to $108,000

Mid (3-5 yrs)

$115,000

to $142,000

Senior (6-9 yrs)

$149,000

to $176,000

Lead (10+ yrs)

$169,000

to $209,000

Salary trend

+4% YoY
$115,000
2022
$120,000
2023
$125,000
2024
$130,000
2025
$135,000
2026

Total compensation

Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $28,000 to the total package.

Base

$135,000

Equity

$15,000

Bonus

$10,000

Signing

$3,000

Estimated total: $163,000

How Cincinnati compares

Cincinnati, OH

$135,000

Cost of living: 10% below average

National Average

$152,000

Cincinnati is $17,000 below

Unstructured Data Engineer salary by city

Unstructured Data Engineer salary comparison across 10 cities
CityMedianRangeCOLAdjusted
San Jose, CA$212,000$160,000 – $279,0001.38x$154,000
San Francisco, CA$201,000$152,000 – $265,0001.35x$149,000
Honolulu, HI$200,000$151,000 – $263,0001.30x$154,000
New York, NY$198,000$150,000 – $261,0001.28x$155,000
Arlington, VA$193,000$146,000 – $254,0001.22x$158,000
Washington DC, DC$190,000$144,000 – $250,0001.25x$152,000
Boston, MA$187,000$142,000 – $246,0001.22x$153,000
Seattle, WA$185,000$140,000 – $243,0001.24x$149,000
San Diego, CA$183,000$139,000 – $241,0001.17x$156,000
Cincinnati, OH$135,000$102,000 – $178,0000.90x$150,000

See all 83 cities for Unstructured Data Engineer →

Salary by role in Cincinnati

Salary comparison by role in Cincinnati
RoleMedianRange
Distinguished Engineer$300,000$227,000 – $382,000
Chief Data & AI Officer$276,000$206,000 – $360,000
Chief AI Officer$271,000$201,000 – $349,000
Unstructured Data Engineer$135,000$102,000 – $178,000
Program Manager$135,000$105,000 – $176,000
Model Registry Manager$135,000$102,000 – $178,000
AI Change Management Lead$135,000$102,000 – $180,000
AI Climate/Sustainability Specialist$135,000$100,000 – $180,000

What you should know

Here is what the Unstructured Data Engineer market actually looks like in Cincinnati. Cincinnati is home to Procter and Gamble, Kroger, and a growing fintech scene. The city's extremely affordable cost of living and strong corporate base create excellent purchasing power. The University of Cincinnati feeds a steady pipeline of engineering and business talent. Unstructured data engineers specialize in processing text, images, audio, and video at scale for AI applications. Salary is driven by the diversity of data types handled and the scale of processing pipelines. Engineers with experience in document parsing, OCR systems, and multimedia processing for LLM training earn 10 to 20% premiums over structured data specialists.

Junior unstructured data engineers earn $115,000 to $135,000. Engineers with 3 to 5 years of multimedia data pipeline experience reach $152,000 to $200,000. Senior engineers and platform leads earn $205,000 to $270,000, while staff engineers and directors of data processing infrastructure can command $280,000 to $360,000. In Cincinnati, 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. Tech companies offer equity of 15 to 25% of base salary with standard vesting schedules. Annual bonuses range from 10 to 15%. Some firms provide compute credits and tool budgets of $5,000 to $15,000 for experimenting with new unstructured data processing technologies. And on the tax side: ohio's income tax tops out around 3.5%. Cincinnati adds an earnings tax of 1.8%. The combined rate is moderate and the very low cost of living offsets it significantly. When someone quotes you $135,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.

On negotiation: Leverage P&G and Kroger benchmarks. These Fortune 500 companies set salary floors that ripple across all professional roles in the Cincinnati metro. The range for Unstructured Data Engineers in Cincinnati runs from $102,000 to $178,000. 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

Interactive

Is your offer competitive?

Enter your Unstructured Data Engineer offer to see where you stand in Cincinnati.

$

25th

$102,000

Median

$135,000

75th

$178,000

Considering a related role?

  • A AI Auditor in Cincinnati earns $136,000 (1% more)
  • The highest-paying role in Cincinnati is Distinguished Engineer at $300,000

Common questions.

LLM training requires massive volumes of processed text, code, and multimedia data, driving demand for unstructured data engineers up by 30 to 45% since 2024. Engineers who can build scalable web crawling, document parsing, and data cleaning pipelines are especially valuable to AI companies.

Experience with Apache Tika, Tesseract OCR, ffmpeg for multimedia, and custom NLP preprocessing pipelines commands the highest pay. Engineers who combine these tools with distributed computing frameworks like Spark or Ray for processing at petabyte scale earn top-of-range salaries.

Ask about equity structure, vesting schedule, annual bonus targets, 401(k) match, health insurance premiums, PTO policy, and remote flexibility. Tech companies offer equity of 15 to 25% of base salary with standard vesting schedules. In Cincinnati's market, these extras can add $33,750 or more on top of the base salary.

Unstructured data engineers specialize in processing text, images, audio, and video at scale for AI applications. Salary is driven by the diversity of data types handled and the scale of processing pipelines. Engineers with experience in document parsing, OCR systems, and multimedia processing for LLM training earn 10 to 20% premiums over structured data specialists. In Cincinnati, these factors can push compensation from the 25th percentile of $102,000 to the 75th percentile of $178,000 or beyond.

Cincinnati is home to Procter and Gamble, Kroger, and a growing fintech scene. The city's extremely affordable cost of living and strong corporate base create excellent purchasing power. For Unstructured Data Engineers specifically, the median salary of $135,000 reflects that demand.

Remote work has compressed geographic salary premiums for Unstructured Data Engineers. Some Cincinnati employers offer location adjusted pay, while others maintain local rates to attract in office talent. In Cincinnati's moderate cost market, remote and local salaries are converging. The $102,000 to $178,000 range reflects both arrangements.

Cincinnati is home to Procter and Gamble, Kroger, and a growing fintech scene. The city's extremely affordable cost of living and strong corporate base create excellent purchasing power. For Unstructured Data Engineers specifically, unstructured data engineers specialize in processing text, images, audio, and video at scale for ai applications, which signals sustained demand. The current compensation range of $102,000 to $178,000 reflects a market that is competing for talent.

Unstructured Data Engineer salary in other cities

Austin$157,000
Atlanta$152,000
Anchorage$173,000
Albuquerque$131,000
Arlington$193,000
Albany$143,000

Other salaries in Cincinnati

Knowledge Graph Engineer$158,000
Licensed Practical Nurse$46,000
Logistics Coordinator$45,000
Legal Operations Manager$113,000

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Cite this data

Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.

"Unstructured Data Engineer Salary in Cincinnati, OH." Orbyt Salary Explorer, April 2026. https://www.orbytjobs.ai/salaries/unstructured-data-engineer/cincinnati

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