Biostatisticians
Also called Biometrician, Biostatistician, Research Scientist, or Statistical Scientist
Updated · Source: O*NET 31.0
What Biostatisticians do
You use math to tell doctors whether a new medicine actually worked, or whether the results were just luck.
A biostatistician applies statistics to the study of living things: patients, diseases, drugs, populations. When a hospital or drug company runs a study, you help design it, decide how many patients it needs, write the code that analyzes the data, and then explain what the numbers do and do not prove.
Much of the job is quiet, focused work at a computer, writing analysis plans and using statistical software. The rest is people. You sit with physicians and life scientists to design studies, advise colleagues who need statistical help, and present tables and graphs to teams who are not statisticians. You are part of a research team, and you are the person responsible for the statistics and for checking that they are correct. Often you are also the one who says the evidence is not strong enough yet.
A day in the life
You start with email: a researcher wants to know how many patients she needs for her study, a clinical trial that tests whether a treatment works. You run that calculation and write back with the assumptions behind it. Then you settle in with a dataset, writing code to build a mathematical model that describes patterns in the data, then checking whether the results hold up. Late morning, you meet face to face with a physician to design a new study, turning her question into something you can actually measure. After lunch you build tables and graphs for a report, then draft the section explaining what the analysis found. You read a new research paper before you leave. Most of the day is sitting indoors, thinking hard.
This could fit you if you…
- ✓Enjoy math and want to use it on real health questions
- ✓Like being the person who checks whether a claim holds up
- ✓Can explain technical results to people without a statistics background
- ✓Are comfortable learning new methods and reading research papers for years
- ✓Want steady desk work with regular contact with doctors and scientists
You might not like it if you…
- –Want to be on your feet or outdoors rather than sitting at a computer
- –Dislike long stretches of careful, detailed work with code and data
- –Do not want to spend several years in school before starting
- –Get frustrated when your answer is uncertainty rather than a clean yes or no
How people get in
- 1In high school, take as much math as you can, plus biology, and try any class that involves coding or data.
- 2Study a bachelor's degree in a subject built on math and numbers, such as statistics, mathematics, data science, business analytics, or economics that focuses on analyzing data (sometimes called econometrics).
- 3Learn a programming language used for analyzing data, the kind statisticians use to run calculations on large sets of numbers, since writing that code is a daily task.
- 4Get research experience as an undergraduate, for example helping a professor or a hospital lab clean and analyze data.
- 5Earn a master's degree, which is the typical education for entry into this work; some research roles go further to a doctorate.
- 6Keep learning after you start by reading current research, attending meetings and conferences, and talking with colleagues about new methods.
Who tends to enjoy it
Curious
People who like figuring things out, research, science, and solving problems.
Organizing
People who like keeping things accurate, orderly, and running on schedule.
Helping
People who like teaching, caring for, and working closely with people.
Official task list
Biostatisticians develop and apply biostatistical theory and methods to the study of life sciences. (O*NET)
- Draw conclusions or make predictions, based on data summaries or statistical analyses.
- Analyze clinical or survey data, using statistical approaches such as longitudinal analysis, mixed-effect modeling, logistic regression analyses, and model-building techniques.
- Write detailed analysis plans and descriptions of analyses and findings for research protocols or reports.
- Calculate sample size requirements for clinical studies.
- Read current literature, attend meetings or conferences, and talk with colleagues to keep abreast of methodological or conceptual developments in fields such as biostatistics, pharmacology, life sciences, and social sciences.
- Design research studies in collaboration with physicians, life scientists, or other professionals.
- Prepare tables and graphs to present clinical data or results.
- Write program code to analyze data with statistical analysis software.
A typical day involves
Skills that matter most
- Mathematics
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Science
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
What you'll need to know
- Mathematics
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Biology
How much Biostatisticians make
The median pay for Biostatisticians in the U.S. is $105,650 a year ($50.79 an hour). Most earn between $64,000 and $174,050. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025)
Pay depends a lot on where you live: the median is highest in District of Columbia ($140,670) and lowest in Puerto Rico ($49,730).
Pay by state and territory
| State | Median pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $76,400 | 200 |
| Arizona | $79,640 | 440 |
| Arkansas | $105,720 | 570 |
| California | $135,960 | 2,480 |
| Colorado | $109,660 | 780 |
| Connecticut | $102,860 | 490 |
| Delaware | $109,570 | 70 |
| District of Columbia | $140,670 | 550 |
| Florida | $108,040 | 550 |
| Georgia | $115,150 | 460 |
| Hawaii | $76,780 | 90 |
| Illinois | $119,760 | 480 |
| Indiana | $109,300 | 230 |
| Iowa | $80,150 | 250 |
| Kansas | $111,780 | 80 |
| Kentucky | $112,520 | 80 |
| Louisiana | $76,400 | 70 |
| Maine | $85,680 | 80 |
| Maryland | $132,620 | 2,730 |
| Massachusetts | $96,710 | 2,480 |
| Michigan | $102,710 | 570 |
| Mississippi | $64,670 | 80 |
| Missouri | $66,330 | 680 |
| Nebraska | $83,480 | 140 |
| Nevada | $79,750 | 50 |
| New Hampshire | $96,080 | 70 |
| New Jersey | $118,280 | 880 |
| New Mexico | $84,330 | 230 |
| New York | $136,020 | 1,220 |
| North Carolina | $115,690 | 1,200 |
| North Dakota | $75,890 | 40 |
| Ohio | $98,190 | 580 |
| Oklahoma | $89,540 | 50 |
| Oregon | $93,620 | 600 |
| Pennsylvania | $93,830 | 1,630 |
| Puerto Rico | $49,730 | 230 |
| Rhode Island | $102,620 | 40 |
| South Carolina | $65,450 | 240 |
| Tennessee | $98,230 | 530 |
| Texas | $102,960 | 1,390 |
| Utah | $88,610 | 300 |
| Vermont | $82,210 | — |
| Virginia | $114,920 | 720 |
| Washington | $105,650 | 2,960 |
| West Virginia | $84,660 | 90 |
| Wisconsin | $107,150 | 250 |
Where to study for this
College programs that commonly lead to this career, and how many US colleges offer each.
- Mathematics 1,482 colleges
- Econometrics and Quantitative Economics 314 colleges
- Business Analytics 212 colleges
- Statistics 226 colleges
- Data Science 320 colleges
- Business Statistics 131 colleges
- Applied Mathematics 275 colleges
- Research Methodology and Quantitative Methods 70 colleges
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Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA), occupation 15-2041.01, used under CC BY 4.0 and modified by Whittle. Pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025), SOC 15-2041. Outlook and entry education: BLS Employment Projections 2025–35. Program links: NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. How we build these pages.