Data Scientist

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Data Scientist utilizes skills and experience to systematically answer questions using data to provide actionable recommendations. Commonly utilizes advanced statistical analysis and machine learning techniques. Common responsibilities also include data cleaning and data management.

Job Outlook

There were 1503 Data Scientist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 63629 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Data Scientist industry, which includes the Data Scientist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Data Scientist 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 $133,757.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $120,417.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Data Scientist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $105,906.

Education and Experience

Posted Data Scientist 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	55.63%
Master's Degree	54.9%
Doctoral Degree	33.76%
Other	2.16%

Posted Data Scientist 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	21.58%
3 to 5 years	48.77%
6 to 8 years	18.02%
9+ years	11.63%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Data Scientist 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 (41.76%)
Mathematics (36.43%)
Research (33.71%)
Problem Solving (21.79%)
Innovation (21.19%)
Leadership (18.52%)
Management (16.48%)
Presentations (14.95%)
Operations (14.74%)
Forecasting (14.4%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Algorithms (33.9%)
Data Analysis (35.76%)
Computer Science (54.49%)
Data Mining (13.41%)
Natural Language Processing (NLP) (13.05%)
Machine Learning Algorithms (12.15%)
Artificial Intelligence (36.46%)
Machine Learning (72.69%)
Predictive Modeling (15.4%)
Operations Research (8.81%)
Statistics (43.31%)
Apache Spark (16.48%)
R (Programming Language) (35.37%)
Scikit-Learn (Python Package) (12.49%)
Deep Learning (22.02%)
Pandas (Python Package) (8.51%)
Python (Programming Language) (74.44%)
PyTorch (Machine Learning Library) (19.28%)
Generative Artificial Intelligence (13.31%)
Large Language Modeling (7.72%)
TensorFlow (20.96%)
Statistical Modeling (12.52%)
Data Science (71.91%)
SQL (Programming Language) (42.89%)
Unstructured Data (8.22%)
MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) (7.82%)
Data Pipelines (10.32%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Statistical Analysis (11.96%)
Workflow Management (9.57%)
Application Programming Interface (API) (7.33%)
Agile Methodology (10.92%)
Git (Version Control System) (7.99%)
Big Data (14.09%)
Microsoft Azure (12.64%)
Business Intelligence (4.94%)
Economics (12.04%)
Version Control (7.78%)
Extract Transform Load (ETL) (7.44%)
Data Visualization (19.16%)
Marketing (8.33%)
Scalability (17.72%)
Automation (10.46%)
Amazon Web Services (21.37%)
Java (Programming Language) (14.39%)
Data Modeling (13.78%)
MATLAB (7.51%)
Physics (11.15%)
Software Development (11.58%)
C++ (Programming Language) (13.05%)
Power BI (9.36%)
Dashboard (9.02%)
Finance (7.37%)
Data Engineering (11.47%)
Project Management (9%)
Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (14%)
Advanced Analytics (10.15%)
SAS (Software) (8.92%)
Software Engineering (16.37%)
Scripting (7.91%)
Programming Languages (14.56%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

AWS SageMaker (4.48%)
Time Series Analysis And Forecasting (3.65%)
Data Wrangling (3.03%)
Applied Mathematics (7.83%)
Decision Tree Learning (3.45%)
Data Preprocessing (2.21%)
Statistical Hypothesis Testing (3.6%)
Apache Hadoop (9.09%)
Artificial Neural Networks (7.63%)
Computer Vision (7.59%)
Econometrics (3.43%)
Scala (Programming Language) (6.87%)
Time Series (3.4%)
Exploratory Data Analysis (4.3%)
NumPy (Python Package) (6.58%)
Apache Hive (4.73%)
Random Forest Algorithm (2.83%)
PySpark (4.37%)
Predictive Analytics (5.45%)
Databricks (5.93%)
Matplotlib (Python Package) (2.43%)
Statistical Methods (4.88%)
Reinforcement Learning (4.01%)
Feature Engineering (4.69%)
Keras (Neural Network Library) (4.56%)
Transformer (Machine Learning Model) (3.78%)

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.

Transformer (Machine Learning Model) (9.32%)
Artificial Neural Networks (18.8%)
Apache Hadoop (22.41%)
NumPy (Python Package) (16.21%)
TensorFlow (51.66%)
Reinforcement Learning (9.89%)
Feature Engineering (11.56%)
Databricks (14.61%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Data Scientist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Machine Learning Engineer
Machine Learning Software Engineer
Principal Data Scientist
Lead Data Scientist
Data Science Intern
Data Analytics Scientist
Machine Learning Data Scientist
Modeling and Simulation Engineer
Machine Learning 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.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Data Scientist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Amazon (1734)
Meta (1205)
Apple (1117)
Google (795)
Ford (699)
Tiktok (652)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (638)
Booz Allen Hamilton (558)
Capital One (549)
Leidos (542)

North Carolina

Wells Fargo (38)
Truist Financial (33)
Bank of America (26)
Relx (26)
TD Bank (21)
USAA (21)
US Bank (18)
The Hartford (18)
Lowe's (17)
First Citizens Bank (17)

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.

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