Rust salary: $230K median
From 595 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
$230Kmedian advertised salary
$194K – $295Kmiddle half of roles
$250Kaverage advertised salary
595roles counted
Rust salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $260K, 23% more than senior roles ($212K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $212K | $190K–$230K | 188 |
| Lead and above | $260K | $225K–$346K | 155 |
| No level in title | $245K | $175K–$312K | 249 |
Rust salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸Seattle | $329K | 68 |
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $269K | 332 |
| 🇺🇸New York | $253K | 104 |
| 🇺🇸California | $250K | 401 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $230K | 549 |
| 🇺🇸Denver | $187K | 17 |
| 🇺🇸Texas | $180K | 15 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles | $158K | 46 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $402K | 42 |
| Lambda | $390K | 3 |
| OpenAI | $356K | 52 |
| Mercor | $330K | 3 |
| Inworld AI | $315K | 3 |
| Perplexity | $312K | 20 |
| River AI Inc. | $310K | 4 |
| Sentry | $302K | 4 |
| Wayve | $288K | 5 |
| SambaNova | $285K | 6 |
| Discord | $279K | 4 |
| Roblox | $269K | 24 |
| Armada | $261K | 3 |
| $260K | 10 | |
| Modal | $260K | 5 |
| xAI | $255K | 33 |
| Figure | $250K | 3 |
| Together AI | $248K | 8 |
| Baseten | $248K | 7 |
| Crusoe | $238K | 22 |
| Cloudflare | $230K | 26 |
| Bubble | $229K | 3 |
| Databricks | $226K | 3 |
| Muon Space | $225K | 8 |
| Docker | $223K | 7 |
Highest-paying open Rust roles
All Rust jobs- Pre-training Data Infrastructure EngineerAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$500K - $850KRustPythonMachine Learning
- Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)Anthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$500K - $850KRustPythonC++
- Training Performance EngineerOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$295K - $500KRustPythonC++
- Technical Lead - Training Runtime, Data(set) MovementOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$380K - $500KLeadRustPythonC++
- Principal Engineer, AI PlatformPinterest · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA, US; Remote, US$243K - $500KRemoteLeadRustJavaC++
- Software Engineer, Applied AI - Frontier EngineeringMercor · 🇺🇸San Francisco$160K - $500KRustGoPython
- Software Engineer, Applied AI - Frontier Engineering (NYC)Mercor · 🇺🇸New York City$160K - $500KRustGoPython
- Member of Technical Staff (AI Inference Engineer)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $485KRustPythonLLM
- Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, GPU Cluster Infrastructure)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$250K - $485KRustGoC++
- Staff Software Engineer - Infrastructure StorageLambda · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office (Fremont St)$314K - $465KLeadRustC++Machine Learning
- Staff Software Engineer - ComputeLambda · Bellevue Office$314K - $465KLeadRustGoPython
- Software Engineer, Evaluation InfrastructurexAI · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$180K - $440KRustPythonC++
- Distinguished Engineer, Embedded Vehicle SoftwareWayve · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, California USA$347K - $438KRustPythonC++
- Staff / Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Inference - USAInworld AI · 🇺🇸Mountain View, California, USA$270K - $430KLeadRustPythonC++
- Product Engineer, Personal AIRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KRustPythonTypeScript
- Software Engineer, Distributed TrainingRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KRustPythonC++
- Principal Software Engineer, InfrastructureReddit · 🇺🇸Remote - United States$287K - $401KRemoteLeadRustGoPython
- Senior Software Engineer, Foundational StorageSentry · 🇺🇸San Francisco, California$190K - $400KSeniorRustGoPython
- Engineering Manager, InfrastructureSentry · 🇺🇸San Francisco, California$220K - $400KRustGoPython
- Principal Software Engineer, Core ServicesRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$345K - $399KLeadRustC#.NET
Questions about Rust pay
- What is the average Rust salary?
- $250K a year on average and $230K at the median, across 595 open Rust postings at tech 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 $194K to $295K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Rust pay?
- Anthropic ($402K), Lambda ($390K), OpenAI ($356K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- 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 Rust roles at tech companies is $230K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $194K to $295K. Counted from 595 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Hiring Right Now, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/rust/
Free to use with the link.