Data scientists: pay, outlook and skills
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.
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 | $67,240 | - |
| 25th percentile | $85,660 | - |
| Median | $120,230 | - |
| 75th percentile | $158,880 | - |
| 90th percentile | $199,130 | - |
| People employed | 262,440 | - |
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.
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.
Most important skills
- Mathematics4.4 / 5
- Critical Thinking4.3 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
- Complex Problem Solving3.8 / 5
- Programming3.8 / 5
- Active Learning3.6 / 5
- Speaking3.6 / 5
- Active Listening3.5 / 5
- Writing3.5 / 5
- Judgment and Decision Making3.4 / 5
- Monitoring3.3 / 5
- Time Management3.0 / 5
O*NET importance rating, 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Software and technology
- Data base user interface and query softwareAmazon Web Services AWS software (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), NumPy (in demand for this occupation), pandas (in demand for this occupation), Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 (hot technology)
- Object or component oriented development softwareC++ (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Python (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), R (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), C# (hot technology), Oracle Java (hot technology), Perl (hot technology)
- Development environment softwareMicrosoft Azure software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Scikit-learn (in demand for this occupation), Apache Kafka (hot technology), C (hot technology), Go (hot technology), Ruby (hot technology)
- Analytical or scientific softwareSAS (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), TensorFlow (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), The MathWorks MATLAB (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), IBM SPSS Statistics (hot technology), Kubeflow, Mathematical software
- Business intelligence and data analysis softwareApache Spark (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Microsoft Power BI (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Tableau (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Alteryx software (hot technology), Google Looker Analytics (hot technology), Business intelligence software
- Data base management system softwareApache Hadoop (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Apache Cassandra (hot technology), Apache Hive (hot technology), Elasticsearch (hot technology), MongoDB (hot technology), NoSQL (hot technology)
- File versioning softwareGit (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Spreadsheet softwareMicrosoft Excel (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Presentation softwareMicrosoft PowerPoint (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Data mining softwareSnowflake (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Operating system softwareBash (hot technology), Linux (hot technology), Shell script (hot technology), UNIX (hot technology), Keras
- Application server softwareDocker (hot technology), GitHub (hot technology), Kubernetes (hot technology)
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, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical software.
- Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software.
- Test, validate, and reformulate models to ensure accurate prediction of outcomes of interest.
- Deliver oral or written presentations of the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users.
- Recommend data-driven solutions to key stakeholders.
- Identify business problems or management objectives that can be addressed through data analysis.
- Compare models using statistical performance metrics, such as loss functions or proportion of explained variance.
- Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software.
- Identify solutions to business problems, such as budgeting, staffing, and marketing decisions, using the results of data analysis.
- Apply feature selection algorithms to models predicting outcomes of interest, such as sales, attrition, and healthcare use.
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.