Biostatistician
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Biostatistician conducts statistical analysis of health and biology-related data. Analysis may be used for product development at a pharmaceutical company, disease research at a hospital or health policy research at a public health organization.
Job Outlook
There were 206 Biostatistician job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 4393 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Biostatistician industry, which includes the Biostatistician career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Biostatistician jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $110,571.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $113,294.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Biostatistician postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $83,192.
Education and Experience
Posted Biostatistician jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 22.01% |
| Master's Degree | 63.1% |
| Doctoral Degree | 57.11% |
| Other | 0.46% |
Posted Biostatistician jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 22.91% |
| 3 to 5 years | 50.67% |
| 6 to 8 years | 15.79% |
| 9+ years | 10.64% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Biostatistician positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Research (67.56%)
- Communication (42.43%)
- Writing (33.33%)
- Presentations (28.84%)
- Management (28.02%)
- Leadership (25.06%)
- Innovation (22.01%)
- Problem Solving (18.62%)
- Planning (18.21%)
- Detail Oriented (17.53%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Statistical Analysis (54.97%)
- Statistical Programming (23.5%)
- Data Management (25.67%)
- Data Analysis (40.98%)
- Biostatistics (64.41%)
- Clinical Study Design (27.36%)
- Epidemiology (28.47%)
- R (Programming Language) (57.1%)
- Clinical Trials (47.27%)
- SAS (Software) (70.33%)
- Pharmaceuticals (24.49%)
- Statistical Software (22.57%)
- Statistics (72.29%)
- Statistical Methods (34.94%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Grant Applications (3.93%)
- Statistical Reporting (8.02%)
- Medical Affairs (7.19%)
- Artificial Intelligence (4.23%)
- Biology (8.81%)
- Business Development (4.6%)
- Clinical Study Reports (8.35%)
- Biotechnology (8.12%)
- Computer Science (9.41%)
- Data Collection (16.7%)
- Data Quality (8%)
- Pre-Clinical Development (14.15%)
- Clinical Research (16.28%)
- Health Sciences (3.35%)
- Public Health (13.99%)
- Research Methodologies (7.54%)
- SPSS (Statistical Software) (11.08%)
- Data Manipulation (4.88%)
- Database Design (3.26%)
- Oncology (5%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (6.04%)
- Drug Development (11.05%)
- Case Report Forms (7.77%)
- Python (Programming Language) (21.14%)
- Population Health (3.38%)
- Electronic Medical Record (13.37%)
- Machine Learning (15.89%)
- Program Evaluation (3.7%)
- Good Clinical Practices (GCP) (6.48%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (14.36%)
- Stata (14.55%)
- Project Management (19.91%)
- SAP Applications (4.07%)
- Statistical Modeling (15.12%)
- Research Design (6.5%)
- Data Science (16.6%)
- Programming Languages (6.52%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- SAS Macros (3.47%)
- Item Response Theory (3.08%)
- Psychometrics (3.12%)
- Survival Analysis (10.27%)
- Randomization (1.2%)
- Categorical Data (1.76%)
- Structural Equation Modeling (2.82%)
- S-PLUS Statistical Software (3.65%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Statistical Programming (24.92%)
- SAS Macros (3.68%)
- Biostatistics (68.31%)
- Clinical Trials (50.13%)
- Clinical Study Design (29.02%)
- R (Programming Language) (60.56%)
- Survival Analysis (10.89%)
- Pharmaceuticals (25.97%)
- Randomization (1.28%)
- SAS (Software) (74.59%)
- Statistical Methods (37.06%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Biostatistician skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Principal Biostatistician
- Psychometrician
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Research Biostatistician
- Biostatistics Intern
- Statistical Programming Manager
- Research Principal
- Principal
- Evaluation Analyst
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Biostatistics Manager / Director
- Statistician
- Research Analyst
- Research Scientist
- Research Associate (General)
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Biostatistician jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Cytel (424)
- Edwards Lifesciences (124)
- Humana (101)
- AbbVie (77)
- Johnson & Johnson (74)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (70)
- Elevance Health (66)
- Health Services Advisory Group (65)
- Pearson Education (62)
- Actalent (58)
North Carolina
- IQVIA (30)
- Duke University (16)
- Quintiles (9)
- Fortrea Inc. (8)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (8)
- Cytel (8)
- University of North Carolina (8)
- Knowesis Pte Ltd (8)
- Wake Forest Baptist Health (7)
- Institute For Medical Research (6)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.