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.
- Median annual earnings
- $119,406
- Projected change
- +33.7%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 270.26K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
36.2% of the workforce
Growing to 361.39K by 2035
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Build the skills
ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
The work
What data scientists do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Analyze, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical software.
- Apply feature selection algorithms to models predicting outcomes of interest, such as sales, attrition, and healthcare use.
- Apply sampling techniques to determine groups to be surveyed or use complete enumeration methods.
- Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software.
- Compare models using statistical performance metrics, such as loss functions or proportion of explained variance.
- Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software.
- Deliver oral or written presentations of the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users.
- Design surveys, opinion polls, or other instruments to collect data.
- Identify business problems or management objectives that can be addressed through data analysis.
- Identify relationships and trends or any factors that could affect the results of research.
- Identify solutions to business problems, such as budgeting, staffing, and marketing decisions, using the results of data analysis.
- Propose solutions in engineering, the sciences, and other fields using mathematical theories and techniques.
- Read scientific articles, conference papers, or other sources of research to identify emerging analytic trends and technologies.
- Recommend data-driven solutions to key stakeholders.
- Test, validate, and reformulate models to ensure accurate prediction of outcomes of interest.
- Write new functions or applications in programming languages to conduct analyses.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $66,421
- 25th percentile
- $84,874
- 50th percentile
- $119,406
- 75th percentile
- $159,162
- 90th percentile
- $200,715
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $119,406 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
91,134 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 36.2%
- Doctoral degree or more
- 32.9%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 22.5%
- Some college
- 8.4%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Data Scientists13,291 postings
- 02Data Science Managers1,660 postings
- 03Research Analysts1,547 postings
- 04Data Analytics Managers1,326 postings
- 05Directors of Data Science1,258 postings
- 06Data Modelers1,129 postings
- 07Principal Data Scientists1,059 postings
- 08Lead Data Scientists953 postings
- 09Modeling and Simulation Engineers795 postings
- 10Data Science Interns789 postings
- 11Analytics Managers736 postings
- 12Chief Data Scientists665 postings
- 13Machine Learning Engineers448 postings
- 14Principal Engineers394 postings
- 15Modeling Engineers388 postings
- 16Directors of Analytics367 postings
- 17Directors of Data Analytics353 postings
- 18Model Based Systems Engineers340 postings
- 19Analytics and Insights Managers329 postings
- 20Marketing Data Scientists313 postings
Top employers
- 01Capital One636 postings
- 02Amazon545 postings
- 03PricewaterhouseCoopers535 postings
- 04Google514 postings
- 05General Motors486 postings
- 06Apple458 postings
- 07JPMorgan Chase449 postings
- 08CVS Health423 postings
- 09Stiftelsen Norstella410 postings
- 10Deloitte354 postings
- 11Walmart339 postings
- 12Northrop Grumman327 postings
- 13Booz Allen Hamilton323 postings
- 14Centerwell Limited Partnership313 postings
- 15Sedgwick305 postings
- 16Intermountain Health300 postings
- 17Baylor Scott & White Health289 postings
- 18Lockheed Martin279 postings
- 19USAA273 postings
- 20Accenture269 postings
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