Data scientists salary
| Measure | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $67,240 | $32.33 |
| Median (50th percentile) | $120,230 | $57.80 |
| Mean (average) | $126,800 | $60.96 |
| 90th percentile | $199,130 | $95.74 |
These wages describe everyone employed in the occupation, from new entrants to experienced workers. They are not starting salaries and not earnings of graduates from any particular program. Verified data
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, National. May 2025 reference period. Published April 30, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.
Data scientists pay by state and metro area
AK$84.1KME$90.9KVT$127KNH$101KWA$163KID$89.4KMT$100KND$81.9KMN$129KIL$107KWI$107KMI$101KNY$130KRI$102KMA$132KOR$126KNV$98.5KWYSD$96.2KIA$95.8KIN$91.5KOH$103KPA$107KNJ$135KCT$126KCA$142KUT$108KCO$117KNE$98.2KMO$97.1KKY$91.8KWV$85.1KVA$126KMD$136KDEAZ$107KNM$95.8KKS$98.1KAR$109KTN$100KNC$119KSC$92.0KDC$126KOK$86.3KLA$78.8KMS$69.5KAL$103KGA$104KHI$102KTX$122KFL$116K
$69.5K$163K
Table: median wage and employment for all 51 states and territories
| State | Median | 10th pct | 90th pct | Employment | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $103,120 | $59,130 | $161,590 | 1,740 | 0.49 |
| Alaska | $84,110 | $51,550 | $138,400 | 230 | 0.43 |
| Arizona | $107,240 | $65,200 | $161,730 | 4,560 | 0.83 |
| Arkansas | $109,390 | $67,090 | $169,110 | 530 | 0.24 |
| California | $141,590 | $77,480 | $224,920 | 39,310 | 1.28 |
| Colorado | $117,400 | $74,470 | $189,630 | 6,280 | 1.29 |
| Connecticut | $126,340 | $75,700 | $204,680 | 1,760 | 0.61 |
| Delaware | Data unavailable | 770 | 0.94 | ||
| District of Columbia | $126,490 | $89,750 | $209,730 | 2,680 | 2.27 |
| Florida | $115,820 | $63,080 | $174,140 | 10,240 | 0.61 |
| Georgia | $104,340 | $67,750 | $170,010 | 9,260 | 1.12 |
| Hawaii | $102,130 | $77,270 | $172,870 | 300 | 0.29 |
| Idaho | $89,380 | $63,980 | $169,010 | 1,350 | 0.94 |
| Illinois | $106,560 | $68,810 | $168,880 | 10,520 | 1.02 |
| Indiana | $91,470 | $58,750 | $141,250 | 3,580 | 0.66 |
| Iowa | $95,830 | $56,070 | $146,700 | 2,300 | 0.87 |
| Kansas | $98,130 | $60,520 | $154,990 | 490 | 0.2 |
| Kentucky | $91,760 | $61,990 | $156,480 | 1,540 | 0.46 |
| Louisiana | $78,760 | $53,050 | $128,210 | 1,300 | 0.4 |
| Maine | $90,880 | $60,280 | $138,530 | 1,210 | 1.12 |
| Maryland | $136,370 | $77,930 | $213,270 | 3,340 | 0.72 |
| Massachusetts | $131,750 | $81,030 | $206,220 | 9,420 | 1.53 |
| Michigan | $100,590 | $60,830 | $162,670 | 7,360 | 0.99 |
| Minnesota | $128,800 | $65,730 | $179,640 | 4,020 | 0.81 |
| Mississippi | $69,490 | $43,940 | $125,990 | 440 | 0.23 |
| Missouri | $97,090 | $58,960 | $151,380 | 4,730 | 0.95 |
| Montana | $100,490 | $67,120 | $167,150 | 220 | 0.25 |
| Nebraska | $98,230 | $66,230 | $133,140 | 1,980 | 1.15 |
| Nevada | $98,540 | $57,150 | $164,110 | 1,680 | 0.64 |
| New Hampshire | $100,620 | $73,480 | $155,020 | 1,100 | 0.95 |
| New Jersey | $135,280 | $80,720 | $203,950 | 6,430 | 0.89 |
| New Mexico | $95,850 | $49,990 | $133,660 | 560 | 0.38 |
| New York | $130,460 | $73,330 | $214,080 | 23,970 | 1.47 |
| North Carolina | $119,090 | $65,970 | $172,830 | 11,430 | 1.37 |
| North Dakota | $81,900 | $59,030 | $126,710 | 210 | 0.29 |
| Ohio | $102,630 | $61,710 | $160,650 | 6,100 | 0.65 |
| Oklahoma | $86,310 | $58,690 | $145,580 | 1,900 | 0.66 |
| Oregon | $125,990 | $78,110 | $206,550 | 2,140 | 0.65 |
| Pennsylvania | $106,850 | $63,340 | $162,290 | 13,810 | 1.35 |
| Puerto Rico | $80,350 | $56,880 | $108,890 | 100 | 0.07 |
| Rhode Island | $102,440 | $75,310 | $158,820 | 1,160 | 1.37 |
| South Carolina | $91,990 | $61,600 | $156,000 | 3,750 | 0.96 |
| South Dakota | $96,150 | $67,510 | $145,510 | 220 | 0.29 |
| Tennessee | $100,330 | $60,200 | $156,160 | 2,790 | 0.5 |
| Texas | $122,090 | $64,540 | $170,780 | 25,860 | 1.09 |
| Utah | $108,090 | $60,680 | $167,890 | 4,360 | 1.49 |
| Vermont | $127,070 | $76,570 | $160,430 | 200 | 0.38 |
| Virginia | $126,430 | $76,420 | $207,890 | 8,920 | 1.29 |
| Washington | $163,350 | $79,930 | $220,040 | 9,600 | 1.6 |
| West Virginia | $85,090 | $57,500 | $125,100 | 390 | 0.33 |
| Wisconsin | $106,680 | $76,300 | $168,810 | 4,370 | 0.88 |
A location quotient above 1 means the occupation is more concentrated in that state than in the nation overall.
Metro areas with the most jobs
Highest paying metro areas
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, State. May 2025 reference period. Published April 30, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Metropolitan areas. May 2025 reference period. Published April 30, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.
Job outlook for data scientists
- Average annual openings, 2025 to 2035: 24,800. Openings include new jobs plus replacement needs when workers retire or leave the occupation. Official projection
- Share of workers who are self-employed (2025): 1.9%.
- Read the official BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook profile.
These are official BLS projections. ConnectPrep does not alter them or present its own forecasts as official statistics.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, Table 1.2: Occupational projections, 2025-35, and worker characteristics, 2025. Base year 2025, projected year 2035. Published August 27, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.
Education and training for data scientists
- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- Related work experience
- None
- On-the-job training
- None
- O*NET Job Zone
- Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Highest education of people working in this occupation
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, Education and training tables 5.1 to 5.4. Attainment 2023-24 (ACS); wages 2025; projections 2025-35. Published August 27, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.
O*NET describes this preparation level as: Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Degrees and programs that lead to this career
Programs officially mapped to this occupation in the NCES and BLS CIP to SOC crosswalk. A mapping means the program commonly prepares students for the occupation, not that every graduate works in it. Official crosswalk
- Artificial Intelligence CIP 11.0102
- Information Technology CIP 11.0103
- Computer Science CIP 11.0701
- Data Modeling/Warehousing and Database Administration CIP 11.0802
- Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation CIP 11.0804
- Bioinformatics CIP 26.1103
- Computational Biology CIP 26.1104
- Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Other CIP 26.1199
- Mathematics, General CIP 27.0101
- Applied Mathematics, General CIP 27.0301
- Computational Mathematics CIP 27.0303
- Computational and Applied Mathematics CIP 27.0304
- Financial Mathematics CIP 27.0305
- Mathematical Biology CIP 27.0306
- Applied Mathematics, Other CIP 27.0399
- Statistics, General CIP 27.0501
- Mathematical Statistics and Probability CIP 27.0502
- Mathematics and Statistics CIP 27.0503
- Applied Statistics, General CIP 27.0601
- Mathematics and Statistics, Other CIP 27.9999
- Mathematics and Computer Science CIP 30.0801
- Computational Science CIP 30.3001
- Economics and Computer Science CIP 30.3901
- Linguistics and Computer Science CIP 30.4801
- Data Science, General CIP 30.7001
- Data Science, Other CIP 30.7099
- Data Analytics, General CIP 30.7101
- Business Analytics CIP 30.7102
- Data Visualization CIP 30.7103
- Financial Analytics CIP 30.7104
Source: National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk. CIP 2020 and SOC 2018 taxonomies. Published April 30, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.
Skills, knowledge, and daily work
Most important skills
Most important knowledge areas
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.
Technology skills
- Amazon Web Services AWS software (in demand)
- Apache Hadoop (in demand)
- Apache Spark (in demand)
- C++ (in demand)
- Git (in demand)
- Microsoft Azure software (in demand)
- Microsoft Excel (in demand)
- Microsoft Power BI (in demand)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (in demand)
- PyTorch (in demand)
- Python (in demand)
- R (in demand)
- SAS (in demand)
- Snowflake (in demand)
- Structured query language SQL (in demand)
- Tableau (in demand)
Transferable skills for career changers: Complex Problem Solving, Programming, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management, Social Perceptiveness, Coordination.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. ConnectPrep has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Source: National Center for O*NET Development for USDOL/ETA, O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026 release). Database release 31.0, August 2026; element dates vary by occupation. Published August 25, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.
Is it worth it? Model the cost of getting there
Use the ROI calculator to compare the cost of the education this career usually requires against staying on your current path. It starts from the official wage distribution above, and you can change every assumption.
Frequently asked questions
How much do data scientists make?
The national median annual wage for data scientists was $120,230 in May 2025, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. The lowest paid 10 percent earned less than $67,240 and the highest paid 10 percent earned more than $199,130. These figures cover all workers in the occupation, not only new entrants.
What education do data scientists need?
BLS lists bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation, with none of related work experience and none on-the-job training typically needed to become competent.
Is data scientists a growing career?
BLS projects employment of data scientists to change +34.6% from 2025 to 2035, compared with +3.5% for all occupations. About 24,800 openings are projected each year on average, including openings from workers who retire or change occupations.
Which states pay data scientists the most?
By median annual wage in May 2025, the highest paying states were Washington ($163,350), California ($141,590), Maryland ($136,370). Pay differences partly reflect differences in living costs.