Average Salaries ($K)
Montreal 2020-2024
Data Salary review
Montreal
2020 - 2024
- 19% Average Cost Of Living Rise
- #3/23 Cheapest City To Live
- 20% Average Salary Rise
- #19/23 Salary Growth - All Roles
- #18/23 Salary Growth For Heads Of Data
- #1/23 Salary Growth For Data Engineers
- #22/23 Salary Growth For Data Analyst
- #20/23 Salary Growth For Data Scientists
Overview
While Toronto is perhaps later in its maturity as a tech hub, Montreal has a strong presence in artificial intelligence, gaming, fintech, and life sciences. The city benefits from a deep talent pool, partly due to its world-renowned universities like McGill and Université de Montréal, which produce a steady stream of data scientists, engineers, and analysts. AI and machine learning in particular, have flourished, with institutions like Mila (Quebec AI Institute) leading global research. The gaming industry, dominated by Ubisoft, Behaviour Interactive, and Warner Bros. Games, heavily rely on data for user analytics and optimisation. Additionally, Montreal has a growing presence in financial technology, with companies like National Bank and CGI investing locally.
Over the past few years, Montreal has certainly solidified itself as a destination for data careers, but it is not without challenges. While salaries in tech are decent they lag behind major U.S. hubs like San Francisco, New York, and even Toronto. Bilingualism can sometimes be a barrier for anglophone job seekers, particularly in roles that involve direct client interactions. The city’s cost of living, once a major selling point, has been rising steadily, making it less of a bargain than before. Still, for those looking to gain experience in AI, gaming analytics, or fintech, Montreal remains an attractive option.
Heads Of Data
Head of Data roles in Montreal are growing in demand as more companies invest in AI, machine learning, and data-driven decision-making. Being a Head of Data in Montreal comes with its own set of challenges that are not always obvious from the outside. While the city has a reputation for AI innovation, the reality is that many companies still struggle with basic data infrastructure and governance. If you are stepping into a leadership role, expect to spend a lot of time cleaning up technical debt, convincing executives to invest in data capabilities, and dealing with teams that are stretched thin. Many Montreal companies talk a big game about AI and data-driven decision-making, but in practice, a lot of them are still running on outdated analytics stacks, have poorly integrated data pipelines, or lack a clear long-term data strategy. Even in AI startups, research often takes precedence over building production-ready data systems, leaving data leaders stuck in the middle, trying to bridge the gap between innovation and operational efficiency.
Breaking in from the outside can be difficult. The city thrives on its tight-knit AI research community, but that means opportunities often go to those who are well-connected within Mila, IVADO, or the local startup scene.
Salaries have been somewhat stagnant, with expert-level salaries only rising on average 12% since 2020 and ranking #18/23, but most people are attracted to Montreal to work on the cutting edge, which sadly is not always the reality.
Average Salaries ($K) By Experience
Data Engineers
Data engineering roles in Montreal are in high demand, while Montreal’s reputation as an AI hub is strong, many companies still struggle with modernising their data infrastructure and this demand is driving positive wage growth for engineers. Montreal’s job market is more fragmented, while there are some large employers, many opportunities exist in smaller startups. Many engineers will start their careers in larger stable companies and then switch to scale-ups to advance. If you are interested in working at the intersection of AI and data engineering, Montreal provides unique opportunities that are harder to find elsewhere, but this may not come with as large a salary as other tech hubs.
Montreal has a global reputation as an AI hub, but many professionals, especially those coming from more mature markets like Silicon Valley, Toronto, or even London, get frustrated when they realise that the actual implementation of AI in industry is far less developed than the hype suggests. One of the biggest issues is that whilst Montreal excels at AI research, much of it remains stuck in academia. This can be incredibly frustrating for data engineers, who come in expecting cutting-edge production environments but instead find themselves dealing with technical debt and broken ETL processes. Another problem is funding volatility. AI startups in Montreal often rely on government grants and academic partnerships, meaning there’s a lot of stop-and-go development, projects that get initial funding but then stall because companies don’t have the revenue or engineering capacity to scale AI solutions properly.
Montreal ranked #1/23 for wage growth over the last five years. Despite a dip in 2023, Beginners have seen an average 53% rise, Intermediate 47% rise and experts 51%.
Average Salaries ($K) By Experience
Data Analysts
Data analyst roles in Montreal are widely available across industries like finance, gaming, e-commerce, and AI startups, but the level of sophistication varies dramatically by company. Many businesses still rely on basic reporting and dashboarding rather than advanced analytics, meaning a large portion of data analyst roles involve cleaning messy datasets, automating reports, and making sense of inconsistent tracking systems.
In Montreal, many companies are still laying the groundwork for proper data infrastructure. This means analysts here need to be comfortable with ambiguity and ad hoc problem-solving rather than just plugging into well-structured systems. Additionally, bilingualism can be a major barrier, many senior roles require French, especially at companies that serve Quebec’s domestic market. If you are working for a multinational (like Google or Shopify), English is fine, but for local firms, French proficiency gives you a huge edge.
The job market for analysts in Montreal is competitive, but not necessarily for the right reasons. Salaries have risen in recent years, but mostly because companies are raising expectations rather than truly evolving their data culture. Many employers want analysts who can do the work of a data scientist, and business strategist combined, without necessarily offering the pay or career growth to match. While it is possible to build a strong career as a data analyst in Montreal, those looking for more structured, high-paying opportunities may find better options in Toronto or remote roles with U.S. companies.
Montreal ranked #22/23 in terms of wage growth over the last 5 years with beginners only seeing a 6.38% increase despite a 19% cost of living rise.
Average Salaries ($K) By Experience
Data Scientists
Data scientist roles in Montreal are highly sought after, thanks to the city’s strong AI research presence and growing demand for machine learning (ML). However, there is a significant gap between research-driven AI and real-world data science applications with many roles lean heavily on traditional analytics, predictive modelling, and data wrangling, rather than cutting-edge deep learning. While AI startups and research labs (Mila, IVADO) focus on advanced ML, a large portion of Montreal’s data scientist roles involve business intelligence, forecasting, and recommendation systems rather than deploying state-of-the-art models into production.
The market is competitive, but not necessarily for the reasons you would expect. Salaries are rising, but mainly because expectations are increasing, many employers now want data scientists who can do ML engineering, DevOps, and even full-stack development, making it harder for pure statisticians or traditional analysts to break into senior roles. Montreal is still a good place to build a data science career, especially if you are interested in AI and are willing to work in less mature data environments. However, if you are looking for structured career paths, high salaries, and stable long-term opportunities, Toronto or remote roles with U.S. companies may offer better option.
Average Salaries ($K) By Experience
Hiring Data Roles For Montreal Companies
Montreal has a rapidly growing data talent pool, driven by its strong AI research ecosystem and top-tier university programs at McGill University and Université de Montréal. Employers will find a solid base of skilled data professionals, but competition is particularly high for AI, gaming, and fintech talent.
There is a gap for many firms in Montreal, where the maturity of their data will not meet the expectations of these AI graduates, in these cases they may require more senior help on a project basis and a data agency like 173tech can be a practical solution. Agencies can help bridge the gaps by offering on-demand expertise and faster maturity. This approach allows businesses to stay competitive and then focus their efforts on longer-term hires and take advantage of the local talent pool which is based around AI.
173tech Direct Comparison
- Head Of Data (5+ yrs) $230k
- Data Engineer (5+ yrs) $130k
- Data Engineer (0-3 yrs) $75k
- Data Analyst (3-5 yrs) $72k
- $507k per yr + Tax + Pension + Holidays
- Candice (15+ yrs) Ruben (8+ yrs) Oliver (10+ yrs)
- Adrian (15+ yrs)
- Oscar (2+ yrs)
- Emeric (3+ yrs) Mai (4+ yrs) Noel (2+ yrs) Amy (2+ yrs)
- $240k
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