Data Scientist Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 4,113 US job postings by 1,464 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for data scientists: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 4,113 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for data scientists in US job postings is $162,000 a year (1,456 postings from 533 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $130,000 to $198,000.
- The skills that most set data scientist postings apart are Python, SQL, machine learning.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 4 years of experience.
Data Scientist job postings in the US, October 2026
- $162,000
- Median advertised pay (1,456 postings)
- $130,000–$198,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 4,113
- US job postings from 1,464 employers
- 4 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a data scientist make?
The median advertised pay is $162,000 a year, from 1,456 US job postings by 533 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $235,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 1,456 US data scientist job postings: median $162,000 a year, middle half $130,000 to $198,000.
- Median: $162,000
- 25th percentile: $130,000
- 75th percentile: $198,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $40K–$50K | 0.9% |
| $50K–$60K | 0.8% |
| $60K–$70K | 1.7% |
| $70K–$80K | 1.5% |
| $80K–$90K | 1.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 2.5% |
| $100K–$110K | 3.8% |
| $110K–$120K | 5.5% |
| $120K–$130K | 6.2% |
| $130K–$140K | 7.3% |
| $140K–$150K | 8.2% |
| $150K–$160K | 7.6% |
| $160K–$170K | 8.3% |
| $170K–$180K | 7.7% |
| $180K–$190K | 6.5% |
| $190K–$200K | 4.8% |
| $200K–$210K | 4.6% |
| $210K–$220K | 3.8% |
| $220K–$230K | 4.7% |
| $230K–$240K | 3.4% |
| $240K–$250K | 2.1% |
| $250K–$260K | 1.7% |
| $260K–$270K | 1.4% |
| $270K–$280K | 0.5% |
| $280K–$290K | 0.4% |
| $290K–$300K | 0.3% |
| $300K–$310K | 0.3% |
| $310K–$320K | 0.2% |
| $320K–$330K | 0.2% |
| $330K–$340K | 0.3% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $165,000 | $135K–$201K | 1,113 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $162,000 | $130K–$198K | 1,456 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Data Scientists (15-2051) at $120,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for a data scientist?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Data scientist levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked. Senior data scientists have a median advertised pay of $176,000 a year.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 67.5% | 3 years | $150,000 |
| Senior | 18.6% | 5 years | $176,000 |
| Lead | 4.0% | 5.5 years | – |
Highest-paying data scientist jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist (general) | $160,000 | 1,034 | 416 |
Data scientist pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $181,000 | $155,000–$219,000 | 164 | 17.1% |
Skills employers ask for in data scientist job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Python | 73% |
| SQL | 51% |
| Communication | 38% |
| Machine learning | 33% |
| Data science | 17% |
| Problem-solving | 16% |
| Tableau | 16% |
| AWS | 13% |
| Spark | 13% |
| PyTorch | 13% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set data scientists apart
- Python22.4× as often as in all postings · 73%
- SQL27.8× as often as in all postings · 51%
- Machine learning87× as often as in all postings · 33%
- Data science150.6× as often as in all postings · 17%
- Scikit-learn135.4× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Statistical modeling183.9× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Tableau30.7× as often as in all postings · 16%
- Statistical analysis59.5× as often as in all postings · 13%
- Pandas108.9× as often as in all postings · 11%
- TensorFlow65.9× as often as in all postings · 12%
- PyTorch50× as often as in all postings · 13%
- Spark48.4× as often as in all postings · 13%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a data scientist job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a data scientist do?
Employers post these jobs as Senior Data Scientist, Lead Data Scientist, Sr. Data Scientist, Principal Data Scientist, Staff Data Scientist and other titles. The largest specializations are Lead Data Scientist (11%), Data Science Manager (5%), Data Science Intern (5%), Decision Scientist (1%), Head of Data (under 1%), Operations Research Analyst (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Data Scientists (15-2051.00). Its most important tasks:
- 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.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a data scientist?
Among 2,163 postings that state a minimum, the median is 4 years. 1% say 0 years and 10% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 2,163 US data scientist job postings: median 4 years, and 10% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 2% |
| 1 yr | 9% |
| 2 yrs | 15% |
| 3-4 yrs | 31% |
| 5-7 yrs | 30% |
| 8-9 yrs | 6% |
| 10+ yrs | 8% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for a data scientist: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Data Scientist | 711 (48.6%) |
| Senior Data Scientist | 358 (24.4%) |
| Lead Data Scientist | 98 (6.7%) |
| Sr. Data Scientist | 78 (5.3%) |
| Principal Data Scientist | 77 (5.3%) |
| Staff Data Scientist | 67 (4.6%) |
| Data Science Intern | 54 (3.7%) |
| Data Scientist II | 41 (2.8%) |
| Data Science Manager | 35 (2.4%) |
| Data Scientist III | 24 (1.6%) |
| Data Scientist Intern | 21 (1.4%) |
| Data Science Engineer | 21 (1.4%) |
| Manager, Data Science | 20 (1.4%) |
| AI Data Scientist | 19 (1.3%) |
| Associate Data Scientist | 18 (1.2%) |
| Sr Data Scientist | 17 (1.2%) |
| Data Scientist I | 16 (1.1%) |
| Director of Data Science | 15 (1.0%) |
| Data Scientist 3 | 15 (1.0%) |
| Director, Data Science | 15 (1.0%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Data Scientist compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $162K | 4 years | 4,113 | – |
| Research Scientist | $96K | 3 years | 7,571 | 8 |
| Quantitative Analyst | $175K | 3 years | 918 | 11 |
| AI Engineer | $187K | 4 years | 8,806 | 12 |
| Data Analyst | $112K | 3 years | 6,766 | 10 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Research Scientist | 8 | $96K |
| Quantitative Analyst | 11 | $175K |
| AI Engineer | 12 | $187K |
| Data Analyst | 10 | $112K |
| Economist | 7 | – |
| Actuary | 9 | $135K |
Applying for data scientist jobs?
- Data scientist resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find data scientist jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a data scientist make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 19 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.