Skip to content
TryHired.
Role hub · Geneticists

Geneticist: 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.

BLS does not publish pay for geneticists separately. Every pay figure on this page is for the BLS occupation “Biological Scientists, All Other” (SOC 19-1029), which includes geneticists and other jobs; it is not a figure for geneticists alone.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of workers in the BLS occupation “Biological Scientists, All Other” earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$98,920
Hourly
$47.56
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Geneticists research and study the inheritance of traits at the molecular, organism or population level. The median pay is $98,920 a year ($47.56 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is post-doctoral training (36% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$98,920
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
55,850
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Most common education
Post-Doctoral Training
36% of workers
Key facts

Geneticists at a glance

  • Workers in the BLS occupation “Biological Scientists, All Other” (which includes geneticists) in the United States earned a median annual wage of $98,920 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for geneticists in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimated that 55,850 people were employed as geneticists in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

Explore the role

Every page for Geneticists

SalaryBiological Scientists, All Other salary

BLS pay data for this occupation, by state and percentile.

Open →How to becomeGeneticist how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeGeneticist resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What geneticists do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Supervise or direct the work of other geneticists, biologists, technicians, or biometricians working on genetics research projects.
  2. Plan or conduct basic genomic and biological research related to areas such as regulation of gene expression, protein interactions, metabolic networks, and nucleic acid or protein complexes.
  3. Prepare results of experimental findings for presentation at professional conferences or in scientific journals.
  4. Maintain laboratory notebooks that record research methods, procedures, and results.
  5. Write grants and papers or attend fundraising events to seek research funds.
  6. Search scientific literature to select and modify methods and procedures most appropriate for genetic research goals.
  7. Review, approve, or interpret genetic laboratory results.
  8. Attend clinical and research conferences and read scientific literature to keep abreast of technological advances and current genetic research findings.
Where this career works

Industries that employ it

Data Share of all geneticist jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix). Figures cover all biological scientists, all other (SOC 19-1029), the broader occupation.

  1. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals38.9% of all jobs in this occupation · -4.6% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $100,460
  2. Professional, scientific, and technical services33.8% of all jobs in this occupation · +15.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $113,390
  3. Educational services; state, local, and private10.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +2.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $81,190
  4. Chemical manufacturing3.8% of all jobs in this occupation · +6.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $123,970
  5. Ambulatory healthcare services3.0% of all jobs in this occupation · +8.7% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $110,020
  6. Computer and electronic product manufacturing1.6% of all jobs in this occupation · +4.6% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $144,420

Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.

Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Reading ComprehensioncoreSciencecoreComplex Problem SolvingcoreJudgment and Decision MakingActive ListeningWritingSpeakingCritical ThinkingActive Learning

Knowledge areas: Biology, English Language, Education and Training, Mathematics, Chemistry, Computers and Electronics.

Tools and technology

Software geneticists use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • GitFile versioning softwareHot technology
  • GitHubApplication server softwareHot technology
  • SASAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
  • Basic Local Alignment Search Tool BLASTAnalytical or scientific software
  • ClustalWAnalytical or scientific software
  • Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA sequence analysis softwareAnalytical or scientific software
  • Golden Helix HelixTreeData mining software
  • Insightful S-PLUSAnalytical or scientific software
  • MendelAnalytical or scientific software
  • PHYLIPAnalytical or scientific software
  • Plate reader softwareMedical software
  • RTI International SUDAANAnalytical or scientific software

Also called: Cardiovascular Geneticist, Medical Geneticist, Research Scientist, Scientist.

Method

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 cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).

How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.