Research Associate and Lab Technician salary: $132K median
The median advertised Research Associate and Lab Technician salary is $132K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $108K to $164K: counted from 212 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $64 an hour or $11,021 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $191K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll research associate and lab technician jobs
$132Kmedian advertised salary
$108K – $164Kmiddle half of roles
$137Kaverage advertised salary
212roles counted
Research Associate and Lab Technician salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $180K, 24% more than senior roles ($145K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $145K | $115K–$160K | 65 |
| Lead and above | $180K | $156K–$191K | 43 |
| No level in the title | $108K | $95K–$135K | 95 |
Research Associate and Lab Technician salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸Boston, MA | $138K | 41 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $130K | 197 |
| 🇺🇸California | $130K | 73 |
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $108K | 33 |
Skills that pay more for Research Associate and Lab Technician roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine Learning | $151K | +$19K | 30 |
| Python | $144K | +$12K | 52 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Astera | $225K | 3 |
| Nautilus Biotechnology | $192K | 4 |
| Immunome, Inc. | $183K | 3 |
| Praxis Precision Medicines | $180K | 4 |
| Vaxcyte | $164K | 5 |
| Lila Sciences | $163K | 9 |
| Glyphic Biotechnologies | $156K | 5 |
| Altos Labs | $156K | 3 |
| Asimov | $155K | 5 |
| Generate Biomedicines | $150K | 8 |
| GRVTY | $146K | 5 |
| Basecamp Research | $138K | 3 |
| Alamar Biosciences | $130K | 5 |
| Neko Health | $128K | 3 |
| Precision Medicine Group | $126K | 5 |
| Precision for Medicine | $126K | 5 |
| Biohub | $126K | 3 |
| Tempus | $114K | 3 |
| Flagship Pioneering, Inc. | $111K | 17 |
| Iambic Therapeutics | $108K | 4 |
| Merge Labs | $108K | 11 |
| Prolific Machines | $100K | 5 |
| ALTEN Technology USA | $95K | 3 |
| Legend Biotech US | $94K | 3 |
| Apex Companies | $70K | 3 |
Highest-paying open Research Associate and Lab Technician roles
All research associate and lab technician jobs- Principal Scientist, Permanent MagnetsSandboxaq · 🇺🇸United States$224K - $420KRemoteLead and aboveIntellectual propertyMechatronics
- Principal Scientist / Associate Director, Agentic AI Research for Materials ScienceLila Sciences · 🇺🇸Cambridge, MA USA; San Francisco, CA USA$288K - $420KLead and abovePythonMachine LearningLLM
- Hardware Lab ManagerAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$320K - $405KLinuxNetwork engineeringDNS
- Senior Staff Lab Manager (R5090)Shield AI · 🇺🇸Seattle, WA, US$210K - $315KLead and abovePythonC++MATLAB
- Hardware Lab ManagerMatx · 🇺🇸Mountain View$160K - $275KPythonSAP
- Client Investment Research AssociateBridgewater Associates · 🇺🇸New York City$130K - $260K
- Senior Scientist, Structural Data RepresentationAstera · Emeryville HQ$220K - $260KSeniorMachine Learning
- Senior Applied Scientist II, Ads OptimizationInstacart · 🇺🇸United States - Remote$201K - $254KRemoteSeniorGoPythonJava
- Senior Scientist, Ensemble–Function MappingAstera · Emeryville HQ$200K - $250KSeniorMachine Learning
- Senior Scientist I, Computational Protein DesignGenerate Biomedicines · 🇺🇸Somerville, MA$172K - $241KSeniorPythonMachine LearningLLM
- Principal / Senior Principal Scientist, DMPKFlagship Pioneering, Inc. · 🇺🇸Cambridge, MA USA$179K - $236KLead and aboveGCP
- Senior / Principal Scientist, Molecular SimulationsFlagship Pioneering, Inc. · 🇺🇸Cambridge, MA USA$146K - $236KLead and abovePythonDockerAirflow
- Senior ScientistGRVTY · 🇺🇸Herndon, Virginia, United States$150K - $235KSeniorPythonC++MATLAB
- Senior Scientist, Bio AIEarli, Inc. · 🇺🇸Redwood City, CA$205K - $235KSeniorPythonGCPAI
- Applied Scientist IIIGarner Health · 🇺🇸New York City, New York$200K - $230KPythonSQLMachine Learning
- Environmental Lab ManagerAntares · 🇺🇸Los Angeles$155K - $225K
- Principal Scientist, Target BindingGenerate Biomedicines · 🇺🇸Somerville, MA$160K - $224KLead and aboveMachine LearningQuantitative analysisClinical trials
- Senior / Principal Scientist, Medicinal ChemistryAltos Labs · 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area, CA;San Diego, CA$175K - $224KLead and aboveMachine Learning
- Staff Scientist, Flow Cell Consumable Characterization & ReliabilityNautilus Biotechnology · San Carlos$164K - $221KLead and abovePythonMATLAB
- Staff Scientist, Assay Development & IntegrationNautilus Biotechnology · San Carlos$164K - $221KLead and aboveGoPython
Questions about Research Associate and Lab Technician pay
- What is the average Research Associate and Lab Technician salary?
- $137K a year on average and $132K at the median, across 212 open Research Associate and Lab Technician postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
- What is the typical range?
- The middle half of the postings offer $108K to $164K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Research Associate and Lab Technician pay?
- Astera ($225K), Nautilus Biotechnology ($192K), Immunome, Inc. ($183K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a research associate and lab technician a high-paying job?
- The median Research Associate and Lab Technician posting advertises $132K a year, less than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 24% below the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a research associate and lab technician?
- A tenth of the postings offer $191K a year or more; the highest open Research Associate and Lab Technician role advertises up to $420K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Research Associate and Lab Technician salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $132K a year is about $64 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $11,021 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $52 to $79 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Research Associate and Lab Technician roles?
- Postings that ask for Machine Learning (+$19K, 30 postings), Python (+$12K, 52 postings) advertise more than the $132K median of all Research Associate and Lab Technician postings with pay.
- What does an entry-level research associate and lab technician make?
- 9 junior and intern Research Associate and Lab Technician postings state pay, with a median of $106K a year ($51 an hour).
- Where do these figures come from?
- From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.
Writing about this? A sentence you can quote
The median advertised salary for Research Associate and Lab Technician roles at companies is $132K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $108K to $164K. Counted from 212 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/lab-technician/
Free to use with the link.