Quant researcher salaries revealed at 30 hedge funds & trading firms: Citadel, Jane Street and more
The big appeal of working as a quant researcher at a hedge fund or trading firm is the performance-based bonuses, but it's always nice to have a healthy base salary. According to data from the H1B salary database, there are plenty of firms paying a base above $200k
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Below, we've broken down average pay for quant researchers at 30 hedge funds and trading firms that posted H1B salaries for multiple quant employees. Based on over 270 data points for quantitative researchers since the start of 2025, the average salary in the US is $190k, slightly lower than the New York average of $198k.
Miami is the top paying city in the US, but one of the joint-top paying firm is a lesser-known prop trading firm from New York.
Since the start of 2024, Five Rings has paid eight H1B quantitative researchers a salary of exactly $300k. Each of those has been based in New York. Current job listings reflect those figures; experienced quant researcher openings and even quant internships at the firm post a flat average salary of $300k. Overall pay is likely much higher than that; Five Rings paid $1.06m per head to its London office in 2024 despite the firm making an $11m loss. Five Rings describes itself as having an "open and fun culture", and is notably founded by ex-Jane Street partner (and Ferrari driver) Jason McCarthy. Jane Street also pays $300k to its 'researchers' (quant is absent from their title).
The highest paying hedge fund is Point72, which hires multiple H1B quants in its IAC (internal alpha capture) team and pays almost $250k on average. At the higher end, one of these IAC researchers earned a salary of $400k. The next highest paying hedge funds are Citadel and Two Sigma, which each pay ~$230k
It's worth noting that these salaries are just a snapshot of earning potential and don't reflect the full picture for salaries. Funds are known not to play the H1B lottery when hiring quants, meaning most of these hires have been brought in from larger multinational corporations like banks or FAANG firms. The data, therefore, leaves out homegrown talent that funds and trading firms have been increasingly prioritizing the development of. It also doesn't include some of the most senior employees who've worked in the US long enough to obtain a green card, or workers brought in on 'exceptional talent' O1-A visas.
These days, the highest paying roles for quants aren't pure quant researchers. Instead, elite trading firms want hybrid candidates who can do a little bit of everything, including quant development and infrastructure engineering.
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