Data Scientists salary

SOC 15-2051 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$120,230

per year, nationally

Middle half

$85,660–$158,880

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

262,440

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+33.5%

23,400 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$67,240$199,130

10th: $67,240
25th: $85,660
Median: $120,230
75th: $158,880
90th: $199,130

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where data scientists earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Washington	$163,350	107.0	9,600	1.60×
2	California	$141,590	110.7	39,310	1.28×
3	Maryland	$136,370	105.0	3,340	0.72×
4	New Jersey	$135,280	108.8	6,430	0.89×
5	Massachusetts	$131,750	105.8	9,420	1.53×
6	New York	$130,460	107.9	23,970	1.47×
7	Minnesota	$128,800	98.6	4,020	0.81×
8	Vermont	$127,070	98.0	200	0.38×
9	District of Columbia	$126,490	109.9	2,680	2.27×
10	Virginia	$126,430	101.1	8,920	1.29×
11	Connecticut	$126,340	103.6	1,760	0.61×
12	Oregon	$125,990	103.4	2,140	0.65×
13	Texas	$122,090	97.1	25,860	1.09×
14	North Carolina	$119,090	94.3	11,430	1.37×
15	Colorado	$117,400	103.1	6,280	1.29×
16	Florida	$115,820	103.4	10,240	0.61×
17	Arkansas	$109,390	86.9	530	0.24×
18	Utah	$108,090	98.9	4,360	1.49×
19	Arizona	$107,240	100.7	4,560	0.83×
20	Pennsylvania	$106,850	97.6	13,810	1.35×
21	Wisconsin	$106,680	94.1	4,370	0.88×
22	Illinois	$106,560	100.0	10,520	1.02×
23	Georgia	$104,340	96.3	9,260	1.12×
24	Alabama	$103,120	88.8	1,740	0.49×
25	Ohio	$102,630	92.8	6,100	0.65×
26	Rhode Island	$102,440	102.3	1,160	1.37×
27	Hawaii	$102,130	110.0	300	0.29×
28	New Hampshire	$100,620	104.2	1,100	0.95×
29	Michigan	$100,590	96.2	7,360	0.99×
30	Montana	$100,490	94.6	220	0.25×
31	Tennessee	$100,330	91.9	2,790	0.50×
32	Nevada	$98,540	100.0	1,680	0.64×
33	Nebraska	$98,230	90.1	1,980	1.15×
34	Kansas	$98,130	90.1	490	0.20×
35	Missouri	$97,090	90.8	4,730	0.95×
36	South Dakota	$96,150	88.6	220	0.29×
37	New Mexico	$95,850	92.2	560	0.38×
38	Iowa	$95,830	87.8	2,300	0.87×
39	South Carolina	$91,990	93.7	3,750	0.96×
40	Kentucky	$91,760	90.2	1,540	0.46×
41	Indiana	$91,470	93.3	3,580	0.66×
42	Maine	$90,880	97.0	1,210	1.12×
43	Idaho	$89,380	95.5	1,350	0.94×
44	Oklahoma	$86,310	87.8	1,900	0.66×
45	West Virginia	$85,090	89.5	390	0.33×
46	Alaska	$84,110	102.4	230	0.43×
47	North Dakota	$81,900	89.0	210	0.29×
48	Louisiana	$78,760	88.2	1,300	0.40×
49	Mississippi	$69,490	87.0	440	0.23×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where data scientists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for data scientists

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$185,080	110.4	6,060	3.16×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$170,110	115.6	10,460	2.61×
3	Idaho Falls, ID	$167,840	94.4	230	1.68×
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$164,740	111.1	8,370	2.38×
5	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$156,830	100.1	150	0.68×
6	Charlottesville, VA	$149,800	99.1	—	—
7	North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL	$146,980	102.4	210	0.36×
8	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$141,760	106.9	570	0.83×
9	Corvallis, OR	$140,190	104.0	60	0.91×
10	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$135,980	112.6	23,160	1.45×
11	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$135,320	103.2	430	1.06×
12	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$134,320	104.5	1,090	0.48×
13	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$134,220	105.6	60	0.40×
14	Boulder, CO	$134,040	105.2	540	1.67×
15	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$132,460	97.3	4,420	1.93×
16	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$132,200	108.9	9,260	1.75×
17	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$132,040	108.3	7,930	1.74×
18	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$131,820	100.9	100	0.51×
19	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$130,990	111.9	2,830	1.09×
20	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$130,980	109.9	80	0.51×
21	Winchester, VA-WV	$129,990	96.5	60	0.55×
22	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$129,780	104.8	3,250	0.99×
23	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$129,740	113.6	9,850	0.93×
24	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$129,600	105.4	1,700	0.83×
25	Barnstable Town, MA	$129,530	98.4	70	0.42×
26	Lexington Park, MD	$129,020	100.8	90	0.73×
27	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$127,750	103.1	10,120	1.48×
28	Colorado Springs, CO	$127,600	100.7	580	1.08×
29	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$127,450	114.2	3,040	0.64×
30	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$127,360	98.1	3,730	1.71×
31	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$126,360	110.5	460	0.84×
32	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$126,340	102.7	560	0.55×
33	Sheboygan, WI	$126,270	94.0	40	0.41×
34	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR	$125,590	91.4	280	0.61×
35	Midland, TX	$125,330	95.8	100	0.48×
36	Salem, OR	$124,040	103.6	90	0.28×
37	Worcester, MA	$123,640	102.5	490	0.83×
38	Jacksonville, FL	$122,680	99.5	880	0.68×
39	Richmond, VA	$122,510	97.9	1,050	0.94×
40	New Haven, CT	$121,880	104.6	150	0.31×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where data scientists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Operations Research Analysts$88,940
Statisticians$105,650
Actuaries$130,000
Mathematical Science Occupations, All Other$81,490
Mathematicians$126,710