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Job outlook for field chemists in the United States
Are field chemist jobs in demand?
Field chemist job and salary trends over time
Field chemist jobs over time
Field chemist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 650 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 669 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 673 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 682 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 680 | 0.00% |
Average field chemist salary over time
Field chemist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $66,162 | $31.81 | +2.2% |
| 2025 | $64,769 | $31.14 | +1.0% |
| 2024 | $64,151 | $30.84 | +2.9% |
| 2023 | $62,358 | $29.98 | +1.4% |
| 2022 | $61,523 | $29.58 | +3.5% |
Field chemist jobs by state
Most common states for field chemists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 129 | 19% |
| 2 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 127 | 17% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 909 | 13% |
| 4 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 169 | 13% |
| 5 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 143 | 11% |
| 6 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 114 | 11% |
| 7 | Delaware | 961,939 | 110 | 11% |
| 8 | Vermont | 623,657 | 68 | 11% |
| 9 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 62 | 11% |
| 10 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 431 | 10% |
| 11 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 519 | 9% |
| 12 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 517 | 9% |
| 13 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 282 | 9% |
| 14 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 275 | 9% |
| 15 | California | 39,536,653 | 3,011 | 8% |
| 16 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 783 | 8% |
| 17 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 703 | 8% |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 476 | 8% |
| 19 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 177 | 8% |
| 20 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 132 | 8% |
Most common cities for field chemists
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peabody | 2 | 4% | $88,042 |
| 2 | Rockville | 2 | 3% | $86,945 |
| 3 | Raleigh | 4 | 1% | $65,053 |
| 4 | Alameda | 1 | 1% | $66,668 |
| 5 | Allentown | 1 | 1% | $62,297 |
| 6 | Arvada | 1 | 1% | $60,631 |
| 7 | Baytown | 1 | 1% | $64,341 |
| 8 | Indianapolis | 4 | 0% | $66,838 |
| 9 | Atlanta | 2 | 0% | $63,445 |
| 10 | Boston | 2 | 0% | $88,382 |
| 11 | Fort Worth | 2 | 0% | $66,473 |
| 12 | Arlington | 1 | 0% | $66,449 |
| 13 | Aurora | 1 | 0% | $60,683 |
| 14 | Baton Rouge | 1 | 0% | $58,219 |
Field Chemist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of field chemist experts
Queens University of Charlotte
Northern Kentucky University
Northern Kentucky University
Southwestern College
College of Idaho
Ohio University Southern
Wake Forest University
University of Utah
Boston College
Saint Joseph’s University
Boise State University
North Central College
Brandeis University
Georgia College and State University
University of California
Maryville University
What general advice would you give to a Field Chemist?
John Richardson: Skills? Well, both hard and soft... Obviously, you will need to have the basic lab and knowledge skills that would be expected of a competent chemistry graduate. Yes, your new employer will spend time training you in the specific skills that pertain to your new job, but basic knowledge and skill sets (e.g., pipetting, calculating dilution factors, having baseline knowledge of common instrumentation) will be expected. As for soft skills, be friendly, cooperative, and curious. Extend these character traits to both your peers and supervisors. Other useful skills that my former students mention would be having some basic knowledge of business and perhaps coding.
Justin Moss
Assistant ProfessorQueens University of Charlotte
Chemistry
What general advice would you give to a Field Chemist?
Justin Moss: Chemistry is a good profession to enter due to its evolving and interdisciplinary nature, job demand, competitive salaries, and rewarding work.
What Field Chemist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Isabelle Lagadic Ph.D.: I’ve met employers asking me if I could teach my students basic skills like “being on time”, “writing a proper email”, “clearly and carefully documenting their work”, “using critical thinking to stop a recording or an experiment when it is obvious that it is not working”. Those very basic skills that everyone takes for granted in addition of basic technical skills are going to become the most prevalent in the coming years. What’s scary is the collision between the inevitable advancement of Ai in this field and this lack of basic skills. It is difficult to train people on tomorrow’s skills if they don’t already master today’s skills.
What Field Chemist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Konstantinos Vogiatzis: The day-to-day work heavily depends on the actual position. It might include the application of analytical or spectroscopic techniques for quality control, synthesis of molecules or materials, or simply the utilization of computers for the simulation of chemical processes.
What will help Field Chemists increase their earning potential?
Konstantinos Vogiatzis: It’s hard to respond to this question, since chemical technology is exciting in any aspect! The chemical elements are the alphabet of a chemist, and the decillion of different combinations between them form an enormous chemical space that needs to be explored for the discovery of new, fascinating molecular structures. Modern AI is actively helping the chemist to navigate the molecular space. Some people (like me!) dislike the laborious chemical synthesis, but for others this is the true beauty of our discipline.
What will help Field Chemists increase their earning potential?
Patrick Hare: Facility with using and interpreting AI results is an obvious growing need. Many of those skills are just applied analytical and critical thinking. The trick will be to do the applying and keep them fresh. Understanding how the systems work will also be useful.
What general advice would you give to a Field Chemist?
Dr. Daniel King: There is no single answer to this because chemistry includes such a broad category of jobs. Laboratory chemists are likely to be running experiments on a day-to-day basis. Running experiments will include calibrating and maintaining instrumentation, planning and designing new experiments, and preparing and analyzing samples. However, if someone’s work is more focused on research, then there might be more time devoted to analysis and interpretation of data and results and more time spent reading the literature. Other chemists might focus their efforts on analyzing samples to do quality control. Some chemists will spend more time varying experimental conditions to study the properties of different materials. Computational or theoretical chemists might never set foot in a lab; they would spend most of their time running computer simulations and creating/modifying computer programs to predict the results of chemical reactions and/or investigate properties of various chemicals. Environmental chemists often spend much of their time out in the field collecting samples. Some of those samples might be analyzed in the field and other samples might be stored and analyzed back in a laboratory. Someone entering the field is likely to spend a significant amount of time learning how to operate instrumentation and/or follow experimental procedures, particularly if they are working in industry. Once they have demonstrated proficiency in the tasks they have been assigned, they would be given more autonomy.
What Field Chemist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
David Hecht Ph.D.: Not sure- with a solid chemistry bkg and training, graduates should be equipped to learn and adapt as needed. Soft skills are VERY important and need to be developed.
Changqing Chen Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorWhat will help Field Chemists increase their earning potential?
Changqing Chen Ph.D.: Try to develop some business skills on product marketing and sales. Try to apply your scientific and engineering skills to business and become an all-around player.
What general advice would you give to a Field Chemist?
Bonnie Cantrell: Chemistry is the backbone to most protocols for the material, medical, and biological sciences.
Without chemistry, we would not know many of the things we know today. It will always be relevant in
helping change the scientific world as we know it. The advancements in science technology alone makes
chemistry today more exciting than ever. Just with balances from 1980's to now, we went from only
being able to weigh with counter balance weights to having a digital scale read accurately to 0.001
milligrams. Chemistry used to be more theoretical and only explainable from what we could make react
together. Now we have technology that can visualize the chemical composition and structure allowing
for us to create solutions to problems we could only dream of before. Whether you are wanting danger,
to save lives, or to help make this planet a better place to live, being a chemist can help you fuel your
passions.
Kyle Kemats Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of InstructionOhio University Southern
Chemistry Department
What skills stand out on Field Chemist resumes?
Kyle Kemats Ph.D.: For industry/research positions, employers like to see that candidates have experience/training on certain instruments. HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) is a common instrument that I see in a lot of job postings, so experience with that can be especially helpful to a candidate.
What soft skills should all Field Chemists possess?
Kyle Kemats Ph.D.: Communication skills are crucial, regardless of the type of position. Chemists need to be able to effectively communicate their findings, as well as communicate with their supervisors and colleagues. Additionally, chemists may be asked to train newer employees, further highlighting the importance of these communication skills.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Field Chemists?
Kyle Kemats Ph.D.: As I mentioned in question 1, training/experience on various instruments is the most important for industry/research jobs. For teaching positions, experience with different pedagogical/education techniques will be helpful for a potential candidate.
Brian Mendenhall
Associate Director and Career CoachWake Forest University
Office of Personal and Career Development
What skills stand out on Field Chemist resumes?
Brian Mendenhall: Two things that stand out for me, regardless of whether the person is seeking employment in research or industry, are data analysis (Excel, Python, R) and presentation skills. Research specific skills would also include experimental design and specific relevant laboratory techniques & equipment experience.
What soft skills should all Field Chemists possess?
Brian Mendenhall: In the past, the most important attributes have been leadership and problem-solving skills. If the pandemic has taught us anything, the most important attribute is the ability to work with others and get along in multiple virtual and in-person environments. The rest seem elementary and are all dependent on each other. To work well on a team, you need to problem-solve, both on the topic and on how to share information. To solve problems, you need to be analytical and quantitative. Certainly, to do this well, you need to communicate across diverse audiences and levels of understanding. The National Association of Colleges and Employers surveys employers on these priorities and updates the results frequently. (see below for your reference)
Ability to work in a team 81.0%
Problem-solving skills 79.0%
Analytical/quantitative skills 76.1%
Communication skills (verbal) 73.2%
Communication skills (written)
https://www.naceweb.org/about-us/press/the-key-attributes-employers-seek-on-college-graduates-resumes/
Shelley Minteer Ph.D.
Dale and Susan Poulter Endowed Chair in Biological Chemistry, Associate Chair of ChemistryUniversity of Utah
Department Of Chemistry
What skills stand out on Field Chemist resumes?
Shelley Minteer Ph.D.: The skills that stand out are research experience, characterization instrumentation experience, and more recently, data science experience and coding experience, as machine learning and AI become more and more important in chemistry.
What soft skills should all Field Chemists possess?
Shelley Minteer Ph.D.: The most important soft skills are communication and people management skills. It is critical to be strong in both oral and written communication.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Field Chemists?
Shelley Minteer Ph.D.: The most important technical skill is solid experience in a research laboratory where you learn technique as well as the fundamentals.
Dunwei Wang Ph.D.
Margaret A & Thomas A Vanderslice Chair in Chemistry, Professor of Chemistry, Chairperson of Chemistry DepartmentBoston College
Chemistry Department
What skills stand out on Field Chemist resumes?
Dunwei Wang Ph.D.: Skills to identify and solve problems.
What soft skills should all Field Chemists possess?
Dunwei Wang Ph.D.: Problem-solving skills. When presented with a problem, knowing where to go to find information to solve it.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Field Chemists?
Dunwei Wang Ph.D.: Chemistry is a diverse field. As a foundational discipline, it enables several sub-fields and supports emerging new fields. As one example, our graduates become experts in medical research, health care, and scientists and engineers in many other fields. Depending on the different career goals, what is important can be drastically different. Generally speaking, doing bench work (either in the lab or on a computer) should be a good skill to have at graduation.
What's a good job out of college for Field Chemists?
Dr. Brian Forster Ph.D.: Anything in your field. Even if it is not the ideal job or the "dream" job, a job that could potentially open doors or bring your closer to that ideal/dream job is one that graduating students should investigate seriously.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Field Chemists?
Dr. Brian Forster Ph.D.: For a short while, I believe there may be. In science for example, having lab courses online, students lose the "hands-on" skills they would normally learn in class (things that an online class cannot properly teach). Not all online simulations can recreate the same experience as being in the lab, performing the technique. This could potentially mean that recent graduates applying for laboratory job positions may need to either take a refresher course or may need additional time in training to make sure they have a good handle on the required lab technical skills. With schools bringing more classes back into the classroom or lab, I expect that this will not be the future norm.
Adam Colson Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorBoise State University
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Field Chemists?
Adam Colson Ph.D.: I believe that the impact of the pandemic will manifest itself in several ways, the most obvious being the anemic job market associated with economic contraction in certain industrial sectors. Equally concerning, albeit less obvious, are the opportunity losses experienced by students during the pandemic. The technical skills of chemistry and related sciences are best learned by hands-on experience, but the pandemic has impacted experiential learning at all levels, from first-year general chemistry labs to graduate-level thesis work. Students who are requested to submit research or capstone portfolios as part of their applications for employment or admission to graduate school could find that their applications are less competitive than those of their peers who have not experienced pandemic-related disruptions.
What's a good job out of college for Field Chemists?
Dr. Paul Brandt: Most students get their first entry-level job and find that it is not what they want to do for the rest of their life. Many will have a new/different job within a year. If you can find a position that is not simply rinse-lather-repeat and one that has some investigative aspect to it this generally keeps the employee more engaged and willing to continue with the company for a longer period of time.
What experience really stands out on Field Chemist resumes?
Dwight Peavey Ph.D.: Hands-on experience through an internship(s) and summer employment/research in the environment field puts that student ahead of others. Many students receive job offers from firms at which they have been employed or interned.
How do you envision technology impacting Field Chemists in the next 5 years?
Dwight Peavey Ph.D.: Technology is the key to identifying environmental problems/hotspots. The drone will increase ecological data collections and routine monitoring of facilities, crops, or ecosystems. Remote sensors are cost-effective and timely in 24/7 monitoring. Technology is the key to pollution prevention. Fix the problem before the accident or release.
What Field Chemist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Peter Rosado: I tell students to call their "gap" year more of a "Developmental" year. If a graduate desires to have such a year, they should focus on their whole goal, which means developing their professionalism and having other experiences. For example, travel to another country, learn a new language, intern at a company outside of the U.S., get involved further in the field of study. What stands out in candidates is how they made use of their time, skills that they acquired, and how they could weave them into the position they are applying for. That the candidate has had experiences outside of their comfort zone tells me as an employer that they are flexible and can adapt to new and unpredictable situations.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Field Chemists in the next 3-5 years?
Peter Rosado: Right now, with COVID-19, I feel that the field of medicinal chemistry/biotechnology is going to see a boom. Materials science is also on the rise with alternative energies and new restorative therapies. The area of chemistry is not a more extended purist and more integrated/interdisciplinary. No longer can you call yourself an "inorganic chemist" or an "analytical chemist"? Graduates should be aware that flexibility and eagerness to learn new things is critical here. These are the skills obtained from a college degree, which is not the only subject matter. But the ability to think through and solve problems, be flexible, adaptable, etc.
How do you envision technology impacting Field Chemists in the next 5 years?
Vicki Grassian Ph.D.: There is more and more interest in AI in chemistry and biochemistry. I think we are at the cusp of an AI wave for chemistry and biochemistry research, from designing drugs to contaminant remediation. It will be interesting in 5 to 10 years from now to see where this all goes.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Field Chemists?
Anuradha Vummenthala: I don't envision the significant enduring impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on graduates looking for jobs in the Chemistry field. I do acknowledge that the current scenario appears gloomy. It has undoubtedly impacted everyone's lives socially, economically, and psychologically. But we, as humans and especially as Americans, have remarkable resilience, and we are bound to bounce back more vital than ever before.
We managed through the Great Recession and the economic crisis of 2008. The graduates may face some short-term challenges due to a hiring freeze and delayed start date on new hiring. However, the economy is slowly opening up, and opportunities will soon start pouring in. This is not going to last forever! Graduates can efficiently utilize this time to broaden their skill sets, expand their network, and explore non-traditional career paths like scientific writings, patent drafting, federal jobs, etc