2026 Edition · An annual reference on what work pays

Data Scientists

United States. Estimated employment 262,440, with pages for 17 metro areas below.

Data released May 2025 BLS OEWS · SOC 15-2051
Fig. 1 — The wage rule

Where you sit in the distribution

Drag the marker, or type a figure
$120,230 · 50th
$67,24010th
$85,66025th
$120,23050th
$158,88075th
$199,13090th

That is the medianhalf of data scientists in the US earn more.

Table 1 — By metro area

Where it pays

Every published Data Scientists page, by median pay. Employment is the BLS estimate for the metro.

Metro areaMedianEmployment
San Jose, CA$185,0806,060
San Francisco, CA$170,11010,460
New York, NY$135,98023,160
San Diego, CA$130,9902,830
Los Angeles, CA$129,7409,850
Dallas, TX$127,75010,120
Austin, TX$127,3603,730
Oxnard, CA$126,360460
Midland, TX$125,330100
Santa Rosa, CA$119,930130
Syracuse, NY$108,680350
Kiryas Joel, NY$107,310240
Houston, TX$106,7504,060
San Antonio, TX$103,2901,730
Binghamton, NY$103,130110
Buffalo, NY$102,250840
Albany, NY$98,940830
Sources

How this page was made

Wage data
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
Employment
262,440 employed in this occupation nationally (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
Occupation
SOC 15-2051, Data Scientists. Mapped to our taxonomy as data-scientists.

Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.