Salary
STEM Salary Guide by Role
Typical US base-pay bands for twenty STEM roles, how metro and level shift them, and how to use published ranges when you negotiate.
Updated · 7 min read
Pay for the same STEM title varies more by employer and metro than by your own negotiation. Before you argue a number, you need the band for the role, the local multiplier, and — where the employer publishes one — the actual posted range.
What moves the number
- Level. The gap between entry and senior in the same title is usually larger than the gap between two different titles at the same level.
- Metro. Bay Area and Seattle sit well above the national band; most of the South and Midwest sit slightly below. Remote roles are often anchored to a national band rather than your city.
- Employer type. Funded startups pay in equity-heavy mixes; large public companies pay flatter cash with structured bands; government and defense contractors trade pay for stability and clearance value.
- Pay transparency laws. Employers in states such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington must publish ranges, which is why salary data skews toward those markets.
Bands by role
Each role page below shows the national band plus live median pay computed from the postings currently in the index that publish a range, and each has city-level pages for the metros where the role hires most.
Using a range in a negotiation
- Find the posted range if the employer publishes one; that is the strongest anchor available and it is public information.
- Position yourself against the middle of the band, not the top, unless you match every stated requirement including the nice-to-haves.
- Ask for the level and band, not just the number — the level determines your next two raises.
- Get the full package in writing: base, bonus target, equity grant with vesting, and sign-on. A high base with no equity can lose to a lower base at a company that grants meaningfully.