Data Scientists
Updated · Source: O*NET 31.0
What Data Scientists do
You dig through huge piles of messy data to find patterns, then explain what they mean to people who have to make a decision.
Data scientists turn raw information into answers. A company might have millions of rows of records about sales, patients, or website visits. You write code to clean that data up, look for patterns in it, and build models (math formulas that predict what is likely to happen next). Then you check whether the model is actually right, and fix it when it is not.
The second half of the job is talking. Charts, short reports, and presentations explain what you found to managers who do not read code. You also help decide which questions are worth asking in the first place, like how to set a budget, how many people to hire, or where to spend advertising money.
A day in the life
You start at a desk indoors with email and messages waiting, some of them questions about numbers you sent yesterday. Much of the morning is quiet and solo: writing code, pulling data together, and fixing the odd gaps and typos that make results wrong. You run a model, compare it against an older version, and find it predicts a little better. Then the people part. You meet face to face with a team that wants to know whether a new product is selling to the customers they expected. You build a simple chart, walk them through what it shows, and say plainly what you are not sure about. You are sitting for most of the day, and some problems stay unsolved when you go home.
This could fit you if you…
- ✓Like chasing a question until the numbers finally make sense
- ✓Enjoy math and are willing to keep learning more of it
- ✓Want to write code but also talk to people about what it means
- ✓Care about getting details exactly right, including the boring cleanup work
- ✓Can explain something complicated in plain words
You might not like it if you…
- –Want to be on your feet or outdoors instead of sitting at a screen
- –Dislike math, statistics, or programming
- –Get frustrated when most of your time goes to cleaning messy data rather than exciting discoveries
- –Would rather not present your work or defend it in meetings
How people get in
- 1Take all the math you can in high school, plus any computer or statistics class offered.
- 2Earn a bachelor's degree, the usual entry point. Common paths include computer science, mathematics, information technology, management science (using math to help businesses make decisions), or econometrics and quantitative economics (using statistics to study money and the economy).
- 3Learn a programming language used for data work and practice on real datasets until cleaning and charting them feels normal.
- 4Build two or three small projects you can show and explain, start to finish, including what you got wrong.
- 5Look for internships, research assistant work, or an analyst job where you handle data daily and learn from more experienced people.
- 6Practice presenting. Being able to stand up and explain your results clearly is part of the job, not an extra.
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.
Creative
People who like making things, design, writing, music, and self-expression.
Official task list
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. Apply data mining, data modeling, natural language processing, and machine learning to extract and analyze information from large structured and unstructured datasets. Visualize, interpret, and report data findings. May create dynamic data reports. (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.
A typical day involves
Skills that matter most
- Mathematics
- Critical Thinking
- Reading Comprehension
- Complex Problem Solving
- Programming
- Speaking
What you'll need to know
- Mathematics
- Computers and Electronics
- English Language
- Engineering and Technology
- Education and Training
How much Data Scientists make
The median pay for Data Scientists in the U.S. is $120,230 a year ($57.80 an hour). Most earn between $67,240 and $199,130. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025)
Pay depends a lot on where you live: the median is highest in Washington ($163,350) and lowest in Mississippi ($69,490).
Pay by state and territory
| State | Median pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $103,120 | 1,740 |
| Alaska | $84,110 | 230 |
| Arizona | $107,240 | 4,560 |
| Arkansas | $109,390 | 530 |
| California | $141,590 | 39,310 |
| Colorado | $117,400 | 6,280 |
| Connecticut | $126,340 | 1,760 |
| District of Columbia | $126,490 | 2,680 |
| Florida | $115,820 | 10,240 |
| Georgia | $104,340 | 9,260 |
| Hawaii | $102,130 | 300 |
| Idaho | $89,380 | 1,350 |
| Illinois | $106,560 | 10,520 |
| Indiana | $91,470 | 3,580 |
| Iowa | $95,830 | 2,300 |
| Kansas | $98,130 | 490 |
| Kentucky | $91,760 | 1,540 |
| Louisiana | $78,760 | 1,300 |
| Maine | $90,880 | 1,210 |
| Maryland | $136,370 | 3,340 |
| Massachusetts | $131,750 | 9,420 |
| Michigan | $100,590 | 7,360 |
| Minnesota | $128,800 | 4,020 |
| Mississippi | $69,490 | 440 |
| Missouri | $97,090 | 4,730 |
| Montana | $100,490 | 220 |
| Nebraska | $98,230 | 1,980 |
| Nevada | $98,540 | 1,680 |
| New Hampshire | $100,620 | 1,100 |
| New Jersey | $135,280 | 6,430 |
| New Mexico | $95,850 | 560 |
| New York | $130,460 | 23,970 |
| North Carolina | $119,090 | 11,430 |
| North Dakota | $81,900 | 210 |
| Ohio | $102,630 | 6,100 |
| Oklahoma | $86,310 | 1,900 |
| Oregon | $125,990 | 2,140 |
| Pennsylvania | $106,850 | 13,810 |
| Puerto Rico | $80,350 | 100 |
| Rhode Island | $102,440 | 1,160 |
| South Carolina | $91,990 | 3,750 |
| South Dakota | $96,150 | 220 |
| Tennessee | $100,330 | 2,790 |
| Texas | $122,090 | 25,860 |
| Utah | $108,090 | 4,360 |
| Vermont | $127,070 | 200 |
| Virginia | $126,430 | 8,920 |
| Washington | $163,350 | 9,600 |
| West Virginia | $85,090 | 390 |
| Wisconsin | $106,680 | 4,370 |
Where to study for this
College programs that commonly lead to this career, and how many US colleges offer each.
- Computer Science 1,091 colleges
- Information Technology 783 colleges
- Management Science 407 colleges
- Mathematics 1,482 colleges
- Econometrics and Quantitative Economics 314 colleges
- Business Analytics 212 colleges
- Statistics 226 colleges
- Data Science 320 colleges
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Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA), occupation 15-2051.00, used under CC BY 4.0 and modified by Whittle. Pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025), SOC 15-2051. Outlook and entry education: BLS Employment Projections 2025–35. Program links: NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. How we build these pages.