Career comparison
Data Scientist vs. Statistician
Side-by-side pay, training, growth and day-to-day duties to help you choose between two related careers.
Data scientists earn more at the median ($120,230 vs. $105,650), while statisticians usually get to work faster (2 years after a bachelor’s of training). Data scientists turn data into insights and predictions that guide decisions. Statisticians design studies and analyze data to answer questions in health, business and science.
Pay data: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Outlook: BLS 2025–35 · Checked October 15, 2026
| Data Scientist | Statistician | |
|---|---|---|
| Median pay | $120,230 ($57.80/hr) | $105,650 ($50.79/hr) |
| Pay range (10th–90th) | $67,240 – $199,130 | $64,000 – $174,050 |
| Job growth, 2025–35 | +34.6% (much faster than average) | +11.0% (much faster than average) |
| Openings per year | 24,800 | 1,900 |
| Typical entry education | Bachelor's degree | Master's degree |
| Training time | 4–6 years | 2 years after a bachelor’s |
| Key credential | Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate | PStat |
| Work setting | Data scientists work in offices or remotely at computers, collaborating with engineers, analysts and business teams.. | Statisticians work in offices for pharma, government, universities and companies; many work remotely.. |
What each job does
Data Scientist
- Gather and clean data from many sources
- Explore data with statistics and visualizations
- Build predictive and machine learning models
- Design and analyze experiments
- Deploy and monitor models
Statistician
- Design studies
- Choose methods
- Analyze data
- Build models
- Check assumptions
How they’re similar
Both careers involve working with information, problem-solving, remote-friendly work, and high-pay. They sit in different fields, technology and science, engineering & lab, but share transferable skills such as curiosity and communication.
Which should you choose?
Choose data scientist if…
- I love working with numbers and data
- I enjoy statistics and coding
- I like finding patterns
Choose statistician if…
- I love data
- I’m skeptical of easy answers
- I can code
Still torn? Take the Data Scientist fit quiz and the Statistician fit quiz, or the full Career Match Quiz.
Quick comparisons
Which pays more, data scientist or statistician?
Data Scientists earn more at the median: $120,230 versus $105,650 for statisticians, based on BLS May 2025 data.
Which takes less time to train for?
Statisticians typically train faster (2 years after a bachelor’s) than data scientists (4–6 years).
Which career has better job growth?
BLS projects data scientists to grow +34.6% from 2025–35, compared with +11.0% for statisticians.