--- title: "Data Scientist" description: "Develop and implement a set of techniques or analytics applications to transform raw data into meaningful information using data-oriented programming…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/data-scientist" last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z" --- # Data Scientist **Category:** Computer and Mathematical · **SOC code:** 15-2051 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 15-2051.00 Develop and implement a set of techniques or analytics applications to transform raw data into meaningful information using data-oriented programming languages and visualization software. Apply data mining, data modeling, natural language processing, and machine learning to extract and analyze information from large structured and unstructured datasets. Visualize, interpret, and report data findings. May create dynamic data reports. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $120,230 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $57.80/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $67,240 to $199,130, with the middle half between $85,660 and $158,880 - **Total US employment:** 262,440 - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's - **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +33.5% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034) - **Annual job openings:** 23,400 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** not scored for this occupation ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 262,440 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $67,240 | | 25th | $85,660 | | 50th (median) | $120,230 | | 75th | $158,880 | | 90th | $199,130 | | Mean (average) | $126,800 | ### 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | WA | $163,350 | $152,645 | 9,600 | | CA | $141,590 | $127,881 | 39,310 | | MD | $136,370 | $129,927 | 3,340 | | NJ | $135,280 | $124,333 | 6,430 | | MA | $131,750 | $124,578 | 9,420 | | NY | $130,460 | $120,885 | 23,970 | | MN | $128,800 | $130,601 | 4,020 | | VT | $127,070 | $129,719 | 200 | | DC | $126,490 | $115,094 | 2,680 | | VA | $126,430 | $125,049 | 8,920 | | CT | $126,340 | $121,938 | 1,760 | | OR | $125,990 | $121,893 | 2,140 | | TX | $122,090 | $125,792 | 25,860 | | NC | $119,090 | $126,254 | 11,430 | | CO | $117,400 | $113,923 | 6,280 | 35 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 50 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/data-scientist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/data-scientist. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 245,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 328,300 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 82,500 jobs, or +33.5%. Much faster than average: 33.5% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 23,400 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034. ## How to get in - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections). - **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed". - **Related work experience typically required:** None. - **Typical on-the-job training:** None. ## What the work involves - Analyze, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical software. - Apply feature selection algorithms to models predicting outcomes of interest, such as sales, attrition, and healthcare use. - Apply sampling techniques to determine groups to be surveyed or use complete enumeration methods. - Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software. - Compare models using statistical performance metrics, such as loss functions or proportion of explained variance. - Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software. - Deliver oral or written presentations of the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users. - Design surveys, opinion polls, or other instruments to collect data. ## 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). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | I — Investigative | 6.98 | | C — Conventional | 5.39 | | A — Artistic | 2.61 | | R — Realistic | 2.17 | | E — Enterprising | 1.71 | | S — Social | 1.66 | ### 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 | 83.8 | | ISTJ | 74.7 | | ISTP | 68.3 | | INTP | 67.5 | | INFJ | 60.6 | Best-fitting types: INTJ. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Statistician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/statistician) — median $105,650 - [Statistical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/statistical-assistant) — median $50,330 - [Financial Quantitative Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-quantitative-analyst) — median $81,100 - [Operations Research Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/operations-research-analyst) — median $88,940 - [Bioinformatics Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bioinformatics-scientist) — median $98,920 - [Bioinformatics Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bioinformatics-technician) — median $81,490 - [Mathematician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mathematician) — median $126,710 - [Computer and Information Research Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/computer-and-information-research-scientist) — median $140,300 - [Biostatistician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biostatistician) — median $105,650 - [Business Intelligence Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/business-intelligence-analyst) — median $120,230 ## Sources - **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 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, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/ - **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 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 30.3 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/data-scientist