OpenAI's median filed base salary is $270,000. That is the midpoint of 311 certified labor condition applications filed by OpenAI OpCo, LLC and decided between October 2, 2024 and June 30, 2026, as of the FY2026 Q3 disclosure file. The middle half runs $245,000 to $340,000, and the highest single filing is $685,000.
Key takeaways
- 311 certified H-1B filings, median filed base $270,000, p25 to p75 of $245,000 to $340,000 (Visionary Talks analysis of DOL LCA disclosure data, FY2026 Q3).
- The top-paying title is not research. It is Member of Technical Staff (Hardware Engineering), 22 filings at a $380,000 median, running as high as $555,000.
- OpenAI files a single exact salary on 79.1% of filings and almost never files at the legal prevailing wage floor, 0.3% of the time. Its median is a real offer, not a legal minimum.
- The highest single filed base is $685,000, a Member of Technical Staff (Research Scientist) filing decided in FY2025.
- Every one of the 311 filings names the same employer: OpenAI OpCo, LLC, the operating subsidiary that also holds the ChatGPT trademark.
This article is based on primary sources: the US Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification LCA disclosure files for FY2025 Q1 through Q4 and FY2026 Q3, which we processed in full. Every salary figure below is computed from those workbooks. Full source list at the bottom.
$270,000, And You Can Trust This One
Most companies in this database file a salary range and anchor the bottom of it at the government's prevailing wage, which drags their reported median toward a legal floor that has nothing to do with what they pay.
OpenAI does not do this. It files a single exact figure on 79.1% of its filings, and across all 311 filings only one sits at the prevailing wage. Where it does file a range, the range is its own.
That makes OpenAI's $270,000 one of the few medians in the AI Salary Database that means what it appears to mean. Against the pooled median of $200,000 across all 11 tracked companies, OpenAI sits $70,000 higher, and it is the highest median of any company here with more than 100 filings.
Roles And What Each One Filed
| Job title | Filings | Median base | Range within title |
|---|---|---|---|
| Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer) | 46 | $255,000 | $170,000 to $490,000 |
| Member of Technical Staff (Hardware Engineering) | 22 | $380,000 | $250,000 to $555,000 |
| Member of Technical Staff (Data Science) | 16 | $325,000 | $170,000 to $490,000 |
| Member of Go To Market Staff | 14 | $250,000 | $170,000 to $350,000 |
| Member of Technical Staff (Research & AI Systems) | 12 | $380,000 | $245,000 to $460,000 |
| Member of Technical Staff (Research Scientist) | 12 | $307,500 | $178,006 to $685,000 |
| Member of Technical Staff (AI Systems Engineer) | 11 | $250,000 | $170,000 to $460,000 |
| Member of Technical Staff (Research Engineer) | 11 | $360,000 | $245,000 to $460,000 |
| Member of Data Science Staff | 7 | $325,000 | $188,885 to $405,000 |
| Member of Finance Staff | 7 | $240,000 | $170,000 to $295,000 |
The Hardware Tell
The most interesting line in that table is the second one.
Member of Technical Staff (Hardware Engineering) is OpenAI's highest-paid title by median, at $380,000, tied with Research & AI Systems and ahead of Research Engineer at $360,000 and Research Scientist at $307,500. Twenty-two filings, ranging from $250,000 to $555,000.
A software company does not pay hardware engineers more than research scientists unless it is building hardware. OpenAI is paying a premium in a labour market where chip designers are scarce and the buyers are Nvidia, Broadcom, Apple and Google. The filings do not say what the hardware is. They do say OpenAI is bidding above its own research rate to get it, and it has been doing so since at least FY2025.
The second tell is the flatness of the titles. OpenAI calls nearly everyone a Member of Something Staff, including finance and go-to-market. It is a deliberate levelling convention, and it means seniority is invisible here: the $170,000 and the $490,000 Software Engineer filings carry identical titles.
What Changed Year Over Year
OpenAI's median filed base went from $285,000 in FY2025 (101 filings) to $260,000 in FY2026 (210 filings), a fall of 8.8%.
Unlike most companies in this set, that number is worth something, because OpenAI's filing behaviour barely moved: the share of filings carrying a salary band changed by 0.2 points between the two years. The measurement stayed constant while the number moved.
What it most likely reflects is volume and mix rather than a pay cut. Filings doubled, and the FY2026 cohort includes more go-to-market, finance and support roles, which file lower. A company scaling its commercial side will see its all-titles median fall while engineering pay holds.
The Money Behind The Payroll
Every filing here names OpenAI OpCo, LLC. That is not the company most people mean when they say OpenAI. OpCo is the operating subsidiary, the entity that holds the ChatGPT trademark and, on this evidence, employs the staff. Above it sits OpenAI Group PBC, a Delaware public benefit corporation created in the October 28, 2025 recapitalisation, and above that the OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit holding roughly 26% of the equity while appointing the entire board. We traced that structure in who owns ChatGPT and OpenAI.
OpenAI was valued at $852 billion in a $122 billion round that closed March 31, 2026, the largest private financing on record, and submitted a confidential draft S-1 to the SEC in June 2026.
Against that, 311 sponsored workers over 21 months is a small number, and 85.2% of them are in California. Whatever OpenAI is spending its money on, visa-sponsored headcount is not the bulk of it.
FAQ
What is the average salary at OpenAI?
The median filed base is $270,000 across 311 certified filings decided between October 2024 and June 2026, with the middle half between $245,000 and $340,000. Individual filings run from $145,000 to $685,000. Base only, no equity.
What does a Member of Technical Staff earn at OpenAI?
It depends on the suffix. Software Engineer filings have a $255,000 median, Research Scientist $307,500, Research Engineer $360,000, and Hardware Engineering $380,000, as of the FY2026 Q3 file.
Does OpenAI pay more than Anthropic?
On median filed base, yes: $270,000 against Anthropic's $209,082. But Anthropic files the legal wage floor on 46.7% of its filings and OpenAI on 0.3%, so the gap is partly a filing artefact. On the top of the filed range, Anthropic is actually higher at $340,000 against OpenAI's $310,000.
Is this total compensation?
No. The labor condition application discloses base wage only. OpenAI equity, which after the March 2026 round is the reason most people take the job, is not disclosed in this data at all.
Sources
1. LCA Disclosure Data, FY2026 Q3, US Department of Labor OFLC: dol.gov performance data. Decisions from October 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
2. LCA Disclosure Data, FY2025 Q1 to Q4, US Department of Labor OFLC: dol.gov performance data. Decisions from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025.
3. Visionary Talks, Who Owns ChatGPT and OpenAI: who owns OpenAI. Establishes OpenAI OpCo, LLC as the trademark-holding operating subsidiary, the October 28, 2025 recapitalisation, and the March 31, 2026 valuation cited above.