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Ranked list · 48 careers

48 Jobs for People Who Like Math, Ranked by Fit and Pay (2026)

Actuary tops this list at $130,000 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with +9.2% projected employment change over 2025–2035. Below are 48 careers that meet the criteria, each with its real median wage, outlook and entry requirement.

Careers on this list
48From 1,731 in the bank
Median pay on the list
$121,780BLS OEWS, May 2025
Projected to grow
47 of 48BLS EP, 2025–2035
Openings a year
1,063,000Combined, BLS EP

Method

How we built this list

Careers where mathematics is the core of the work: actuaries, statisticians, mathematicians, data scientists, operations research analysts and quantitative roles in finance. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages.

  1. Careers where mathematics is the core of the work: actuaries, statisticians, mathematicians, data scientists, operations research analysts and quantitative roles in finance. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages.
  2. Occupations with no BLS wage or projection data are excluded rather than estimated.
  3. The list is regenerated from source data on every bank refresh. It is not hand-picked and no editorial ranking is applied.

The list

The top 48 jobs for people who like math

100% of these careers already have a full profile page; the rest publish with the next tranche and show the same bank data here in the meantime.

  1. 1

    1. Actuary

    Computer and Mathematical

    Median pay
    $130,000median a year
    Growth
    +9.2%
    Openings / yr
    1,500
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Analyze statistical data, such as mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates and construct probability tables to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits.

  2. 2

    2. Pension Actuary

    Specialty within actuary

    Median pay
    $130,000median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +9.2%
    Openings / yr
    1,500
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Calculates how much employers must set aside to pay future pensions and certifies the funding of retirement plans.

  3. 3

    3. Pricing Actuary

    Specialty within actuary

    Median pay
    $130,000median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +9.2%
    Openings / yr
    1,500
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Sets the prices insurers charge for policies, using data and statistical models to predict future claims.

  4. 4

    4. Mathematician

    Computer and Mathematical

    Median pay
    $126,710median a year
    Growth
    +0.6%
    Openings / yr
    100
    Education
    Master's

    Conduct research in fundamental mathematics or in application of mathematical techniques to science, management, and other fields.

  5. 5

    5. Economist

    Life, Physical, and Social Science

    Median pay
    $124,720median a year
    Growth
    +4.7%
    Openings / yr
    1,100
    Education
    Master's

    Conduct research, prepare reports, or formulate plans to address economic problems related to the production and distribution of goods and services or monetary and fiscal policy.

  6. 6

    6. Catastrophe Modeler

    Specialty within financial risk specialist

    Median pay
    $117,330median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +7.4%
    Openings / yr
    4,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Uses computer models of hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and floods to estimate how much insurers could lose in a disaster.

  7. 7

    7. Model Risk Analyst

    Specialty within financial risk specialist

    Median pay
    $117,330median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +7.4%
    Openings / yr
    4,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Independently tests the financial and AI models banks rely on to make sure they are sound, accurate and used correctly.

  8. 8

    8. Sales and Operations Planning Manager

    Specialty within supply chain manager

    Median pay
    $107,230median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +6.1%
    Openings / yr
    18,300
    Education
    High school

    Runs the monthly process that aligns a company's sales forecast, production and inventory plans and financial targets into one agreed plan.

  9. 9

    9. Biostatistician

    Computer and Mathematical

    Median pay
    $105,650median a year
    Growth
    +11.0%
    Openings / yr
    1,900
    Education
    Master's

    Develop and apply biostatistical theory and methods to the study of life sciences.

  10. 10

    10. Psychometrician

    Specialty within statistician

    Median pay
    $105,650median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +11.0%
    Openings / yr
    1,900
    Education
    Master's

    Uses statistics to design, score and validate standardized tests such as licensing exams, state assessments and admissions tests.

  11. 11

    11. Statistician

    Computer and Mathematical

    Median pay
    $105,650median a year
    Growth
    +11.0%
    Openings / yr
    1,900
    Education
    Master's

    Develop or apply mathematical or statistical theory and methods to collect, organize, interpret, and summarize numerical data to provide usable information.

  12. 12

    12. Construction Scheduler

    Specialty within project management specialist

    Median pay
    $102,320median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +6.7%
    Openings / yr
    76,500
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Builds and updates the detailed schedules that sequence thousands of activities on large construction and infrastructure projects.

  13. 13

    13. Pricing Manager

    Specialty within management analyst

    Median pay
    $101,860median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +10.1%
    Openings / yr
    94,100
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Sets and adjusts what a company charges, analyzing costs, competitors and customer willingness to pay to grow profit.

  14. 14

    14. Operations Research Analyst

    Computer and Mathematical

    Median pay
    $88,940median a year
    Growth
    +11.9%
    Openings / yr
    7,500
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Formulate and apply mathematical modeling and other optimizing methods to develop and interpret information that assists management with decisionmaking, policy formulation, or other managerial functions.

  15. 15

    15. Demand Planner

    Specialty within logistician

    Median pay
    $82,320median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +17.6%
    Openings / yr
    26,600
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Forecasts how much of each product customers will buy so companies can make, stock and ship the right amount at the right time.

  16. 16

    16. Mathematical Science Teacher, Postsecondary

    Educational Instruction and Library

    Median pay
    $79,940median a year
    Growth
    +1.7%
    Openings / yr
    3,900
    Education
    Doctorate

    Teach courses pertaining to mathematical concepts, statistics, and actuarial science and to the application of original and standardized mathematical techniques in solving specific problems and situations.

  17. 17

    17. People Analytics Specialist

    Specialty within human resources specialist

    Median pay
    $75,940median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +6.4%
    Openings / yr
    73,700
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Uses HR and workforce data to answer questions about hiring, retention, pay equity and engagement for company leaders.

  18. 18

    18. Statistical Assistant

    Office and Administrative Support

    Median pay
    $50,330median a year
    Growth
    −1.8%
    Openings / yr
    500
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Compile and compute data according to statistical formulas for use in statistical studies.

  19. 19

    19. Physicist

    Life, Physical, and Social Science

    Median pay
    $172,250median a year
    Growth
    +7.2%
    Openings / yr
    1,300
    Education
    Doctorate

    Conduct research into physical phenomena, develop theories on the basis of observation and experiments, and devise methods to apply physical laws and theories.

  20. 20

    20. Reservoir Engineer

    Specialty within petroleum engineer

    Median pay
    $144,910median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +2.0%
    Openings / yr
    1,000
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Estimates how much oil and gas an underground reservoir holds and plans how to produce it, using rock and fluid data, decline analysis and simulation models.

  21. 21

    21. AI Research Engineer

    Specialty within computer and information research scientist

    Median pay
    $598,000typical, Levels.fyi company pages (Anthropic, OpenAI)
    Growth
    +21.8%
    Openings / yr
    2,900
    Education
    Master's

    Builds and runs the large-scale training and evaluation systems used to create frontier AI models such as large language models.

  22. 22

    22. AI Research Scientist

    Specialty within computer and information research scientist

    Median pay
    $305,000typical, Levels.fyi
    Growth
    +21.8%
    Openings / yr
    2,900
    Education
    Doctorate

    Invents and tests new machine learning methods, publishing research and building the model techniques that later become products.

  23. 23

    23. AI Safety Researcher

    Specialty within computer and information research scientist

    Median pay
    $140,300median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +21.8%
    Openings / yr
    2,900
    Education
    Master's

    Studies how to make advanced AI systems behave safely and as intended, through research on alignment, interpretability and dangerous capabilities.

  24. 24

    24. Applied Scientist

    Specialty within computer and information research scientist

    Median pay
    $306,000typical, Levels.fyi (Amazon company page)
    Growth
    +21.8%
    Openings / yr
    2,900
    Education
    Master's

    A scientist at a tech company who develops new machine learning and statistical methods and builds them into products at scale.

  25. 25

    25. Computer and Information Research Scientist

    Computer and Mathematical

    Median pay
    $140,300median a year
    Growth
    +21.8%
    Openings / yr
    2,900
    Education
    Master's

    Conduct research into fundamental computer and information science as theorists, designers, or inventors.

  26. 26

    26. Quantum Computing Researcher

    Specialty within computer and information research scientist

    Median pay
    $140,300median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +21.8%
    Openings / yr
    2,900
    Education
    Doctorate

    Develops algorithms, software and error-correction methods for quantum computers, working at the frontier of physics and computer science.

  27. 27

    27. Computer Vision Engineer

    Specialty within software developer

    Median pay
    $135,980median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +10.2%
    Openings / yr
    95,300
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Builds software that lets machines interpret images and video, used in self-driving cars, medical imaging, factory inspection and phone cameras.

  28. 28

    28. GPU Kernel Engineer

    Specialty within software developer

    Median pay
    $310,000typical, Levels.fyi (NVIDIA company pages)
    Growth
    +10.2%
    Openings / yr
    95,300
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Writes and tunes the low-level GPU code, called kernels, that makes AI training, inference and scientific computing run fast.

  29. 29

    29. Machine Learning Engineer

    Specialty within software developer

    Median pay
    $282,750typical, Levels.fyi
    Growth
    +10.2%
    Openings / yr
    95,300
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Builds, trains and ships machine learning models inside real software products, from recommendation engines to fraud detection and language features.

  30. 30

    30. ML Compiler Engineer

    Specialty within software developer

    Median pay
    $135,980median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +10.2%
    Openings / yr
    95,300
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Builds the compilers that translate AI models into efficient code for GPUs and custom AI chips.

  31. 31

    31. Quantitative Developer

    Specialty within software developer

    Median pay
    $192,000typical, Levels.fyi
    Growth
    +10.2%
    Openings / yr
    95,300
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Builds the fast, reliable software that runs trading strategies, prices securities and manages risk at hedge funds, trading firms and banks.

  32. 32

    32. Astrodynamics Engineer

    Specialty within aerospace engineer

    Median pay
    $134,960median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +8.3%
    Openings / yr
    3,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Calculates and plans spacecraft orbits and trajectories, determines where satellites are, and helps avoid collisions with debris and other objects.

  33. 33

    33. Guidance, Navigation, and Control Engineer

    Specialty within aerospace engineer

    Median pay
    $134,960median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +8.3%
    Openings / yr
    3,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Designs the algorithms and sensors that tell rockets, spacecraft, missiles and drones where they are, where to go and how to steer there.

  34. 34

    34. Astronomer

    Life, Physical, and Social Science

    Median pay
    $128,820median a year
    Growth
    +7.8%
    Openings / yr
    100
    Education
    Doctorate

    Observe, research, and interpret astronomical phenomena to increase basic knowledge or apply such information to practical problems.

  35. 35

    35. Yield Engineer

    Specialty within microsystems engineer

    Median pay
    $122,930median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +3.7%
    Openings / yr
    8,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Finds out why some chips on a wafer fail and works with the fab to fix the causes, raising the share of good chips made.

  36. 36

    36. Grid Interconnection Engineer

    Specialty within electrical engineer

    Median pay
    $120,630median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +9.9%
    Openings / yr
    11,400
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Studies how new solar, wind and battery projects will affect the power grid and designs the upgrades needed to connect them.

  37. 37

    37. Analytics Engineer

    Specialty within data scientist

    Median pay
    $120,230median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +34.6%
    Openings / yr
    24,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Turns raw company data into clean, tested, well-documented tables that analysts and dashboards can trust.

  38. 38

    38. Data Scientist

    Computer and Mathematical

    Median pay
    $120,230median a year
    Growth
    +34.6%
    Openings / yr
    24,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    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.

  39. 39

    39. Staff Data Scientist

    Specialty within data scientist

    Median pay
    $486,000typical, Levels.fyi company pages (Meta, Google)
    Growth
    +34.6%
    Openings / yr
    24,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    A senior individual-contributor data scientist who sets analytical direction for a product area and leads the hardest experiments, models and metrics work.

  40. 40

    40. Financial Risk Specialist

    Business and Financial Operations

    Median pay
    $117,330median a year
    Growth
    +7.4%
    Openings / yr
    4,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Analyze and measure exposure to credit and market risk threatening the assets, earning capacity, or economic state of an organization.

  41. 41

    41. Preconstruction Manager

    Specialty within construction manager

    Median pay
    $114,990median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +9.1%
    Openings / yr
    49,700
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Leads a contractor's work before construction starts, shaping budgets, design choices and schedules so a project can be built for the price promised.

  42. 42

    42. Mine Planning Engineer

    Specialty within mining and geological engineer, including mining safety engineers

    Median pay
    $106,220median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +3.8%
    Openings / yr
    300
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Designs how a mine will be dug over days, years and decades, deciding the sequence, equipment and pit or tunnel layouts.

  43. 43

    43. LLM Evaluation Engineer

    Specialty within qa analyst

    Median pay
    $104,300median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +5.7%
    Openings / yr
    10,700
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Designs the tests, benchmarks and scoring systems that measure whether a large language model or AI product is accurate, reliable and safe enough to ship.

  44. 44

    44. Acoustical Consultant

    Specialty within mechanical engineer

    Median pay
    $104,110median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +11.2%
    Openings / yr
    17,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Designs how buildings, concert halls, studios and products sound, and solves noise and vibration problems for architects and owners.

  45. 45

    45. Amusement Ride Engineer

    Specialty within mechanical engineer

    Median pay
    $104,110median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +11.2%
    Openings / yr
    17,800
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Designs and analyzes roller coasters and theme park rides, working out the forces, structures, controls and safety systems that make them thrilling and safe.

  46. 46

    46. Game Economy Designer

    Specialty within video game designer

    Median pay
    $104,000median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +6.0%
    Openings / yr
    8,300
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Designs and tunes the currencies, rewards, prices and progression pacing in video games, especially free-to-play and live service titles.

  47. 47

    47. Game Systems Designer

    Specialty within video game designer

    Median pay
    $104,000median (parent occupation)
    Growth
    +6.0%
    Openings / yr
    8,300
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Designs the rules and numbers behind a video game, such as combat, progression, crafting and abilities, and balances them so play stays fair and fun.

  48. 48

    48. Hedge Fund Analyst

    Specialty within financial and investment analyst

    Median pay
    $227,000typical, eFinancialCareers Compensation & Lifestyle Report 2026
    Growth
    +7.2%
    Openings / yr
    24,700
    Education
    Bachelor's

    Researches stocks, bonds or other assets for a hedge fund and pitches trade ideas, both long and short, to the portfolio manager.

Questions

Jobs for People Who Like Math: FAQ

What is the top career on the jobs for people who like math list?

Actuary leads the list with a median wage of $130,000 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025) and projected employment change of +9.2% over 2025–2035. Typical entry-level education is bachelor's.

How was this list put together?

Careers where mathematics is the core of the work: actuaries, statisticians, mathematicians, data scientists, operations research analysts and quantitative roles in finance. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages. Careers where mathematics is the core of the work: actuaries, statisticians, mathematicians, data scientists, operations research analysts and quantitative roles in finance. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages. Every figure comes from BLS OEWS May 2025, BLS Employment Projections 2025–2035 and O*NET 31.0 Database.

How much do jobs for people who like math pay?

Across the 48 careers on this list the middle occupation pays $121,780 a year, from $50,330 at the bottom to $598,000 at the top (BLS OEWS May 2025 and the industry compensation sources cited on each career page). The median across all US occupations is $50,980.

How many of these careers can you enter without a degree?

1 of the 48 careers on this list have a typical entry requirement below an associate's degree: a high school diploma, a postsecondary certificate, or no formal credential (BLS Employment Projections, 2025–2035).