---
title: "Chemical Technician"
description: "Conduct chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative and quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, and gaseous…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-technician"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Chemical Technician

**Category:** Life, Physical, and Social Science · **SOC code:** 19-4031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 19-4031.00

Conduct chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative and quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, and gaseous materials for research and development of new products or processes, quality control, maintenance of environmental standards, and other work involving experimental, theoretical, or practical application of chemistry and related sciences.

Also advertised as: Analytical Laboratory Technician (Analytical Lab Technician); Chemical Analyst; Chemical Technician; Laboratory Analyst (Lab Analyst); Laboratory Technician (Lab Tech); Laboratory Tester (Lab Tester); Organic Preparation Analyst (Organic Prep Analyst); Quality Control Laboratory Technician (QC Lab Tech).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $60,390 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $29.03/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $41,740 to $92,040, with the middle half between $48,530 and $75,900
- **Total US employment:** 57,540
- **Typical entry education:** Associate's
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +4.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 7,600 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 33/100 — 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 57,540 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $41,740 |
| 25th | $48,530 |
| 50th (median) | $60,390 |
| 75th | $75,900 |
| 90th | $92,040 |
| Mean (average) | $63,900 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LA | $85,850 | $97,328 | 960 |
| AK | $79,380 | $77,551 | 100 |
| DE | $78,620 | $78,771 | 540 |
| SC | $75,020 | $80,022 | 2,080 |
| MO | $68,550 | $75,481 | 720 |
| MA | $67,570 | $63,892 | 1,780 |
| AZ | $65,860 | $65,417 | 390 |
| VT | $65,560 | $66,927 | 150 |
| HI | $63,910 | $58,126 | 40 |
| CO | $63,770 | $61,881 | 1,180 |
| NE | $62,640 | $69,520 | 280 |
| TX | $62,580 | $64,478 | 6,090 |
| MN | $62,400 | $63,273 | 870 |
| WA | $62,100 | $58,030 | 730 |
| IL | $61,890 | $61,916 | 1,320 |

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

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 60,000 in the 2025–2035 base year to 63,000 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 3,000 jobs, or +4.9%. Faster than average: 4.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 7,600 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:** Associate's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### 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 |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 43.7% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 33.3% |
| Some College Courses | 22.4% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 0.5% |

## What the work involves

- Provide and maintain a safe work environment by participating in safety programs, committees, or teams and by conducting laboratory or plant safety audits.
- Maintain, clean, or sterilize laboratory instruments or equipment.
- Compile and interpret results of tests and analyses.
- Conduct chemical or physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative or quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, or gaseous materials.
- Provide technical support or assistance to chemists or engineers.
- Order and inventory materials to maintain supplies.
- Write technical reports or prepare graphs or charts to document experimental results.
- Monitor product quality to ensure compliance with standards and specifications.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Science — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.4 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.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Chemistry — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 3.8 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), Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 5.80 |
| R — Realistic | 5.45 |
| C — Conventional | 5.25 |
| S — Social | 1.64 |
| A — Artistic | 1.51 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.13 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 91.8 |
| ISTP | 81.5 |
| INTJ | 81.3 |
| ISFJ | 70.4 |
| ESTJ | 66.4 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. 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.

- [Chemist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemist) — median $91,240
- [Calibration Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/calibration-technologist-and-technician) — median $67,820
- [Chemical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-engineer) — median $125,040
- [Nanotechnology Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nanotechnology-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $66,120
- [Chemical Plant and System Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-plant-and-system-operator) — median $78,120
- [Industrial Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $66,120
- [Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-and-clinical-laboratory-technician) — median $62,930
- [Quality Control Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/quality-control-analyst) — median $62,280
- [Food Science Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-science-technician) — median $52,130
- [Agricultural Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/agricultural-technician) — median $49,630

## 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/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **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/chemical-technician