Statisticians: pay, outlook and skills
Develop or apply mathematical or statistical theory and methods to collect, organize, interpret, and summarize numerical data to provide usable information. May specialize in fields such as biostatistics, agricultural statistics, business statistics, or economic statistics. Includes mathematical and survey statisticians.
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 | $64,000 | - |
| 25th percentile | $82,220 | - |
| Median | $105,650 | - |
| 75th percentile | $141,490 | - |
| 90th percentile | $174,050 | - |
| People employed | 29,030 | - |
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 or apply mathematical or statistical theory and methods to collect, organize, interpret, and summarize numerical data to provide usable information. May specialize in fields such as biostatistics, agricultural statistics, business statistics, or economic statistics. Includes mathematical and survey statisticians.
Most important skills
- Mathematics4.9 / 5
- Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
- Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
- Active Listening3.9 / 5
- Complex Problem Solving3.9 / 5
- Speaking3.9 / 5
- Active Learning3.8 / 5
- Writing3.8 / 5
- Science3.5 / 5
- Judgment and Decision Making3.4 / 5
- Learning Strategies3.1 / 5
- Monitoring3.0 / 5
O*NET importance rating, 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Software and technology
- Analytical or scientific softwareIBM SPSS Statistics (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), SAS (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), SAS JMP (in demand for this occupation), StataCorp Stata (in demand for this occupation), Statistical software (in demand for this occupation), The MathWorks MATLAB (hot technology)
- Data base user interface and query softwareStructured query language SQL (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Amazon Redshift (hot technology), Amazon Web Services AWS software (hot technology), IBM DB2 (hot technology), Microsoft Access (hot technology), Microsoft SQL Server (hot technology)
- Object or component oriented development softwarePython (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), R (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), C++ (hot technology), SAP PowerBuilder, Sun Microsystems Java
- Business intelligence and data analysis softwareTableau (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Apache Spark (hot technology), Qlik Tech QlikView
- Spreadsheet softwareMicrosoft Excel (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Office suite softwareMicrosoft Office software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology)
- Development environment softwareMicrosoft Visual Basic (hot technology), Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications VBA (hot technology), Common business oriented language COBOL, Formula translation/translator FORTRAN
- Data mining softwareAngoss KnowledgeSEEKER, NCR Teradata Warehouse Miner, SAS Enterprise Miner
- Data base management system softwareApache Hadoop (hot technology), Teradata Database (hot technology), Apache Pig
- Enterprise application integration softwareExtensible markup language XML (hot technology), SAS/CONNECT
- Operating system softwareLinux (hot technology), UNIX (hot technology)
- Presentation softwareMicrosoft PowerPoint (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 and interpret statistical data to identify significant differences in relationships among sources of information.
- Evaluate the statistical methods and procedures used to obtain data to ensure validity, applicability, efficiency, and accuracy.
- Report results of statistical analyses, including information in the form of graphs, charts, and tables.
- Determine whether statistical methods are appropriate, based on user needs or research questions of interest.
- Prepare data for processing by organizing information, checking for inaccuracies, and adjusting and weighting the raw data.
- Develop and test experimental designs, sampling techniques, and analytical methods.
- Identify relationships and trends in data, as well as any factors that could affect the results of research.
- Present statistical and nonstatistical results, using charts, bullets, and graphs, in meetings or conferences to audiences such as clients, peers, and students.
- Design research projects that apply valid scientific techniques, and use information obtained from baselines or historical data to structure uncompromised and efficient analyses.
- Adapt statistical methods to solve specific problems in many fields, such as economics, biology, and engineering.
Also advertised as: Database Analyst, Demographer, Education Research Analyst, Mathematical Statistician, Psychometric Consultant, Quantitative Methodologist, Statistical Analyst, Statistical Consultant.
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.