Fall 2026 Salary Benchmarks•Updated October 3, 2026
Tech & Knowledge Worker Salary Benchmarks (Fall 2026)
520 unique benchmarks across 26 disciplines and 20 metro areas, updated for Fall 2026. Powered by Vetta's 3-tier model (metro market, state benchmark, national baseline) with hyper-local postal code guidance and hard-gate salary filtering.
Highest Paying Roles
- AI Engineer$179,000
- Cloud Architect$176,000
- Customer Success Manager$166,000
- Machine Learning Engineer$162,080
- Research Scientist$162,080
Fastest Growing (3-Year Trend)
- Customer Success Manager+13.1%
- Machine Learning Engineer+12.4%
- Research Scientist+10%
- Data Scientist+9.5%
- AI Engineer+9.2%
Geographic Salary Premiums
+35%
San Jose, CA
+33%
San Francisco, CA
+24%
New York, NY
+20%
Washington D.C.
Browse by Role
Software Engineer
+7.2% trend
Senior Software Engineer
+6.5% trend
Machine Learning Engineer
+12.4% trend
AI Engineer
+9.2% trend
Product Manager
+6.5% trend
DevOps Engineer
+8.4% trend
QA Engineer
4.2% trend
Cloud Architect
+6% trend
Solutions Architect
5.8% trend
Database Administrator
4.5% trend
Data Scientist
+9.5% trend
Business Intelligence Analyst
4.8% trend
Security Analyst
5.2% trend
UX/UI Designer
5.5% trend
Financial Analyst
3.5% trend
Technical Program Manager
+6% trend
HR Business Partner
4% trend
Customer Success Manager
+13.1% trend
Operations Manager
5% trend
Digital Marketing Manager
+7% trend
Technical Writer
4.5% trend
Research Scientist
+10% trend
Network Engineer
4% trend
Systems Administrator
2.5% trend
Marketing Manager
4.5% trend
Sales Executive (Enterprise)
5.5% trend
Top Metro Areas Covered
Select a role above to see metro-specific compensation data.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley CA
New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ-PA
Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA-NH
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad CA
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin IL-IN-WI
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood CO
Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown TX
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta GA
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach FL
Raleigh-Durham-Cary NC
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia NC-SC
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler AZ
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MI
Salt Lake City UT