Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between medicinal chemists and laboratory 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 $62,702 average annual salary of a laboratory chemist.
The top three skills for a medicinal chemist include NMR, SAR and HPLC. The most important skills for a laboratory chemist are lab equipment, chromatography, and analytical methods.
| Medicinal Chemist | Laboratory Chemist | |
| Yearly salary | $65,248 | $62,702 |
| Hourly rate | $31.37 | $30.15 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 2,662 | 41,322 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| 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.
Laboratory Chemists are licensed scientists who work with chemicals. They are usually found in academic institutions or research facilities. Laboratory Chemists create experiments based on the needs of the institution or company. They mix different chemicals to make the desired results. They would also analyze compounds borne out of the different mixtures and record their observations. They tabulate the results and present these to the body. Laboratory Chemists should have good organization skills. They should be able to document their experiments properly. This would help the company and future researchers.
Medicinal chemists and laboratory chemists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medicinal Chemist | Laboratory Chemist | |
| Average salary | $65,248 | $62,702 |
| Salary range | Between $44,000 And $96,000 | Between $45,000 And $86,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Nutley, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | Virginia |
| Best paying company | Novartis | BASF |
| Best paying industry | - | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a medicinal chemist and a laboratory chemist in terms of educational background:
| Medicinal Chemist | Laboratory 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 laboratory chemists' demographics:
| Medicinal Chemist | Laboratory Chemist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.5% Female, 19.5% | Male, 63.9% Female, 36.1% |
| 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, 7.7% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 18.3% White, 60.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |