Market coverage
The ten cities where quant hires
Ranked by depth of opportunity, with the demand profile, resident firms and compensation level for each market.
Where are the best cities for quant jobs?
New York, London and Chicago are the three deepest quant markets globally, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong and Amsterdam. New York leads on research and multi-strategy hiring, Chicago on high-frequency trading and low-latency engineering, London on systematic macro, and Dubai is currently the fastest-growing market of all.
| # | Market | Opportunity | Main demand | Researcher median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | Exceptional | Quant research, systematic trading, quant dev, ML, data | $475k |
| 2 | London | Exceptional | Quant research/trading, systematic funds, electronic trading | £319k |
| 3 | Chicago | Exceptional | HFT, market making, options, quant trading, C++ | $461k |
| 4 | Singapore | Very strong | Systematic trading, commodities, macro, quant research | S$522k |
| 5 | Hong Kong | Very strong | Equities, derivatives, systematic trading, China-focused strategies | HK$3.1m |
| 6 | Amsterdam | Very strong | HFT, market making, trading technology | €323k |
| 7 | San Francisco | Strong | AI/ML-heavy quant research, crypto, data and engineering | $451k |
| 8 | Paris | Strong | Quant research, derivatives, banks, systematic strategies | €297k |
| 9 | Zurich / Geneva | Strong / niche | Systematic funds, commodities, private capital | CHF 376k |
| 10 | Dubai / Abu Dhabi | Fast-growing | Hedge funds, systematic teams, portfolio managers, commodities | AED 1.5m |
New York
#1Exceptional
The deepest quant talent market in the world, and the reference point for global compensation.
London
#2Exceptional
Europe's quant capital and the main hub for systematic macro and long-horizon systematic funds.
Chicago
#3Exceptional
The global centre of gravity for high-frequency trading, options market making and low-latency engineering.
Singapore
#4Very strong
Asia's most stable quant hub, and the base for regional systematic and commodities desks.
Hong Kong
#5Very strong
The primary access point for China-focused systematic and derivatives strategies.
Amsterdam
#6Very strong
Europe's market-making capital, and an engineering-led market.
San Francisco
#7Strong
Where quant finance overlaps with frontier machine learning and digital assets.
Paris
#8Strong
Deep derivatives-quant talent pool, fed by an exceptional mathematics pipeline.
Zurich / Geneva
#9Strong / niche
Small, high-quality market concentrated in systematic funds and commodities.
Dubai / Abu Dhabi
#10Fast-growing
The fastest-growing quant market, built on portfolio-manager relocation and zero income tax.
Methodology
Figures are expressed as annual total compensation (base salary plus expected performance bonus) in the reference market's local currency, converted from a US dollar base. They describe typical market ranges rather than any individual offer, and exclude sign-on payments, deferred equity and carried interest. Portfolio-manager figures reflect formulaic profit-share arrangements and are therefore far more dispersed than any other role.
KnowQaunt 2026.1 · Updated September 2026
These are indicative ranges pending first-party verification. They will be replaced by verified submissions as the Quant Salary Index dataset builds.