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Job outlook for biostatisticians in the United States
Are biostatistician jobs in demand?
Biostatistician job and salary trends over time
Biostatistician jobs over time
Biostatistician job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,995 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 2,472 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 2,486 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 2,539 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 2,324 | 0.00% |
Average biostatistician salary over time
Biostatistician salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $85,645 | $41.18 | +1.2% |
| 2024 | $84,615 | $40.68 | +3.9% |
| 2023 | $81,477 | $39.17 | +4.4% |
| 2022 | $78,025 | $37.51 | +4.4% |
| 2021 | $74,720 | $35.92 | +0.5% |
Biostatistician jobs by state
Most common states for biostatisticians
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 136 | 20% |
| 2 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 324 | 4% |
| 3 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 307 | 4% |
| 4 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 294 | 4% |
| 5 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 241 | 4% |
| 6 | Delaware | 961,939 | 33 | 3% |
| 7 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 32 | 3% |
| 8 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 18 | 3% |
| 9 | California | 39,536,653 | 929 | 2% |
| 10 | New York | 19,849,399 | 332 | 2% |
| 11 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 230 | 2% |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 195 | 2% |
| 13 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 190 | 2% |
| 14 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 102 | 2% |
| 15 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 83 | 2% |
| 16 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 32 | 2% |
| 17 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 27 | 2% |
| 18 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 23 | 2% |
| 19 | Alaska | 739,795 | 17 | 2% |
| 20 | Vermont | 623,657 | 15 | 2% |
Most common cities for biostatisticians
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chapel Hill | 16 | 27% | $85,468 |
| 2 | Trenton | 16 | 19% | $91,459 |
| 3 | Hartford | 18 | 15% | $91,801 |
| 4 | Cambridge | 10 | 9% | $91,461 |
| 5 | Arlington | 16 | 8% | $89,829 |
| 6 | Boston | 41 | 6% | $91,495 |
| 7 | Durham | 17 | 6% | $85,630 |
| 8 | Orlando | 16 | 6% | $81,827 |
| 9 | Atlanta | 25 | 5% | $80,636 |
| 10 | Miami | 22 | 5% | $80,623 |
| 11 | Tampa | 16 | 4% | $82,357 |
| 12 | San Diego | 22 | 2% | $93,410 |
| 13 | Jacksonville | 17 | 2% | $81,256 |
| 14 | Austin | 16 | 2% | $86,182 |
| 15 | Baltimore | 11 | 2% | $90,406 |
| 16 | Chicago | 25 | 1% | $81,292 |
| 17 | Houston | 20 | 1% | $85,760 |
| 18 | Dallas | 16 | 1% | $83,309 |
| 19 | New York | 20 | 0% | $91,651 |
Biostatistician job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of biostatistician experts
San Francisco State University
Bowling Green State University
Georgetown University
Butler University
University of Florida
Villanova University
Lehigh University
What general advice would you give to a Biostatistician?
Luella Fu: Statistics is an amazing profession to enter now because the amount of data being collected and stored is always increasing. This makes Statistics a high-demand skill not just now but also in the future. The data is also of a huge variety: sports, medical, environmental, and business being just a few kinds. This means that a Statistician can use Statistics as a tool to explore almost field they want. It’s an incredibly versatile profession. You can also get an industry after a Bachelors, Master’s or PhD, so there is also flexibility in how much training you choose to undergo.
What Biostatistician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Luella Fu: I think Statisticians enjoy the quantitative reasoning aspect of their jobs, whether it’s designing the data collection, visualizing data, or creating insights from it. It’s also a pretty stable job with good pay. What Statisticians probably don’t like is the amount of time they spend in front of a computer to do their data analyses. It can create eye strain. Also, data cleaning can be full of unexpected challenges that take much longer to solve than one expects.
What will help Biostatisticians increase their earning potential?
Luella Fu: It varies depending on if you’re an academic or an industry professional, but I think a common theme for all entry-level statisticians is that they’re going to be pulling data out of storage, finding ways to visualize it, and finding ways to summarize it. They’ll usually have very specific goals in mind, either to answer a research or business question, and so they’ll spend quite some time just thinking about what the data is answering and how to showcase the data in the way that best answers those important questions.
John Chen
Professor of StatisticsBowling Green State University
Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, And Computational Biology
What general advice would you give to a Biostatistician?
John Chen: It depends on different companies, biostatisticians work on multiple comparisons such as dose-response analysis in pharmaceutical companies; protocol analyses in government agencies such as NIH or FDA, etc.
What Biostatistician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
John Chen: Because it is grounded on solid theoretical methods in statistics, such as hypothesis testing, estimation, and prediction.
What will help Biostatisticians increase their earning potential?
John Chen: People enjoy working as a biostatistician because it ties statistical knowledge and medical applications that directly benefit human beings, also because it is usually a relatively high paid profession. I am not aware of anyone who dislikes being a biostatistician.
Ao Yuan
ProfessorGeorgetown University
Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, And Computational Biology
What general advice would you give to a Biostatistician?
Ao Yuan: For a career in Biostatistics, getting a position in a pharmaceutical company/industry will have a higher salary than working in an academic institution. If you can get a higher management position, your salary can be maximized.
What Biostatistician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Ao Yuan: New methods in theory and computation for innovative projects in big data, real world data, and machine learning will be important in the next 3-5 years and more.
What will help Biostatisticians increase their earning potential?
Ao Yuan: Before their thesis starts, I'll give the student(s) some papers in the field to read, to make them familiar with the topics and methods in the field. Then ask them to think about and discuss with me a possible proposal to work with.
Dr. Lee Farquhar
Associate ProfessorButler University
Radio, Television, And Digital Communication
What Biostatistician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Lee Farquhar: Storytelling is still at the heart of the industry. Start with good reporting and writing. From there, broaden your technical skills so that your stories can connect with audiences in a variety of platforms. A certain fluidity is necessary for the modern and future reporter, crossing from one medium to another seamlessly. The reporter must be resolute in their reporting and nimble in their delivery to the audience.
Rhonda Bacher PhD
Assistant ProfessorUniversity of Florida
Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, And Computational Biology
What general advice would you give to a Biostatistician?
Rhonda Bacher PhD: Often biostatisticians are in roles where they work more independently and, especially when starting out, not having colleagues nearby to consult with on statistical matters can be challenging. Getting involved or staying connected through professional associations like the American Statistical Association through its professional sections or state chapters is a great way to maintain and even grow your network of colleagues.
Also, biostatistics is an evolving and expanding field, so foundational skills are essential, but be flexible to learning and adapting to new technologies or methods. The real value of a biostatistician’s skills is critical thinking and being able to identify, implement, and interpret appropriate analytical solutions.
What Biostatistician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Rhonda Bacher PhD: When starting your career as a Biostatistician, there are a several ways to maximize your salary potential. Having a Master’s level degree or higher boosts your base pay, though the time and cost of those degrees is a major consideration. There are some remote Master’s degree programs designed with flexibility for working professionals, we offer one in Biostatistics at the University of Florida that is equivalent to our campus program.
Additional computational skills and data analysis experience should not be overlooked as ways to increase your value to potential employers. Highlight your interdisciplinary collaborative projects or work experience to demonstrate your communication and interpersonal skills, which are both highly valued professionally for biostatisticians.
What will help Biostatisticians increase their earning potential?
Rhonda Bacher PhD: In terms of biostatistical skills, techniques for analyzing longitudinal biomedical data are increasingly relevant. Artificial intelligence models are likely to be helpful for programming across languages and tools (e.g. R, Python, TensorFlow), and the next generation of biostatisticians will be in a great position to leverage AI tools to their full potential. On the other side of that, understanding and contributing to AI tool development is an area that biostatisticians can play important roles, especially in the fields of bioinformatics and genomics.
Paul Bernhardt
Associate Professor of Statistics, Director of the Applied Statistics Graduate ProgramVillanova University
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
What skills will help Biostatisticians earn the most?
Paul Bernhardt: Experience and willingness to grow and learn more. Because statistics is needed by so many different fields and involves so many different methods, procedures, and skills, time is needed to build up the knowledge that helps an individual acquire a top-earning job as a manager or other team leader. This can often be done within a large company, such as in pharmaceuticals, but it can also be done by moving to new jobs. In many cases, only a few years of experience are needed to move to higher-level positions. For individuals with a Master's degree or Ph.D., earning more often happens much sooner.
Bottom line: If a statistician has the experience, strong communication skills, and is good with a variety of software programs and with database management, they will likely be able to earn a good living with relatively reasonable working hours. For this reason, "statistician"/"data scientist" consistently ranks as one of the top jobs among a variety of rankings. For example, the last six years running, it has been listed in the top three jobs to have by Glassdoor.com
What hard/technical skills are most important for Biostatisticians?
Wei-Min Huang: Strong mathematical and logical insight, Analytical and formulation skills, Wide-ranging computer skills, Knowing the difference between model-based and data-driven approaches.