Data Scientist: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of data scientists earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $67,240
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of data scientists earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $85,660
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of data scientists earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $120,230
- Hourly
- $57.80
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of data scientists earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $158,880
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of data scientists earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $199,130
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Data Scientists 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. The median pay is $120,230 a year ($57.80 an hour) (BLS, May 2025).
- Median pay
- $120,230
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 262,440
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- considerable preparation
Every page for Data Scientists
Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.
Open →ResumeData Scientist resumeKeywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.
Open →Interview questionsData Scientist interview questionsQuestions with what they test, plus practice mode.
Open →Career changeData Scientist career changeWhere these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.
Open →Free toolCheck your resumeParsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.
Open →What data scientists do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- 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.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Mathematics, Computers and Electronics, English Language.
Software data scientists use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- Apache HadoopData base management system softwareIn demand
- GitFile versioning softwareIn demand
- SASAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- SnowflakeData mining softwareIn demand
- TensorFlowAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- The MathWorks MATLABAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- Apache AirflowProcedure management softwareHot technology
- Apache CassandraData base management system softwareHot technology
- Apache HiveData base management system softwareHot technology
- Atlassian JIRAContent workflow softwareHot technology
- DockerApplication server softwareHot technology
- ElasticsearchData base management system softwareHot technology
Similar careers to explore
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).