Bengaluru Among Top 10 Global AI Hubs, But Also Offers The Lowest Salaries, Research Shows

While Bengaluru is part of the top 10 global hubs, it should be noted that it is also the cheapest in terms of salaries paid to job categories such data scientists, machine learning, and AI specialists.

Bengaluru, besides its seventh position overall, stands out for its numerous AI jobs and extensive research institutions. (Image credit: Campaign Creators/Unsplash)

Bengaluru has been recognised as the seventh-best city in the world for artificial intelligence (AI), achieving an impressive aggregate score of 4.64. A part of research by Linkee.ai, based on metrics such as availability of jobs and level of salary, this ranking highlights cities heavily invested in AI, where opportunities for AI jobs are abundant, salaries are high, and numerous AI institutions are located. 

While Bengaluru is part of the top 10 global hubs, it should be noted that it is also the cheapest in terms of salaries paid to job categories such data scientists, machine learning, and AI specialists.

Top 10 Global AI Hubs

Leading the list is Boston, US, named the top AI hub for 2024. Boston's strong position is attributed to its high salaries in the AI sector, a significant number of available jobs, and prominent AI research institutions. The city garnered a top score of 6.26.

Cities	Available AI jobs on Indeed	Number of AI companies on Crunchbase	Data Scientist Salary (in USD)	Machine Learning Salary (in USD)	AI specialist Salary (in USD)	Number of AI Institutions	Composite score	Composite score
Boston, US	751	626	134329	136350	132579	3	0.626	6.26
Singapore	1128	666	77462	132556	158097	3	0.592	5.92
Tel Aviv, Israel	185	631	137569	162378	132579	2	0.562	5.62
Zurich, Switzerland	71	181	115760	132391	182173	3	0.551	5.51
Toronto, Canada	527	519	102060	133615	121769	4	0.531	5.31
Berlin, German	454	526	74789	69669	76540	9	0.502	5.02
Bengaluru, India	1324	759	21192	13421	15381	9	0.464	4.64
Beijing, China	249	518	64562	68,969	151994	6	0.446	4.46
Seoul, South Korea	83	896	74600	61300	53736	3	0.368	3.68
Tokyo, Japan	98	862	48345	520633	44396	2	0.272	2.72
Cambridge, UK	166	269	58682	71163	75474	4	0.239	2.39

Asia makes a significant showing in the rankings, with five of the top ten cities located on the continent. Notably, India and Berlin share the highest number of AI research institutions among the listed cities.

Singapore ranks second globally with a score of 5.92. Known for its competitive salaries and substantial job opportunities in AI, Singapore is only surpassed by Zurich in terms of the average salary for AI specialists, offering $132K annually.

Tel Aviv, Israel, takes the third spot with a score of 5.62. The city is noted for offering the highest salaries to data scientists, averaging $137K annually, surpassing even Boston.

In fourth place is Zurich, Switzerland, scoring 5.55. Zurich is distinguished by its leading AI research institutions such as ETH Zurich and offers the highest average salary for AI specialists at $182K per year.

Toronto, Canada, ranks fifth with a score of 5.02, offering the third-highest salaries for machine learning specialists. Berlin, Germany, follows closely in sixth place, also with a score of 5.02. Berlin is renowned for having the highest number of AI research institutions, including the Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD).

Bengaluru, besides its seventh position overall, stands out for its numerous AI jobs and extensive research institutions. Beijing, China, comes in eighth with a score of 4.46, noted for its prominent AI research facilities and competitive salaries.

Seoul, South Korea, is ninth, scoring 3.68, and boasts the highest number of AI companies. Tokyo, Japan, rounds out the top ten with a score of 2.72, hosting the second-highest number of AI research institutions, after Seoul.

How Did Linkee.ai Conduct The Survey?

The rankings were compiled by Linkee.ai, an AI link automation platform, which evaluated cities based on metrics such as available AI jobs, average salaries for key AI positions, the number of AI research institutions, government investment, and cost of living.

Data for the study was sourced from various local government websites, normalised, and combined into a composite score for each city.