JobAfterNext

Data Scientists

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.

Wages

Median annual wage, U.S.$120,230
Employment, U.S.262,440
Median hourly wage$57.80
Annual wage percentiles, U.S., May 2025
10th25thMedian75th90th
$67,240$85,660$120,230$158,880$199,130
By state (50)
StateEmploymentMedian annualLocation quotient
Alabama1,740$103,1200.49
Alaska230$84,1100.43
Arizona4,560$107,2400.83
Arkansas530$109,3900.24
California39,310$141,5901.28
Colorado6,280$117,4001.29
Connecticut1,760$126,3400.61
Delaware770Not available0.94
District of Columbia2,680$126,4902.27
Florida10,240$115,8200.61
Georgia9,260$104,3401.12
Hawaii300$102,1300.29
Idaho1,350$89,3800.94
Illinois10,520$106,5601.02
Indiana3,580$91,4700.66
Iowa2,300$95,8300.87
Kansas490$98,1300.20
Kentucky1,540$91,7600.46
Louisiana1,300$78,7600.40
Maine1,210$90,8801.12
Maryland3,340$136,3700.72
Massachusetts9,420$131,7501.53
Michigan7,360$100,5900.99
Minnesota4,020$128,8000.81
Mississippi440$69,4900.23
Missouri4,730$97,0900.95
Montana220$100,4900.25
Nebraska1,980$98,2301.15
Nevada1,680$98,5400.64
New Hampshire1,100$100,6200.95
New Jersey6,430$135,2800.89
New Mexico560$95,8500.38
New York23,970$130,4601.47
North Carolina11,430$119,0901.37
North Dakota210$81,9000.29
Ohio6,100$102,6300.65
Oklahoma1,900$86,3100.66
Oregon2,140$125,9900.65
Pennsylvania13,810$106,8501.35
Rhode Island1,160$102,4401.37
South Carolina3,750$91,9900.96
South Dakota220$96,1500.29
Tennessee2,790$100,3300.50
Texas25,860$122,0901.09
Utah4,360$108,0901.49
Vermont200$127,0700.38
Virginia8,920$126,4301.29
Washington9,600$163,3501.60
West Virginia390$85,0900.33
Wisconsin4,370$106,6800.88

Similar occupations

Similarity is our measure: the cosine of importance x level over all 120 O*NET skills, knowledge areas and abilities. It is not an O*NET finding. More.

#OccupationJob ZoneSimilarity
1Statisticians50.955
2Business Intelligence Analysts40.947
3Financial Quantitative Analysts50.946
4Mathematicians50.943
5Biostatisticians50.936
6Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary50.935
7Statistical Assistants40.935
8Operations Research Analysts50.933
9Data Warehousing Specialists40.931
10Economists50.925

One skill away

Among the 50 occupations most similar to Data Scientists, those at the same Job Zone or lower, where exactly one skill rated at least 3 in importance needs a level more than 0.75 points higher (on O*NET's 0-7 level scale). Our definition. Change the thresholds.

OccupationSkill to buildLevel gapSimilarity
Statistical AssistantsProgramming3.500.935
Remote Sensing TechniciansSystems Analysis3.120.894
Intelligence AnalystsSystems Evaluation3.000.893

Software to learn next

Software used by at least 3 of the 20 occupations most similar to Data Scientists, excluding software Data Scientists already lists and any you named. Ranked by how many of them use it, weighted by how much more common it is among them than across all occupations (lift). Our ranking.

SoftwareSimilar jobs using itLift
Insightful S-PLUS9 of 2021.9x
Microsoft Visual Basic14 of 206.7x
MySQL11 of 2010.2x
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications VBA10 of 2010.3x
Wolfram Research Mathematica8 of 2012.3x
Microsoft Visual Studio9 of 209.0x
Minitab10 of 206.6x
Extensible markup language XML10 of 205.3x
STATISTICA5 of 2019.2x
Informatica software4 of 2036.9x

Skills

From O*NET data. Importance is rated 1 to 5 and level 0 to 7.

SkillTypeImportanceLevel
MathematicsEssential skill 4.38 5.00
Critical ThinkingEssential skill 4.25 4.62
Reading ComprehensionEssential skill 3.88 4.62
ProgrammingTransferable skill 3.75not rated
Complex Problem SolvingTransferable skill 3.75 4.12
Active LearningEssential skill 3.62 4.38
SpeakingEssential skill 3.62 3.75
WritingEssential skill 3.50 4.12
Active ListeningEssential skill 3.50 3.75
Judgment and Decision MakingTransferable skill 3.38 4.00
MonitoringEssential skill 3.25 3.62
Time ManagementTransferable skill 3.00 2.88
CoordinationTransferable skill 2.88 3.00
Social PerceptivenessTransferable skill 2.88 2.88
Systems AnalysisTransferable skill 2.75not rated
Systems EvaluationTransferable skill 2.75not rated
InstructingTransferable skill 2.75 3.12
Learning StrategiesEssential skill 2.75 3.00
PersuasionTransferable skill 2.75 3.00
ScienceEssential skill 2.50not rated
Service OrientationTransferable skill 2.50 2.75
Management of Personnel ResourcesTransferable skill 2.38 2.38
NegotiationTransferable skill 2.25 2.25
Operations MonitoringTransferable skill 1.88 1.38
Quality Control AnalysisTransferable skill 1.88 1.38
Technology DesignTransferable skill 1.62 1.00
Operations AnalysisTransferable skill 1.50not rated
Management of Material ResourcesTransferable skill 1.50 0.75
Management of Financial ResourcesTransferable skill 1.38 0.50
Operation and ControlTransferable skill 1.25not rated
Equipment SelectionTransferable skill 1.12not rated
TroubleshootingTransferable skill 1.12not rated
Equipment MaintenanceTransferable skill 1.00not rated
InstallationTransferable skill 1.00not rated
RepairingTransferable skill 1.00not rated
Knowledge (33) and abilities (52)
Knowledge
NameImportanceLevel
Mathematics 4.52 5.68
Computers and Electronics 4.24 5.84
English Language 3.00 3.44
Engineering and Technology 2.88 3.52
Education and Training 2.28 2.92
Communications and Media 2.20 2.08
Administration and Management 2.12 3.04
Design 2.12 2.48
Administrative 1.96 2.44
Customer and Personal Service 1.92 2.24
Sales and Marketing 1.92 2.08
Psychology 1.92 2.04
Production and Processing 1.84 2.00
Physics 1.84 1.92
Economics and Accounting 1.84 1.60
Personnel and Human Resources 1.80 2.16
Sociology and Anthropology 1.72 1.84
Law and Government 1.68 1.60
Public Safety and Security 1.56 1.04
Geography 1.52 1.68
Telecommunications 1.48 1.24
Medicine and Dentistry 1.44 1.00
Philosophy and Theology 1.40 0.92
Mechanical 1.36 0.50
Building and Construction 1.33not rated
Biology 1.28not rated
Chemistry 1.28not rated
Transportation 1.28not rated
History and Archeology 1.24not rated
Food Production 1.20not rated
Therapy and Counseling 1.20not rated
Fine Arts 1.12not rated
Foreign Language 1.12not rated
Abilities
NameImportanceLevel
Deductive Reasoning 4.25 4.75
Inductive Reasoning 4.25 4.75
Mathematical Reasoning 4.12 4.38
Information Ordering 4.12 4.12
Written Comprehension 4.00 4.50
Written Expression 3.88 4.25
Problem Sensitivity 3.88 4.00
Near Vision 3.88 3.88
Oral Comprehension 3.75 4.62
Category Flexibility 3.75 3.75
Oral Expression 3.62 4.50
Number Facility 3.62 4.00
Speech Clarity 3.62 3.62
Flexibility of Closure 3.50 3.50
Originality 3.38 3.88
Selective Attention 3.25 3.25
Speech Recognition 3.25 3.25
Fluency of Ideas 3.12 3.62
Speed of Closure 3.00 3.25
Perceptual Speed 2.88 2.88
Far Vision 2.62 2.88
Visualization 2.62 2.62
Time Sharing 2.50 2.38
Memorization 2.38 2.25
Trunk Strength 2.25 1.75
Wrist-Finger Speed 2.12 2.00
Visual Color Discrimination 1.75 1.38
Arm-Hand Steadiness 1.75 1.00
Auditory Attention 1.75 1.00
Finger Dexterity 1.75 1.00
Manual Dexterity 1.62 0.75
Hearing Sensitivity 1.50 0.75
Control Precision 1.50 0.50
Depth Perception 1.50 0.50
Dynamic Strength 1.38 0.38
Spatial Orientation 1.25not rated
Dynamic Flexibility 1.00not rated
Explosive Strength 1.00not rated
Extent Flexibility 1.00not rated
Glare Sensitivity 1.00not rated
Gross Body Coordination 1.00not rated
Gross Body Equilibrium 1.00not rated
Multilimb Coordination 1.00not rated
Night Vision 1.00not rated
Peripheral Vision 1.00not rated
Rate Control 1.00not rated
Reaction Time 1.00not rated
Response Orientation 1.00not rated
Sound Localization 1.00not rated
Speed of Limb Movement 1.00not rated
Stamina 1.00not rated
Static Strength 1.00not rated

Software used

Examples from O*NET data. "Hot" and "in demand" are O*NET flags for technologies often listed in job postings.

All 87
  • Bash hot
  • C hot
  • C# hot
  • Docker hot
  • Elasticsearch hot
  • GitHub hot
  • Go hot
  • Google Looker Analytics hot
  • IBM SPSS Statistics hot
  • JavaScript hot
  • JavaScript Object Notation JSON hot
  • Jenkins CI hot
  • Kubernetes hot
  • Linux hot
  • Microsoft Access hot
  • Microsoft Office software hot
  • Microsoft SQL Server hot
  • MongoDB hot
  • NoSQL hot
  • Oracle Java hot
  • Perl hot
  • PostgreSQL hot
  • Ruby hot
  • Scala hot
  • Shell script hot
  • Splunk Enterprise hot
  • Teradata Database hot
  • UNIX hot
  • Amazon Simple Storage Service S3
  • Amazon Web Services AWS SageMaker
  • Apache MXNet
  • Apache Pig
  • BigQuery
  • Business intelligence software
  • Flask
  • Geographic information system GIS systems
  • Google Cloud software
  • Julia
  • Jupyter software
  • Keras
  • Kubeflow
  • Management information systems MIS
  • MapReduce big data software
  • Mathematical software
  • Mlflow
  • Neo4j
  • OpenAI ChatGPT
  • PySpark
  • Qlik Tech QlikView
  • RESTful API
  • Reporting software
  • SciPy
  • Shiny
  • StataCorp Stata
  • Statistical software
  • XGBoost
  • spaCy

Where it concentrates

Metro areas ranked by BLS location quotient: the occupation's share of the area's jobs divided by its share of all US jobs. Above 1 means more concentrated than the nation. Metros employing fewer than 100 are left out.

Metro areaEmploymentLocation quotientMedian annual
Bloomington, IL5904.00$120,760
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA6,0603.16$185,080
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA10,4602.61$170,110
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA8,3702.38$164,740
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC1,3202.28$106,500
Salt Lake City-Murray, UT2,9702.13$114,990
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC4,4201.93$132,460
Madison, WI1,2901.87Not available
Oshkosh-Neenah, WI2901.85$100,920
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA1,2401.82$103,030

More metros, other thresholds