---
title: "Bioinformatics Scientist"
description: "Conduct research using bioinformatics theory and methods in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/bioinformatics-scientist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Bioinformatics Scientist

**Category:** Life, Physical, and Social Science · **SOC code:** 19-1029 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 19-1029.01

Conduct research using bioinformatics theory and methods in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics. May design databases and develop algorithms for processing and analyzing genomic information, or other biological information.

Also advertised as: Bioinformaticist; Bioinformatics Programmer; Bioinformatics Research Associate; Computational Biology Scientist; Research Associate; Research Scientist; Scientist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $98,920 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $47.56/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $60,430 to $168,010, with the middle half between $76,800 and $127,670
- **Total US employment:** 55,850
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +4.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 4,300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 9/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 55,850 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $60,430 |
| 25th | $76,800 |
| 50th (median) | $98,920 |
| 75th | $127,670 |
| 90th | $168,010 |
| Mean (average) | $106,330 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MD | $121,680 | $115,931 | 4,970 |
| CA | $113,530 | $102,538 | 11,880 |
| DE | $113,400 | $113,618 | Not published by BLS |
| CT | $111,940 | $108,040 | 170 |
| WA | $108,110 | $101,025 | 2,620 |
| MA | $107,100 | $101,270 | 2,930 |
| AK | $106,870 | $104,407 | 370 |
| NJ | $104,750 | $96,273 | 540 |
| ME | $104,570 | $107,749 | 340 |
| NY | $104,120 | $96,478 | 2,520 |
| RI | $101,750 | $99,482 | 100 |
| PA | $100,780 | $103,288 | 1,810 |
| NC | $100,070 | $106,090 | 2,780 |
| GA | $96,820 | $100,547 | 1,230 |
| VA | $96,030 | $94,981 | 1,650 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/bioinformatics-scientist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/bioinformatics-scientist.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 59,600 in the 2025–2035 base year to 62,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,800 jobs, or +4.7%. Faster than average: 4.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 4,300 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Master's Degree | 42.1% |
| Doctoral Degree | 28.0% |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 23.4% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 6.5% |

## What the work involves

- Communicate research results through conference presentations, scientific publications, or project reports.
- Keep abreast of new biochemistries, instrumentation, or software by reading scientific literature and attending professional conferences.
- Compile data for use in activities, such as gene expression profiling, genome annotation, or structural bioinformatics.
- Analyze large molecular datasets, such as raw microarray data, genomic sequence data, or proteomics data, for clinical or basic research purposes.
- Recommend new systems and processes to improve operations.
- Instruct others in the selection and use of bioinformatics tools.
- Consult with researchers to analyze problems, recommend technology-based solutions, or determine computational strategies.
- Provide statistical and computational tools for biologically based activities, such as genetic analysis, measurement of gene expression, or gene function determination.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Programming — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Biology — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Chemistry — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Written Comprehension — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Investigative (I), Conventional (C), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 5.04 |
| R — Realistic | 3.81 |
| A — Artistic | 2.51 |
| S — Social | 1.64 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.26 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| INTJ | 85.8 |
| ISTJ | 80.0 |
| ISTP | 79.0 |
| INTP | 72.5 |
| ISFJ | 57.1 |

Best-fitting types: INTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Bioinformatics Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bioinformatics-technician) — median $81,490
- [Data Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/data-scientist) — median $120,230
- [Molecular and Cellular Biologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/molecular-and-cellular-biologist) — median $98,920
- [Geneticist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geneticist) — median $98,920
- [Bioengineer and Biomedical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bioengineer-and-biomedical-engineer) — median $109,370
- [Biostatistician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biostatistician) — median $105,650
- [Biochemist and Biophysicist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biochemist-and-biophysicist) — median $127,410
- [Biological Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biological-technician) — median $57,510
- [Statistician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/statistician) — median $105,650
- [Cytogenetic Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cytogenetic-technologist) — median $62,930

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/bioinformatics-scientist