Data scientist salary (2024)

The average salary for a data scientist is $116,917.

Data scientists make an average annual salary of $116,917 across all years of experience and locations in the United States. Note that the average data scientist salary may differ depending on your experience level and where you will be working.

Entry-level Data Scientists on average can make over $85,000 per year at the top of the market whereas senior-level workers can make on average over $120,000 per year.

These averages are based on salary alone, not including equity or other compensation.

For a more in-depth look at salaries based on AngelList job data, check out our unique, dynamic salary tool which allows you to customize your salary estimate based on your role, location, skills, and market.

How much does a data scientist make?

Data scientist pay by experience level

While pay can be influenced by education and location, the amount of time you have worked in the field is one of the top determinants of salary.

Whether you’ve just entered the job market or you’re an experienced professional, it’s expected to see fluctuations in salary based on this criteria.

Entry-level Data Scientists can make an average salary of $85,000 annually.
Mid-level and senior-level Data Scientists can make an average salary of $120,000 annually.

Expert Data Scientists can make an average salary of $150,000 annually.

The highest average salary a Data Scientist in Technology can get is with 10+ years experience at $150,000. The salary range varies with years of experience and depends on other factors such as skill set, size of company, and industry.

Salary outlook and work trends

The average salary for a remote data scientist is $129,000 annually. In fact, typically half of data scientist roles listed on Wellfound that are hiring now are remote.

The benefits of being remote include flexible scheduling, saving time and money commuting and a greater pool of potential jobs, as you can apply to remote jobs all over the world.

What are the best-paying cities for data scientists?

Trying to decide where to pursue your next role? Look no further:

Below are the top cities that pay the highest average salaries according to Wellfound data.

• New York, NY - Average salary: $205,000 - 75% higher than national average.
• Chicago, IL - Average salary: $137,000 - 18% higher than national average.
• Seattle, WA - Average salary: $135,000 - 16% higher than national average.
• Denver, CO - Average salary: $135,000 - 16% higher than national average.
• London, England - Average salary: $134,000 - 15% higher than national average.
• Los Angeles, CA - Average salary: $117,000 - 1% higher than national average.

Top data scientist skills

Product management involves many facets of business, which requires Data Scientists to be familiar with product development with consumer needs in mind. Skills that are in high demand for Data Scientists include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

• Deep Learning
• Keras
• SQL
• AWS
• GCP
• PyRotch
• R
• Python
• Amazon S3
• SAS

Soft Skills:

• Agile product development
• Market research
• Product discovery and definition
• Leadership
• UX best practices
• Time management
• Product strategy
• Ability to take initiative
• Roadmap development
• Owning projects from start to finish
• Product rollout and launch strategy
• Organized communication
• Product lifecycle management

Frequently asked questions

What is the average data scientist salary in California?

The average data scientist salary in California is $121,000.

What is the career path for a data scientist?

There are two routes that data scientists will take in their career path: The first focuses on becoming a data analyst, database developer, or simply a junior data scientist. Another route is taking on an analytics-enabled role such as a functional business analyst or a data-driven manager.

Below, we’ve provided the career progression for a data scientist and the skills needed for each role.

• Learn foundational data skills → _data analyst → data scientist or data systems developer _

  • Data analyst: business intelligence, data modeling and mining, R, Python, and SQL
  • Data scientist: predictive modeling, algorithms, deep learning
  • Data systems developer: relational databases, machine learning, Spark

• Learn foundational data skills → functional analyst → data-driven manager

  • Functional analyst: domain knowledge, dashboards and Tableau, Power BI
  • Data-driven manager: deep domain knowledge

For those who prefer to stick to the traditional data scientist career path, we’ve provided a short overview below.

1. Junior data scientist (1-2 years of experience)
2. Mid-level data scientist (2-4 years of experience)
3. Senior data scientist (2-4)
4. Lead data scientist (5-7)
5. Principal data scientist (8+)
6. Senior principal data scientist (8+)
7. Director of data science (8+)

If a data science role interests you, check out open positions for data scientists for all skill levels on Wellfound.

Related job salaries

• Software engineer. The average salary for a software engineer is $112,000.
• UI/UX designer. The average salary for a UI/UX designer is $93,000.
• User researcher. The average salary for a user researcher is $78,000.

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