---
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: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# 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:** +34.6% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 24,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 4/100 — 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 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 275,600 in the 2025–2035 base year to 371,000 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 95,400 jobs, or +34.6%. Much faster than average: 34.6% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 24,800 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:** 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.
- Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software.
- Test, validate, and reformulate models to ensure accurate prediction of outcomes of interest.
- Deliver oral or written presentations of the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users.
- Recommend data-driven solutions to key stakeholders.
- Compare models using statistical performance metrics, such as loss functions or proportion of explained variance.
- Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software.
- Apply feature selection algorithms to models predicting outcomes of interest, such as sales, attrition, and healthcare use.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Mathematics — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.3 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 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Programming — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mathematics — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Communications and Media — importance 2.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematical Reasoning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.9 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).

| 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. 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.

- [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 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/data-scientist