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The differences between medicinal chemists and chemists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a medicinal chemist has an average salary of $65,248, which is higher than the $64,961 average annual salary of a chemist.
The top three skills for a medicinal chemist include NMR, SAR and HPLC. The most important skills for a chemist are chemistry, lab equipment, and test results.
| Medicinal Chemist | Chemist | |
| Yearly salary | $65,248 | $64,961 |
| Hourly rate | $31.37 | $31.23 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 2,662 | 20,221 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A medicinal chemist applies their chemistry training to processing and synthesizing new pharmaceuticals. Their duties include developing new drugs, improving the processes through which pharmaceuticals are made, isolating medicinal agents, creating new synthetic drug compounds, and working with scientists in other disciplines. They are also required to develop products and production processes that are cost effective and environmentally friendly.
Chemists are generally responsible for observing and investigating chemical substances to create new and safe compounds essential for practical applications. They are often grouped depending on a particular area of specialization to focus and understand the complexities of the matter. A chemist usually takes time performing research and conducting experiments to test and further improve the quality and usage of a specific chemical substance. Chemists are expected to write on their observations and findings to establish scientific results.
Medicinal chemists and chemists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medicinal Chemist | Chemist | |
| Average salary | $65,248 | $64,961 |
| Salary range | Between $44,000 And $96,000 | Between $46,000 And $90,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Wilmington, DE |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | Delaware |
| Best paying company | Novartis | Meta |
| Best paying industry | - | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a medicinal chemist and a chemist in terms of educational background:
| Medicinal Chemist | Chemist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Chemistry |
| Most common college | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between medicinal chemists' and chemists' demographics:
| Medicinal Chemist | Chemist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.5% Female, 19.5% | Male, 59.6% Female, 40.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.8% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 26.8% White, 52.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 18.2% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |