A recent study has highlighted the top skills and states that offer the highest salary increases in artificial intelligence (AI). Proficiency in programming languages like Rust or Golang can elevate expected salaries by $20,000-$30,000, with California and Washington offering the highest average pay for AI specialists.
Conducted by content operations software StoryChief.io, the research analyzed 12,634 US job listings on Glassdoor mentioning AI and providing salary details up to March 8th, 2024.
The study identified key requirements such as skills, education levels, and experience across these job openings. It assessed the salary impact of these keywords based on location, revealing that some keywords, while not directly diminishing pay, are linked to lower average salaries.
The findings show that programming skills in Rust lead to the highest salary boost, with an average increase of $29,480. Knowledge of Go (Golang) can add $21,080 to salaries. Other valuable skills include deep learning, Python, PyTorch, Scala, JavaScript, and NLP.
Conversely, job listings mentioning certain skills, such as MATLAB, Keras, and clustering, are often associated with salaries about $8,826-$12,990 below the average.
California has the highest salaries for AI jobs, averaging $150,110 per year. Surprisingly, the second best-paying state for AI specialists is Washington, where average AI salaries are not far off Californian levels. People working in the AI field in Washington state can expect to earn $143,570 per annum.
Storychief.io’s model has found that the average salary in America for AI jobs is $101,816. Washington DC and another 19 states have a salary above the national level. Alaska, West Virginia and North Dakota have the lowest-paying AI jobs.
The highest concentration of AI jobs is in Washington state (841), California (830), New York state (826), Washington DC (763), Massachusetts (735) and Texas (718). Not all of these necessarily have the highest pay levels. States with the scarcest AI vacancies include Wyoming (8), West Virginia (10), South Dakota (13), Idaho (18) and Vermont (18).
Having over 15 years of relevant experience gives AI jobs the biggest salary bump, estimated at $56,790. Experience in the AI field ranging from ten up to 15 years is worth an extra $41,430 above average. Applicants with five to ten years’ worth of relevant experience should expect a $19,700 salary increase compared to their state average. Those with less than five years’ experience in AI can expect to see a salary below average. Even one year’s experience, up to five, generally sees openings that are around $2,086 below the state average.
AI job listings that mention a bachelor’s degree as a requirement tend to pay $8,756 less than average. Having a master’s degree earns AI specialists an extra $1,534 per year, while PhDs tend to boost average salaries by $3,951.
Valeri Potchekailov, CEO of StoryChief.io, commented on the findings: “While having relevant experience is the clearest factor dictating pay, it is unfair on younger talent keen to see their abilities rewarded appropriately. We sought to identify AI-related skills that could be mastered quickly, resulting in higher pay.
“Surprisingly, even the highest level of education is currently valued about 7.5 times less than knowing how to code in Rust, for example. AI is an incredibly fast-paced environment. While higher education is always valuable, the fact that employers appreciate certain specific skills sometimes more than having a particular degree evens out the playing field for those who cannot access higher education or have limited experience. This is refreshing news and opens the door to AI enthusiasts from all walks of life.
“Our salary estimate model allows you to combine various factors to have a better understanding of what pay one could expect. For example, someone in a relatively rich state, like Florida, with a relevant bachelor’s degree and three years’ experience in AI, who can code in Golang, Python and JavaScript finds a job requiring all of the above and no other factors mentioned in this study. To estimate their salary, they should start from the state’s average AI salary, which is $93,859 in Florida, and add or subtract how much the other factors are worth: add $21,080 for Golang, $13,100 –for Python, $5,952 – for JavaScript; subtract $8,756 for having less than five years’ experience. Their final salary estimate is thus $125,235.
“While the skills we analyzed are geographically weighted based on how much employers in each state value them, an identical job listing in a state with better AI salaries is still a useful fact to know, especially when someone is not tied down geographically, or the job is largely remote.
“We hope our findings encourage those who are passionate about AI and have a knack for coding to be more confident and make more informed choices when looking for a job in AI.”
The study was carried out by StoryChief.io, a leading content marketing platform specializing in centralized collaborative content creation, distribution and metrics.
