Cryo-EM Salary Report 2026
What cryo-EM and structural biology roles actually advertise, from 63 verified pay disclosures across 245 real postings. No estimates, no modelling: every figure below appeared on a posting.
✍️ Ian Cooney, Ph.D.·Updated 2026-08-24· refreshed as the board's data grows
Advertised US pay by role (USD/year)
50 US postings with disclosed pay, all time on this board.
Bar spans the lowest to highest advertised figure across postings; the dot marks the median of each posting's midpoint. Hover a row for exact values.
Advertised UK pay by role (GBP/year)
10UK postings with disclosed pay. Reported separately rather than converted, because an exchange rate would imply precision the data doesn't have.
Bar spans the lowest to highest advertised figure across postings; the dot marks the median of each posting's midpoint. Hover a row for exact values.
All figures
| Role | Currency | Postings | Lowest advertised | Median (midpoints) | Highest advertised |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postdoc | USD | 13 | $55,000 | $75,954 | $123,200 |
| Staff / Research Scientist | USD | 23 | $55,000 | $145,080 | $238,160 |
| Faculty | USD | 9 | $84,100 | $135,006 | $230,000 |
| Industry | USD | 2 | $142,519 | $203,934 | $312,300 |
| Technician / Applications | USD | 3 | $54,230 | $76,128 | $88,110 |
| Postdoc | GBP | 4 | £38,357 | £44,272 | £48,822 |
| Staff / Research Scientist | GBP | 5 | £34,610 | £38,500 | £52,586 |
| Faculty | EUR | 2 | €66,055 | €81,448 | €104,600 |
Open right now with disclosed pay
Live listings on the board that publish a salary, highest ceiling first.
Methodology
This report is computed from the 245 cryo-EM, structural biology and mass spectrometry postings this board has carried, of which 100 (41%) disclosed pay in any form. 63 of those disclosures were specific numeric figures; the other 27said things like "competitive" or referenced a national pay scale without a number, and were excluded rather than guessed at.
Rules: only figures that literally appeared on a posting are counted, with no estimates or modelled salaries of any kind. Repostings are deduplicated. Monthly figures are annualized. Currencies are reported separately, never converted. The median shown for each role is the median of posting midpoints, which resists the distortion a single very wide advertised band would cause. Postings skew toward employers who choose to disclose pay, which likely biases every figure here upward; treat these as what disclosed postings advertise, not what all jobs pay.
Cite as: CryoEM Services, Cryo-EM Salary Report (2026-08-24), with a link to this page. The underlying board is live here.
Reading the numbers
Pay depends heavily on sector, career stage, and location. Academic postdocs anchor to the NIH scale ($56,484 in FY2026) with institutional supplements above it. Staff scientists and facility managers who run Titan Krios and Glacios instruments and support users in cryoSPARC and RELION span the widest advertised range, because the title covers everything from a junior core-facility hire to a senior director. Industry pays the most, and industry postings are also the least likely to publish a number, which means the industry figures here are probably the most understated.
Browse all open cryo-EM jobs, filter by postdoc, staff scientist, or industry roles, or join the talent network to get matched.
Supplementing a postdoc salary? AI labs pay PhD-level scientists $30–100+/hour for part-time training-data work; see our honest guide to AI training side work (disclosure: it contains referral links).
Cryo-EM Salary FAQ
How much do cryo-EM jobs pay?
Across 63 postings on this board that disclosed pay: US postdocs advertise a median of $75,954 (range $55,000–$123,200), staff and research scientists a median of $145,080, and industry roles reach $312,300 at the top. Every figure appeared on a real posting; none are estimates.
What is the starting salary for a cryo-EM postdoc?
The NIH NRSA scale sets the floor at $56,484 (FY2026), but postings that advertise pay run higher: the median advertised US cryo-EM postdoc salary on this board is $75,954, about $19,470 above the NIH minimum. Employers who publish a number tend to be the ones paying above scale.
Do industry cryo-EM jobs pay more than academia?
Yes, and the gap is visible in advertised figures: the highest US posting observed on this board advertised up to $312,300 (Genentech), roughly double the academic staff-scientist median of $145,080. Industry postings also usually add bonus and equity on top of the advertised base.
How is this salary report calculated?
From pay figures that literally appeared on 63 unique cryo-EM, structural biology and mass spectrometry postings carried by this board (41% of the 245 postings observed disclosed pay). Duplicates are removed, non-numeric disclosures like "competitive" are rejected rather than guessed, and currencies are reported separately rather than converted. No estimates or modelled figures are included.