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Machine Learning Developer Salary in San Francisco Bay Area 2026
How much does a Machine Learning developer expect to make at San Francisco Bay Area-based startups? The average expected salary for Machine Learning developers in San Francisco Bay Area-based startups is 155k per year, with a range from 65k to 275k. These amounts were gathered from Wellfound self-reported data and represent the median salary range. The salary range for Machine Learning developers in San Francisco Bay Area startups varies depending on factors such as industry, experience, and startup stage.
154.5k
Average Salary
4 years
Average years of experience
Salary
The average salary for a Machine Learning developer in San Francisco Bay Area is$154,514, which is 21.3% higher than the average San Francisco Bay Area startup salary of $127,375. Machine Learning developer salaries in San Francisco Bay Area are based on exclusive Wellfound data. All data is updated on a weekly basis. Factors that may influence salary include: years of experience, title, size of company, skill-set, and industry.
Top of market
$228,212/yr
Range $160k - $275k
Average
$154,514/yr
Range $105k - $200k
Below Average
$115,458/yr
Range $65k - $160k
Industries
The highest average salary a Machine Learning developer in San Francisco Bay Area can get in B2B, that is $215,000. This pay is 8.3% higher than the average Machine Learning developer salary, which is $198,500. The highest-paying industries in 2023 are: B2B (avg $215,000 per year), Big Data Analytics (avg $200,000 per year), Consumer Electronics (avg $200,000 per year).
Tech Stack
Top Tech Stacks
The top-paying developer skills of 2026 are:
1. Airflow
$260k
2. C
$235k
3. C++
$200k
4. openAI
$200k
5. Ruby
$175k
6. Java
$170k
7. Nest.Js
$170k
8. SQL
$170k
9. TypeScript
$170k
10. Kafka
$170k
Years of experience
Below Average
Average
Top of Market
The highest average salary Machine Learning developer in San Francisco Bay Area can get with 10+ years of experience, that is $200,000. This pay is 57.0% higher than the average salary in San Francisco Bay Area startups, which is $127,375. The salary range varies with years of experience and depends on other factors such as skill set, size of company, and industry.
Popular roles in San Francisco Bay Area
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