Computer and information research scientists: pay, outlook and skills
Conduct research into fundamental computer and information science as theorists, designers, or inventors. Develop solutions to problems in the field of computer hardware and software.
Pay distribution and location comparison
These are published pay distribution points for everyone working in this occupation, not pay levels for junior, mid, or senior roles. Location figures are pay as published; no cost-of-living adjustment is applied.
United States, all industries
| Pay point | United States | Selected area |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $82,200 | - |
| 25th percentile | $103,570 | - |
| Median | $140,300 | - |
| 75th percentile | $188,700 | - |
| 90th percentile | $230,630 | - |
| People employed | 37,200 | - |
Source: OEWS May 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file Reference period: OEWS May 2025.
Long-term outlook
Official ten-year projection for 2025 to 2035. Projected annual openings are an average per year over the decade, including openings from workers leaving the occupation. They are not a count of jobs open today.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file Employment is published in thousands of jobs and converted here to people.
OptimizeResume analysis using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. This is not a BLS statistic or a prediction that an individual will be hired.
Score trend
Historical scores may be restated when BLS revises underlying data. The chart uses the latest restated values.
Confidence
- At least 90% of required inputs and occupation-industry mapping are covered.
How this score is built
Monthly industry demand is mapped to this occupation using official occupation-industry relationships, then combined with occupation fundamentals and long-term projections.
Read Methodology v1.0Skills, software, and day-to-day work
Skill values are O*NET importance ratings on a 1-5 scale for the occupation itself. They describe what the work requires, not how much employers are hiring right now.
Most important skills
- Complex Problem Solving4.0 / 5
- Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
- Judgment and Decision Making4.0 / 5
- Active Listening3.8 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
- Systems Analysis3.8 / 5
- Programming3.6 / 5
- Systems Evaluation3.6 / 5
- Active Learning3.5 / 5
- Speaking3.5 / 5
- Mathematics3.4 / 5
- Time Management3.4 / 5
O*NET importance rating, 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Software and technology
- Development environment softwareApache Kafka (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), C (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Go (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Microsoft Azure software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Hugging Face (in demand for this occupation), Scikit-learn (in demand for this occupation)
- Analytical or scientific softwareTensorFlow (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), IBM SPSS Statistics (hot technology), SAS (hot technology), The MathWorks MATLAB (hot technology), Advanced numerical software, Algorithmic software
- Data base management system softwareApache Hadoop (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Vector database software (in demand for this occupation), Amazon DynamoDB (hot technology), Apache Cassandra (hot technology), Elasticsearch (hot technology), MongoDB (hot technology)
- Object or component oriented development softwareC++ (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Oracle Java (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Python (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), R (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Scala (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), LangChain (in demand for this occupation)
- Data base user interface and query softwareAmazon Web Services AWS software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Prometheus (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), PyTorch (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Structured query language SQL (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), pandas (in demand for this occupation), Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 (hot technology)
- Operating system softwareBash (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Linux (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Shell script (hot technology), UNIX (hot technology), UNIX Shell (hot technology), Microsoft Windows XP
- Business intelligence and data analysis softwareApache Spark (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Microsoft Power BI (hot technology), Tableau (hot technology), IBM Cognos Impromptu, MicroStrategy, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
- Configuration management softwareIBM Terraform (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Chef (hot technology), Puppet (hot technology), IBM Rational Apex, Perforce Software Configuration Management System
- Web platform development softwareJavaScript (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Django (hot technology), Node.js (hot technology), PHP (hot technology), Extensible stylesheet language transformations XSLT
- Application server softwareDocker (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), GitHub (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Kubernetes (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), GitLab (hot technology)
- Cloud-based management softwareAmazon Web Services AWS SageMaker (in demand for this occupation), Amazon Web Services AWS CloudFormation (hot technology), Splunk Enterprise (hot technology)
- Enterprise application integration softwareJenkins CI (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Extensible markup language XML (hot technology), IBM InfoSphere DataStage
O*NET marks individual examples only. “Hot technology” means the tool is frequently named across job postings generally; “in demand for this occupation” means O*NET recorded it as required by employers for this occupation. Unmarked examples are still commonly used.
Typical tasks
- Analyze problems to develop solutions involving computer hardware and software.
- Apply theoretical expertise and innovation to create or apply new technology, such as adapting principles for applying computers to new uses.
- Assign or schedule tasks to meet work priorities and goals.
- Meet with managers, vendors, and others to solicit cooperation and resolve problems.
- Design computers and the software that runs them.
- Conduct logical analyses of business, scientific, engineering, and other technical problems, formulating mathematical models of problems for solution by computers.
- Evaluate project plans and proposals to assess feasibility issues.
- Participate in multidisciplinary projects in areas such as virtual reality, human-computer interaction, or robotics.
- Consult with users, management, vendors, and technicians to determine computing needs and system requirements.
- Develop and interpret organizational goals, policies, and procedures.
Also advertised as: Computer Scientist, Computer Specialist, Control System Computer Scientist, Research Scientist, Scientific Programmer Analyst.
Check your resume against a real job posting
This page describes the occupation in general. A free scan compares your own resume with the specific job description you are applying to, requirement by requirement, and shows where your real experience is already strong and where it is simply not documented yet. Only experience you actually have should ever be added.
Scan my resume freeSource: O*NET Database version 31.0 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Used under CC BY 4.0. OptimizeResume has modified the data for display only: selected the most important rated skills, grouped software examples by category while keeping each example’s official flags, and shortened the task list.
Guides for applying to this work
Sources and how to read this page
Source: OEWS May 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file
O*NET 31.0 Database version 31.0 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0 and modified for display on this page. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
How each number should be read
- Pay percentiles describe the spread of pay across everyone in the occupation, not experience levels.
- Employment counts are jobs, not people hired during the year.
- Projected annual openings are a decade average from the official projection, not current vacancies.
- O*NET skill ratings describe the work, not employer hiring demand.
- Values BLS did not publish, suppressed, or top-coded are shown as such and never treated as zero.