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Role hub · Mathematicians

Mathematician: 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.

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Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of mathematicians earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$126,710
Hourly
$60.92
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Mathematicians conduct research in fundamental mathematics or in application of mathematical techniques to science, management, and other fields. The median pay is $126,710 a year ($60.92 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a doctoral degree (45% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$126,710
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
2,030
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Most common education
Doctoral Degree
45% of workers
Key facts

Mathematicians at a glance

  • Mathematicians in the United States earned a median annual wage of $126,710 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 master's degree as the typical entry-level education for mathematicians in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of mathematicians in the United States to grow 0.6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 100 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimated that 2,030 people were employed as mathematicians in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

Explore the role

Every page for Mathematicians

How to becomeMathematician how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →Career changeMathematician career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

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The work

What mathematicians do day to day

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

  1. Mentor others on mathematical techniques.
  2. Maintain knowledge in the field by reading professional journals, talking with other mathematicians, and attending professional conferences.
  3. Develop new principles and new relationships between existing mathematical principles to advance mathematical science.
  4. Disseminate research by writing reports, publishing papers, or presenting at professional conferences.
  5. Assemble sets of assumptions, and explore the consequences of each set.
  6. Perform computations and apply methods of numerical analysis to data.
  7. Address the relationships of quantities, magnitudes, and forms through the use of numbers and symbols.
  8. Conduct research to extend mathematical knowledge in traditional areas, such as algebra, geometry, probability, and logic.
Where this career works

Industries that employ it

Data Share of all mathematician jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).

  1. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals55.2% of all jobs in this occupation · -5.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $136,470
  2. Professional, scientific, and technical services11.8% of all jobs in this occupation · +14.0% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $153,860
  3. Miscellaneous manufacturing2.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +3.0% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $115,650
  4. Transportation equipment manufacturing2.8% of all jobs in this occupation · +10.7% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $179,370

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.

MathematicscoreCritical ThinkingcoreComplex Problem SolvingcoreReading ComprehensionActive LearningJudgment and Decision MakingWritingScienceActive Listening

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

Tools and technology

Software mathematicians use

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

  • Atlassian JIRAContent workflow softwareIn demand
  • The MathWorks MATLABAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
  • Chatbot softwareIndustrial control softwareIn demand
  • Perforce softwareMetadata management softwareIn demand
  • Version control softwareFile versioning softwareIn demand
  • Adobe PhotoshopGraphics or photo imaging softwareHot technology
  • Extensible markup language XMLEnterprise application integration softwareHot technology
  • IBM SPSS StatisticsAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
  • MySQLData base management system softwareHot technology
  • SASAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
  • AMPLAnalytical or scientific software
  • ARfitAnalytical or scientific software

Also called: Agent-Based Modeler, Computational Mathematician, Computational Scientist, Cryptographer, Cryptographic Vulnerability Analyst.

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.