---
title: "Medical Scientist, Except Epidemiologists"
description: "Conduct research dealing with the understanding of human diseases and the improvement of human health. Engage in clinical investigation, research and…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-scientist"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Medical Scientist, Except Epidemiologists

**Category:** Life, Physical, and Social Science · **SOC code:** 19-1042 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 19-1042.00

Conduct research dealing with the understanding of human diseases and the improvement of human health. Engage in clinical investigation, research and development, or other related activities.

Also advertised as: Clinical Laboratory Scientist (Clinical Lab Scientist); Clinical Pharmacologist; Clinical Research Scientist; Medical Researcher; Physician Scientist; Research Scientist; Researcher; Scientist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $103,410 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $49.72/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $64,800 to $177,780, with the middle half between $79,840 and $139,380
- **Total US employment:** 172,340
- **Typical entry education:** Doctorate
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +8.7% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 9,600 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 24/100 — 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 172,340 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $64,800 |
| 25th | $79,840 |
| 50th (median) | $103,410 |
| 75th | $139,380 |
| 90th | $177,780 |
| Mean (average) | $116,840 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $136,990 | $123,727 | 29,830 |
| NJ | $129,280 | $118,818 | 6,120 |
| MA | $128,210 | $121,231 | 17,100 |
| CT | $116,990 | $112,914 | 2,410 |
| AZ | $116,820 | $116,034 | 2,190 |
| OR | $111,030 | $107,420 | 1,030 |
| MD | $106,000 | $100,992 | 6,760 |
| WA | $105,680 | $98,754 | 6,150 |
| AK | $104,930 | $102,512 | 260 |
| RI | $103,370 | $101,066 | 670 |
| NC | $102,980 | $109,175 | 5,730 |
| TN | $102,720 | $111,810 | 4,020 |
| MO | $102,540 | $112,908 | 3,650 |
| MT | $101,950 | $107,718 | 320 |
| DC | $101,940 | $92,756 | 670 |

32 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 47 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-scientist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/medical-scientist.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 165,300 in the 2024–2034 base year to 179,600 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 14,300 jobs, or +8.7%. Much faster than average: 8.7% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 9,600 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:** Doctoral or professional degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### 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 |
| --- | --- |
| Doctoral Degree | 35.9% |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 24.7% |
| Master's Degree | 24.6% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 8.0% |
| Post-Master's Certificate | 6.9% |

## What the work involves

- Follow strict safety procedures when handling toxic materials to avoid contamination.
- Write and publish articles in scientific journals.
- Conduct research to develop methodologies, instrumentation, and procedures for medical application, analyzing data and presenting findings to the scientific audience and general public.
- Plan and direct studies to investigate human or animal disease, preventive methods, and treatments for disease.
- Evaluate effects of drugs, gases, pesticides, parasites, and microorganisms at various levels.
- Prepare and analyze organ, tissue, and cell samples to identify toxicity, bacteria, or microorganisms or to study cell structure.
- Teach principles of medicine and medical and laboratory procedures to physicians, residents, students, and technicians.
- Write applications for research grants.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Writing — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- 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
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.6 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.

- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Biology — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Chemistry — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- 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
- Deductive Reasoning — 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 | 7.00 |
| R — Realistic | 4.27 |
| C — Conventional | 3.70 |
| S — Social | 3.29 |
| A — Artistic | 2.42 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.22 |

### 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 | 81.3 |
| ISTP | 74.8 |
| ISTJ | 73.6 |
| INTP | 71.7 |
| INFJ | 57.4 |

Best-fitting types: INTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Geneticist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geneticist) — median $98,920
- [Biochemist and Biophysicist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biochemist-and-biophysicist) — median $127,410
- [Pathologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pathologist) — median $312,400
- [Microbiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/microbiologist) — median $87,990
- [Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-and-clinical-laboratory-technologist) — median $62,930
- [Epidemiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/epidemiologist) — median $87,220
- [Molecular and Cellular Biologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/molecular-and-cellular-biologist) — median $98,920
- [Cytogenetic Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cytogenetic-technologist) — median $62,930
- [Histotechnologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/histotechnologist) — median $62,930
- [Clinical Neuropsychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-neuropsychologist) — median $110,840

## 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/medical-scientist