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 536 Chemist (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 12429 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 2015:
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 $92,881.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $87,798.
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 $72,658.
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 | 72.81% |
| Master's Degree | 33.72% |
| Doctoral Degree | 26.05% |
| Other | 5.17% |
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 | 44.06% |
| 3 to 5 years | 35.57% |
| 6 to 8 years | 12.33% |
| 9+ years | 8.04% |
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.
- Communication (36.18%)
- Research (28.34%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (24.48%)
- Management (22.6%)
- Problem Solving (20.23%)
- Detail Oriented (18.86%)
- Operations (18.18%)
- Quality Control (16.68%)
- Writing (15.56%)
- Innovation (13.51%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Wet Chemistry (7.87%)
- Chromatography (11.82%)
- Analytical Techniques (24.46%)
- Analytical Chemistry (19.39%)
- Chemistry (70.75%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (26.39%)
- High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (27.84%)
- Spectroscopy (7.54%)
- Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (9.11%)
- Pharmaceuticals (21.8%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Laboratory Experience (16.04%)
- Laboratory Equipment (15.87%)
- Biotechnology (6.74%)
- Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) (11.2%)
- Analytical Testing (14.15%)
- Biochemical Assays (9.66%)
- Housekeeping (7.62%)
- Biochemistry (20.59%)
- Reagent (3.57%)
- Biology (22.52%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (13.78%)
- Data Analysis (15.67%)
- Chemical Engineering (17.3%)
- Process Development (15.14%)
- Project Management (10.86%)
- Manufacturing Processes (6.37%)
- Mass Spectrometry (6.6%)
- New Product Development (18.67%)
- Technology Transfer (4.87%)
- Environment Health And Safety (8.72%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Stability Testing (3.66%)
- Small Molecules (6.38%)
- Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV/VIS) (7.83%)
- Chemical Synthesis (3.13%)
- Scale (Map) (5.03%)
- Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (5.48%)
- Medicinal Chemistry (3.58%)
- Organic Chemistry (6.68%)
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (4.12%)
- Lab Notebooks (4.55%)
- Physical Chemistry (3.27%)
- Process Chemistry (2.76%)
- Radiochemistry (2.7%)
- Polymer Chemistry (3.38%)
- Quality By Design (QbD) (1.4%)
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.
- Small Molecules (18.1%)
- Analytical Techniques (69.35%)
- Chemical Synthesis (8.86%)
- Scale (Map) (14.26%)
- Medicinal Chemistry (10.16%)
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (11.67%)
- Organic Synthesis (4.74%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Chemist (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Chemist
- Scientist
- Analytical Scientist
- Associate Scientist
- Formulation Scientist
- Formulation Chemist
- Analytical Development Scientist
- Process Development Scientist
- Laboratory Pack Chemist
- Chemistry 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.
- Research and Development Chemist
- Manufacturing Chemist
- Quality Control Chemist
- Analytical Chemist
- Chemistry Laboratory Supervisor
- Organic 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 (669)
- Clean Harbors (448)
- CDM Smith (363)
- Eurofins (359)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (171)
- Kelly Services (170)
- Randstad (132)
- Spectraforce Technologies (104)
- Heritage Environmental Services (95)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (95)
North Carolina
- Eurofins (32)
- Cambrex (23)
- Actalent (22)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (18)
- CDM Smith (14)
- System One (13)
- ManpowerGroup (12)
- BASF (10)
- Crystal Clean (9)
- Clean Harbors (8)
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.