Chemist (General)
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Chemist studies the chemical and physical properties of substances or materials, focusing in one of many specialized areas. May work to develop new products or chemical processes.
Job Outlook
There were 149 Chemist (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 3837 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Chemist industry, which includes the Chemist (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Chemist (General) 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 $110,064.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $99,345.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Chemist (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $90,997.
Education and Experience
Posted Chemist (General) 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 | 50.17% |
| Master's Degree | 34.58% |
| Doctoral Degree | 41.62% |
| Other | 1.82% |
Posted Chemist (General) 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 | 40.34% |
| 3 to 5 years | 39.05% |
| 6 to 8 years | 11.37% |
| 9+ years | 9.24% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Chemist (General) 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 (49.07%)
- Communication (36.28%)
- Problem Solving (22.36%)
- Innovation (21.66%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (17.98%)
- Leadership (17.17%)
- Management (16.6%)
- Writing (16.13%)
- Presentations (14.99%)
- Operations (14.07%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Biochemistry (19.92%)
- Analytical Chemistry (20.67%)
- Chemistry (68.51%)
- Computational Chemistry (15.89%)
- Particle Physics Experiments (2.99%)
- Drug Discovery (7.86%)
- Physics (17.16%)
- Machine Learning (13.7%)
- Molecular Modeling (3.37%)
- Inorganic Chemistry (7.14%)
- Trace Element (3.08%)
- Molecular Dynamics (4.38%)
- Data Science (9.07%)
- Cheminformatics (3.74%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Emergency Response (3.4%)
- Computational Tools (2.27%)
- Instrument Development (3.08%)
- Materials Science (13.56%)
- Chemical Biological Radiological And Nuclear Defense (CBRN) (3.14%)
- Workflow Management (7.8%)
- Molecular Biology (9.04%)
- Counter-Terrorism (2.99%)
- Physical Science (4.4%)
- Threat Detection (3.02%)
- Artificial Intelligence (8.87%)
- Small Molecules (7.57%)
- Data Analysis (20.75%)
- Metallurgy (3.51%)
- Acoustics (2.99%)
- Biology (22.57%)
- Applied Research (4.23%)
- Ligand (4.12%)
- Optics (3.89%)
- Chemical Engineering (17.24%)
- Biotechnology (5.01%)
- Computer Science (7.14%)
- Electrical Engineering (4.35%)
- Computer Simulation (1.78%)
- Radiography (3.11%)
- Environmental Impact Assessments (3.08%)
- R (Programming Language) (12.61%)
- Linux (1.87%)
- Mechanical Engineering (5.27%)
- Nuclear Power (3.11%)
- Geospatial Analysis (2.99%)
- Medicinal Chemistry (6.3%)
- Mass Spectrometry (7.94%)
- Microbiology (6.53%)
- Electromagnetism (3.14%)
- Python (Programming Language) (13.82%)
- Nuclear Engineering (3.25%)
- Nuclear Reactor (3.08%)
- Risk Analysis (3.89%)
- Physical Chemistry (8.43%)
- Optical Engineering (3.11%)
- Law Enforcement (3.02%)
- Spectroscopy (8.95%)
- Pharmaceuticals (14.82%)
- Security Studies (2.99%)
- Scripting (2.85%)
- Organic Chemistry (6.76%)
- Nuclear Safety (3.25%)
- Radiochemistry (3.6%)
- Materials Processing (3.31%)
- Nuclear Weapons (3.02%)
- Research And Development (12.29%)
- Statistical Methods (3.86%)
- Software Engineering (4.12%)
- Technology Assessment (3.02%)
- Deep Learning (1.64%)
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (0.52%)
- Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WMD) (3.28%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Quantum Mechanics (2.16%)
- Density Functional Theory (1.47%)
- Pipeline Pilot (0.95%)
- Homology Modeling (1.04%)
- Quantum Chemistry (1.84%)
- GROningen MAchine For Chemical Simulations (GROMACS) (1.53%)
- Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (1.58%)
- Theoretical Chemistry (0.78%)
- Structure Activity Relationship (1.09%)
- Computer-Aided Drug Design & Discovery (1.01%)
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.
- Quantum Mechanics (12.86%)
- Computational Chemistry (94.68%)
- Molecular Modeling (20.07%)
- Particle Physics Experiments (17.84%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Chemist (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Chemist
- Research and Development Scientist
- Computational Chemist
- Principal Scientist
- Nuclear Chemistry Technician
- Analytical Scientist
- Scientist
- Assistant Professor of Chemistry
- Inorganic Chemist
- 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.
- Organic Chemist
- Materials Research Engineer
- Research and Development Chemist
- Research Scientist
- Chemistry Laboratory Supervisor
- Polymer Chemist
- Biochemist
- Analytical Chemist
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Chemist (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Actalent (247)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (173)
- Merck & Co. (85)
- Kelly Services (84)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (62)
- Honeywell International (57)
- AbbVie (48)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (34)
- Natera (32)
- SGS (32)
North Carolina
- Cambrex (17)
- Actalent (11)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (11)
- Merck KGaA Darmstadt Germany (6)
- RTI International (6)
- University of North Carolina (4)
- Elon University (4)
- University of North Carolina Wilmington (3)
- Research Triangle Institute (3)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (3)
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.