Staff data engineer salary

The median posted base pay for staff data engineering jobs is $234K a year, from 98 open jobs at 83 companies. The middle half of the jobs is from $196K to $252K. One job in ten has posted pay above $286K.

Data of Nov 9, 2026. This is posted base pay, not total pay. It does not include stock or a bonus.

Median posted base pay: $234K
Middle half of the jobs: $196K to $252K
10th to 90th percentile: $176K to $286K
Open jobs with posted pay: 98
Companies: 83

Data engineer pay by level

Posted base pay for data engineering jobs, by the level in the job title. This page is about the staff level. A level needs 20 or more jobs with posted pay.

Level not stated377 jobs$165K$137K to $208K
Senior324 jobs$180K$155K to $203K
Staff98 jobs$234K$196K to $252K
Principal26 jobs$223K$208K to $270K

Each band goes from the 10th to the 90th percentile. The darker part is the middle half of the jobs. The line is the median. This is posted base pay, not total pay.

Pay bands by level, data engineering. Posted base pay in US dollars for each year.
Level	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Jobs with pay
Level not stated	$115K	$137K	$165K	$208K	$246K	377
Senior	$139K	$155K	$180K	$203K	$226K	324
Staff	$176K	$196K	$234K	$252K	$286K	98
Principal	$187K	$208K	$223K	$270K	$304K	26

Staff data engineer pay by US region

The median posted base pay for staff data engineering jobs in each US region, compared with the median of all US jobs.

Bay Area38 jobs+2%$240K
Other US cities33 jobs+2%$240K
New York33 jobs+1%$238K
US remote22 jobs−1%$233K

The median posted base pay for staff data engineering in each US region, compared with the median of all US jobs ($235K). A job that lists two regions counts in each region. A region needs 20 or more jobs. This is posted base pay, not total pay.

Pay by region, staff data engineering. Posted base pay in US dollars for each year.
Region	Median posted base pay	Against the US median	Jobs with pay
Bay Area	$240K	+2%	38
Other US cities	$240K	+2%	33
New York	$238K	+1%	33
US remote	$233K	−1%	22
All US jobs	$235K	0%	89

Open jobs

Other levels

By place

Other job types

How we compute these numbers

We read each job from the job board of the company and check it every day. We use only open jobs that state a yearly pay range in US dollars. One job counts with the middle point of its posted range. The median is the middle value of these amounts: half of the jobs are above it and half are below it.

We do not use a range with a bottom below $15,000, a top above $1,000,000, or a top that is more than four times the bottom. A role page needs 20 or more open jobs with posted pay. In the bar chart, a company needs 5 or more jobs with posted pay.

The numbers are base pay as the company posted it. They are not the pay of a person, and they do not include stock, a bonus or benefits. For the stock and the bonus that people reported, see Reported pay.