Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between criminalists and forensic scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a criminalist and a forensic scientist. Additionally, a forensic scientist has an average salary of $71,351, which is higher than the $68,152 average annual salary of a criminalist.
The top three skills for a criminalist include physical evidence, laboratory reports and body fluids. The most important skills for a forensic scientist are laboratory equipment, physical evidence, and analytical procedures.
| Criminalist | Forensic Scientist | |
| Yearly salary | $68,152 | $71,351 |
| Hourly rate | $32.77 | $34.30 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 14,872 | 43,335 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A criminalist works in the forensic science or law enforcement field. Their duties depend upon the agency or place they work for, but they are often responsible for conducting crime investigations, studying crime scenes, gathering and examining evidence, processing evidence, and coordinating with investigators. They must also prepare and process documents, present detailed results and reports to investigators, and sometimes testify in court.
Forensic scientists work as experts in collecting evidence, analyzing evidence collected at crime scenes, and communicating with law enforcement. They can work as a lab manager and detective. They are responsible for ensuring that tests are performed correctly and ethically without any bias. They obtain evidence at the crime scene, making reports of the findings, examining the evidence in the lab if the evidence collected is relevant or not, and testifying in court. They report to superiors the findings of the analysis.
Criminalists and forensic scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Criminalist | Forensic Scientist | |
| Average salary | $68,152 | $71,351 |
| Salary range | Between $36,000 And $127,000 | Between $45,000 And $112,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | Lincoln, NE |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Alaska |
| Best paying company | City of Los Angeles | Alere |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a criminalist and a forensic scientist in terms of educational background:
| Criminalist | Forensic Scientist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Biology |
| Most common college | California State University - Bakersfield | California State University - Bakersfield |
Here are the differences between criminalists' and forensic scientists' demographics:
| Criminalist | Forensic Scientist | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 35.9% Female, 64.1% | Male, 43.1% Female, 56.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 10.4% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 10.5% White, 56.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |