Analytical Chemist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Studies the chemical components of materials in a mixture or sample, to identify the components and quantify them. May work to develop new pharmaceutical products or provide quality control or toxicology testing for products.
Job Outlook
There were 638 Analytical Chemist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 13656 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Chemist industry, which includes the Analytical Chemist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2012:
Salary
Many new Analytical Chemist 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 $62,256.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $57,282.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Analytical Chemist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $50,436.
Education and Experience
Posted Analytical Chemist 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 | 55% |
| Master's Degree | 39% |
| Doctoral Degree | 6% |
| Other | 0% |
Posted Analytical Chemist 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 | 49% |
| 3 to 5 years | 36% |
| 6 to 8 years | 9% |
| 9+ years | 7% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Analytical Chemist 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.
- Communication Skills (41%)
- Research (36%)
- Troubleshooting (35%)
- Teamwork / Collaboration (23%)
- Detail-Oriented (21%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Chemistry (92%)
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) (60%)
- Analytical Chemistry (51%)
- Chromatography (26%)
- Quality Assurance and Control (26%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Biology (19%)
- Sample Preparation (16%)
- HPLC-MS assays / LC-MS (13%)
- Laboratory Equipment (13%)
- Calibration (12%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Proteins (6%)
- Electrophoresis (5%)
- Stability Testing (5%)
- Instrumental Analysis (4%)
- Organic Chemistry (4%)
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 along with the marginal value: the average salary difference between postings that request that skill and those that do not.
- Stability Testing (5%) – marginal value $8,235
- Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) (4%) – marginal value $7,702
- Fermentation (1%) – marginal value $7,234
- Process Testing (1%) – marginal value $6,803
- Protein Chemistry (2%) – marginal value $6,419
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Analytical Chemist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Chemist
- Chemist I
- Chemist II
- Associate Scientist
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.
- Chemist (General)
- Research and Development Chemist
- Organic Chemist
- Quality Control Chemist
- Chemistry Laboratory Supervisor
- Inorganic Chemist
- Manufacturing Chemist
- Polymer Chemist
- Biochemist
- Computational Chemist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Analytical Chemist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Eurofins Scientific (795)
- Actalent (243)
- Pfizer (139)
- American Society For Mass Spectrometry (131)
- Merck & Company (109)
North Carolina
- Eurofins Scientific (36)
- Laboratory Corporation of America (31)
- Alcami (29)
- Actalent (18)
- Cambrex Corporation (13)
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.