How to become a Physicist: education, training and skills.
What workers in the job actually report about their education, experience and training, the skills to build first, and the stepping-stone roles that lead in.
- 49% Doctoral Degree
- 39% Post-Doctoral Training
- 8% Post-Master's Certificate
- 4% Bachelor's Degree
BLS typical entry-level education: a doctoral or professional degree
BLS lists a doctoral or professional degree as the typical entry-level education for physicists in the United States (Employment Projections, 2025–35). Among physicists surveyed by O*NET, 49% report needing a doctoral degree, the most common answer. O*NET places the job in Job Zone 5 of 5 (extensive preparation). The most common answer for related work experience was “over 2 years, up to and including 4 years” (37%), and for on-the-job training “over 6 months, up to and including 1 year” (24%).
What BLS lists for physicists
According to BLS 2025–35 projections data, physicists in the United States typically need no work experience in a related occupation to enter the occupation.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
Once hired, physicists in the United States typically need no on-the-job training to become fully competent, according to BLS 2025–35 projections data.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
Six steps to becoming a Physicist
Data Steps 1 to 5 summarise BLS and O*NET data for the role; step 6 is advice.
- EducationPlan for a doctoral or professional degree
BLS typical entry-level education, 2025–35 projections. In O*NET's worker survey, 49% report a doctoral degree.
- TrainingExpect on-the-job training
Most common: over 6 months, up to and including 1 year.
- ExperienceRelated experience
Most common: over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (37% of workers).
- SkillsBuild the core skills
Science, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension are rated most important.
- ToolsLearn the tools
Adobe Photoshop, Ansible software, Autodesk AutoCAD.
- CredentialsCheck licensing where you live
Many occupations need a state license or certification. Requirements vary by state, so confirm with your state's licensing board.
What workers report
Data Share of workers giving each answer, O*NET.
O*NET Job Zone 5 (Extensive Preparation Needed): Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Related roles that need less preparation
Data O*NET related occupations in a lower Job Zone with a skill match of 65% or more.
Data Pay once you are in the job: the BLS median is $172,250; the lowest-paid quarter earn $111,720 or less. See the full Physicist salary data.
How this page is built
Education, experience, training and Job Zone come from O*NET 31.0 survey data for the occupation. The typical entry-level education, work experience and on-the-job training lines come from BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35. O*NET answers with low-precision estimates are not shown, and an answer is called the most common only when no hidden answer could be larger. Stepping-stone roles use our skill-match score: 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.
- Licensing rules in your state.
- Requirements at a specific employer.
- How long the path will take you personally.
- 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).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.
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