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Data Scientists

Typical education: Bachelor's degreeLower pressure Bright Outlook

What they do

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.

Kinds of work

  • Investigative: Science, research, figuring out how things work and solving complex problems.
  • Conventional: Organizing information, following clear procedures and working with data and details.

Lower pressure: How much pressure workers in this job report: deadlines, conflict, dealing with upset people, the cost of mistakes, responsibility for others' safety, competition and long hours. It varies a lot from one employer to the next. Source: U.S. Department of Labor worker surveys.

Pay, tasks and more

Salary

United States $120,230 Median per year · $57.80/hr Most earn $67,240–$199,130

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

What you might do

  • Deliver oral or written presentations of the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users.
  • 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.
  • Apply feature selection algorithms to models predicting outcomes of interest, such as sales, attrition, and healthcare use.
  • Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software.
  • Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software.

Job outlook

Bright Outlook Rapid Growth

United States
35% more jobs by 2035, much faster than average · about 24,800 openings a year

Openings include new jobs and jobs left by workers who retire or change careers. Projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Bright Outlook": U.S. Department of Labor.

Where they work

  • Computer systems design and related services9.8%
  • Management of companies and enterprises9.6%
  • Management, scientific, and technical consulting services5.4%
  • Credit intermediation and related activities4.7%
  • Computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting, and related services4.1%

Share of all workers in this career. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix.

Often remoteExperience before this job: 6 months to 1 year

Career path

How people usually get into this career, from school to their first job and beyond.

Typical education: Bachelor's degreeExperience before this job: 6 months to 1 year

Data Scientist is usually not an entry-level job straight out of school. Most people earn a bachelor's degree, work in a related data job for about 6 months to a year, and then move into data science roles.

  1. Bachelor's degree in statistics, math, computer science, or data science

    4 years

    You build the math, statistics, and programming base that data science depends on, and you can start practicing with real datasets in class projects.

  2. Data Analyst

    6 months to 1 year

    You clean data, build reports and dashboards, and answer business questions, which gives you real experience working with messy data before you build models.

  3. Data Scientist

    Career goal

    You apply data mining, machine learning, and visualization to large datasets and share what you find with others.

Where it can lead

  1. Senior Data Scientist

    2-4 years as a Data Scientist of experience first

    You take on harder projects with less supervision, design the analysis approach yourself, and mentor newer team members.

  2. Computer and Information Research Scientist

    2-4 years in a related technical role, often with a master's degree of experience first

    You shift toward research, developing new algorithms and methods, which usually requires advanced study and a strong record of published or applied work.

What you can do now

Ideas for high school and college students.

In high school

  • Take statistics and the highest math you canStrong math, especially statistics and precalculus, is the foundation for everything in data science.
  • Learn basic programmingAn intro coding class or a beginner Python course will prepare you for the programming work you'd do in college.
  • Join a math, science, or robotics club or competitionTeams that analyze data or build projects let you practice teamwork and problem solving with real numbers.
  • Get a starter job or volunteer with dataHelping track inventory, keep records, or organize information for a local group teaches you to work carefully with data.
  • Do a science fair project using dataCollecting, graphing, and explaining results shows you what the day-to-day work of a data scientist feels like.

In college

  • Major in statistics, computer science, math, or data scienceThese majors cover the statistics, programming, and modeling skills that data science jobs ask for.
  • Get a data internship or research assistant jobReal projects on the job or in a campus lab build the experience employers look for when hiring for your first data role.
  • Take courses in databases and machine learningSQL and machine learning are core skills, and showing them on your transcript and resume helps you stand out.
  • Join a data science or coding clubClub projects and hackathons give you teamwork practice and something concrete to show employers.
  • Earn a certification in a data toolA certificate in a common tool like Excel, SQL, or a cloud data platform can show employers you have hands-on skills.

Tips for getting started

  • Learn Python or R and SQL early, since almost every data science job asks for them. Free online courses and practice on public datasets can show what you can do.
  • Build a small portfolio of projects you finish and explain, such as analyzing a sports or local government dataset and presenting the results clearly.
  • Look for internships or part-time data work, even in non-tech settings, because real experience is what gets you the first data job.

Related jobs a step up

Education, experience and related careers: U.S. Department of Labor. The step-by-step path, where it can lead and what you can do now were written by AI as typical examples; many people take other ways.

College majors that lead here

  • Computer and Information Sciences, General Bachelor's degree: typical pay 1 year after finishing $66,567 a year · typical debt $20,646
  • Computer Science Bachelor's degree: typical pay 1 year after finishing $73,638 a year · typical debt $20,500
  • Economics Bachelor's degree: typical pay 1 year after finishing $58,734 a year · typical debt $18,968
  • Mathematics Bachelor's degree: typical pay 1 year after finishing $53,660 a year · typical debt $19,250
  • Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Bachelor's degree: typical pay 1 year after finishing $66,366 a year · typical debt $20,500
  • Chemistry Bachelor's degree: typical pay 1 year after finishing $48,530 a year · typical debt $19,800

Majors: U.S. Department of Education and BLS (CIP–SOC crosswalk). Earnings and debt: College Scorecard, typical across U.S. colleges.

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