---
title: "Political Scientist"
description: "Study the origin, development, and operation of political systems. May study topics, such as public opinion, political decisionmaking, and ideology. May…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/political-scientist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Political Scientist

**Category:** Life, Physical, and Social Science · **SOC code:** 19-3094 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 19-3094.00

Study the origin, development, and operation of political systems. May study topics, such as public opinion, political decisionmaking, and ideology. May analyze the structure and operation of governments, as well as various political entities. May conduct public opinion surveys, analyze election results, or analyze public documents.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $142,080 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $68.31/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $83,350 to $195,190, with the middle half between $114,030 and $174,180
- **Total US employment:** 5,540
- **Typical entry education:** Master's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -2.0% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 400 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 15/100 — 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 5,540 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $83,350 |
| 25th | $114,030 |
| 50th (median) | $142,080 |
| 75th | $174,180 |
| 90th | $195,190 |
| Mean (average) | $142,510 |

### Pay by state

The 13 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MD | $153,380 | $146,133 | 100 |
| DC | $152,530 | $138,789 | 3,070 |
| WA | $147,060 | $137,423 | 110 |
| PA | $140,020 | $143,504 | 70 |
| MA | $133,930 | $126,639 | 170 |
| CO | $127,260 | $123,491 | 30 |
| OR | $119,460 | $115,576 | Not published by BLS |
| OH | $119,370 | $128,668 | 40 |
| TX | $114,050 | $117,508 | 160 |
| AZ | $108,770 | $108,039 | 50 |
| IL | $103,780 | $103,824 | 110 |
| MI | $86,290 | $89,683 | 180 |
| NH | $74,560 | $71,579 | Not published by BLS |

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 6,100 in the 2025–2035 base year to 6,000 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 100 jobs, or -2.0%. Declining: -2.0% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 400 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:** Master's 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 | 88.5% |
| Master's Degree | 7.7% |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 3.9% |

## What the work involves

- Teach political science.
- Maintain current knowledge of government policy decisions.
- Develop and test theories, using information from interviews, newspapers, periodicals, case law, historical papers, polls, or statistical sources.
- Disseminate research results through academic publications, written reports, or public presentations.
- Advise political science students.
- Collect, analyze, and interpret data, such as election results and public opinion surveys, reporting on findings, recommendations, and conclusions.
- Interpret and analyze policies, public issues, legislation, or the operations of governments, businesses, and organizations.
- Identify issues for research and analysis.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 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.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 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

### Knowledge areas

- Law and Government — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- History and Archeology — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Communications and Media — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Written Comprehension — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 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
- Speech Clarity — 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), Artistic (A), Enterprising (E).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 6.71 |
| A — Artistic | 3.87 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.61 |
| C — Conventional | 3.52 |
| S — Social | 3.42 |
| R — Realistic | 1.00 |

### 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 | 71.4 |
| INTP | 69.5 |
| INFJ | 69.1 |
| INFP | 65.6 |
| ENTP | 65.6 |

Best-fitting types: INTJ, INTP, INFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Political Science Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/political-science-teacher-postsecondary) — median $98,070
- [Sociologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sociologist) — median $106,030
- [Economist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/economist) — median $124,720
- [Law Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/law-teacher-postsecondary) — median $128,500
- [Legislator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/legislator) — median Not published by BLS
- [Sociology Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sociology-teacher-postsecondary) — median $84,290
- [Climate Change Policy Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/climate-change-policy-analyst) — median $82,220
- [Economics Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/economics-teacher-postsecondary) — median $123,920
- [Environmental Economist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-economist) — median $124,720
- [Survey Researcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/survey-researcher) — median $69,460

## 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

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