---
title: "Forensic Science Technician"
description: "Collect, identify, classify, and analyze physical evidence related to criminal investigations. Perform tests on weapons or substances, such as fiber…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/forensic-science-technician"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Forensic Science Technician

**Category:** Life, Physical, and Social Science · **SOC code:** 19-4092 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 19-4092.00

Collect, identify, classify, and analyze physical evidence related to criminal investigations. Perform tests on weapons or substances, such as fiber, hair, and tissue to determine significance to investigation. May testify as expert witnesses on evidence or crime laboratory techniques. May serve as specialists in area of expertise, such as ballistics, fingerprinting, handwriting, or biochemistry.

Also advertised as: Crime Lab Analyst (Crime Laboratory Analyst); Crime Scene Analyst (CSA); Crime Scene Technician (Crime Scene Tech); Criminalist; CSI (Crime Scene Investigator); Evidence Technician (Evidence Tech); Forensic Science Examiner; Forensic Scientist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $72,060 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $34.65/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $48,250 to $117,250, with the middle half between $57,830 and $94,520
- **Total US employment:** 19,120
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +13.3% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 2,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 41/100 — 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 19,120 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $48,250 |
| 25th | $57,830 |
| 50th (median) | $72,060 |
| 75th | $94,520 |
| 90th | $117,250 |
| Mean (average) | $79,200 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IL | $124,790 | $124,842 | 370 |
| CA | $102,100 | $92,215 | 2,800 |
| CT | $85,910 | $82,917 | 120 |
| CO | $84,010 | $81,522 | 510 |
| MT | $82,200 | $86,851 | 60 |
| MD | $82,140 | $78,259 | 460 |
| NY | $81,670 | $75,676 | 1,140 |
| WA | $81,310 | $75,981 | 390 |
| NV | $81,090 | $81,107 | 360 |
| OR | $80,950 | $78,318 | 110 |
| MA | $79,320 | $75,002 | 290 |
| MN | $76,960 | $78,036 | 140 |
| VT | $74,110 | $75,655 | 30 |
| WI | $72,280 | $76,816 | 310 |
| ID | $71,160 | $74,518 | 160 |

26 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 41 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/forensic-science-technician/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/forensic-science-technician.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 20,100 in the 2025–2035 base year to 22,800 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,700 jobs, or +13.3%. Much faster than average: 13.3% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 2,800 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:** 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 |
| --- | --- |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 36.3% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 29.3% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 17.1% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 15.3% |
| Master's Degree | 2.1% |

## What the work involves

- Testify in court about investigative or analytical methods or findings.
- Keep records and prepare reports detailing findings, investigative methods, and laboratory techniques.
- Use photographic or video equipment to document evidence or crime scenes.
- Train new technicians or other personnel on forensic science techniques.
- Collect impressions of dust from surfaces to obtain and identify fingerprints.
- Collect evidence from crime scenes, storing it in conditions that preserve its integrity.
- Visit morgues, examine scenes of crimes, or contact other sources to obtain evidence or information to be used in investigations.
- Operate and maintain laboratory equipment and apparatus.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 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
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 3.3 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 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Law and Government — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Flexibility of Closure — 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), Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 5.94 |
| R — Realistic | 5.18 |
| C — Conventional | 4.98 |
| A — Artistic | 1.77 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.59 |
| S — Social | 1.50 |

### 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 | 90.1 |
| INTJ | 83.9 |
| ISTP | 83.8 |
| ISFJ | 65.5 |
| INTP | 65.0 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Police Identification and Records Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/police-identification-and-records-officer) — median $93,790
- [Digital Forensics Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/digital-forensics-analyst) — median $116,580
- [Detective and Criminal Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/detective-and-criminal-investigator) — median $93,790
- [Coroner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/coroner) — median $80,730
- [Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-and-clinical-laboratory-technician) — median $62,930
- [Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-and-clinical-laboratory-technologist) — median $62,930
- [Private Detective and Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/private-detective-and-investigator) — median $51,220
- [Intelligence Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/intelligence-analyst) — median $93,790
- [Histology Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/histology-technician) — median $62,930
- [Fraud Examiner, Investigator and Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fraud-examiner-investigator-and-analyst) — median $81,100

## 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/forensic-science-technician