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Job outlook for neuroscientists in the United States
Are neuroscientist jobs in demand?
Neuroscientist job and salary trends over time
Neuroscientist jobs over time
Neuroscientist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 10 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 10 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 10 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 9 | 0.00% |
Average neuroscientist salary over time
Neuroscientist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $76,267 | $36.67 | +3.1% |
| 2025 | $74,000 | $35.58 | +4.7% |
| 2024 | $70,683 | $33.98 | +3.3% |
| 2023 | $68,416 | $32.89 | +1.9% |
| 2022 | $67,116 | $32.27 | --2.1% |
Neuroscientist jobs by state
Most common states for neuroscientists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 2,075 | 30% |
| 2 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 121 | 17% |
| 3 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 721 | 10% |
| 4 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 532 | 9% |
| 5 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 69 | 7% |
| 6 | California | 39,536,653 | 2,450 | 6% |
| 7 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 580 | 6% |
| 8 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 326 | 6% |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 675 | 5% |
| 10 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 195 | 5% |
| 11 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 146 | 5% |
| 12 | Delaware | 961,939 | 44 | 5% |
| 13 | Alaska | 739,795 | 38 | 5% |
| 14 | Vermont | 623,657 | 34 | 5% |
| 15 | New York | 19,849,399 | 853 | 4% |
| 16 | Michigan | 9,962,311 | 372 | 4% |
| 17 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 359 | 4% |
| 18 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 200 | 4% |
| 19 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 160 | 4% |
| 20 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 52 | 4% |
Neuroscientist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of neuroscientist experts
Washburn University of Topeka
Pepperdine University
University of Dallas
University of San Diego
Georgetown University
Santa Fe College
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Jackson State University
San Jose State University
Washington State University
University of Kentucky
Purdue University
Ohio Wesleyan University
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Christopher Vitek Ph.D.: I love being a population biologist because it allows me to work with a lot of other people and help public health offices learn how to control vector-borne diseases. The work is interesting and has an end result that can provide some use to the public. One thing that people may not like is that population biology often uses a lot of math and mathematical modeling to help predict growth and distribution patterns. You don’t need to be an expert, but you should be comfortable with math.
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Taufika Williams PhD: Wet-laboratory skills will always be important, however, data interrogation is a key space of growth, as biotechnology research is being driven by big data. Seek education in scientific writing, computer programming, delivering scientific presentations, statistics and the analysis of large datasets.
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Frank David MD, PhD: My main piece of advice is to network. Do tons of informational interviews with folks and then follow up to see if there are possible opportunities or other connections that folks can help you make. Many biotech and pharma positions go to folks with 'inside tracks' because they are recommended by current employees or already know the hiring manager. Also: be flexible about the type of role whenever possible. For example, if you’re looking at an entry-level lab-based job, don’t get hung up on the specific disease area. Or if you’re interested in regulatory science, cast a broad net and also explore roles in program management and medical writing, which involve similar activities and required skills. Finally: it’s great to look for opportunities at biotech and pharma firms, but don’t forget about contract research organizations, consultancies, and other vendors that serve drug companies. Those types of organizations are often more willing to train folks who are coming straight out of school, and those positions are great stepping stones to eventually move 'to the client side' (into drug companies) as experienced hires.
Camellia Okpodu
What general advice would you give to a Neuroscientist?
Camellia Okpodu: Adatation and fundamental knowledge of botanical terms will always be pivotal to the discipline; however new technologies and applications will move the bountiful the discipline. Bioinformatics, genomics; Machine learning, Remote Sensing and VR (both for instruction and field application) will be necessay skills. Also, Botanists will collaborate with experts from diverse fields (ecology, computer science, engineering) thus making effective communication and teamwork critical.skills of the future
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Camellia Okpodu: When starting your career, maximizing your salary potential involves strategic planning and effective negotiation. Here are some of the best practices I have learned through mg own experience. I often tell graduates I didn’t know these things when I graduated. Here are tips to consider: 1. Research Industry Standards: Understand the average salary range for the position you’re pursuing. Use the La or statistics to look at national data for the position you are applying for. 2. Know Your Value: Highlight your unique skills, experience, and qualifications. Present a well-articulated case during negotiations. Make sure you include an opportunity to grow. Ask about professional organization and fees. See if that can’t be included in your salary or compensation 3. Ask About Salary Range: If asked about your salary expectations, inquire about the employer’s range first. 4. Consider Total Rewards: Look beyond the base salary. Make an evaluation about other benefits - work flexibly, professional development and employee benefits. Negotiations sets the stage for your financial well-being and long-term career progression. These are the recommendations and best practices I used when I was the director of a Center of Academic Excellence for the Intelligence Community. I received two accommodations from the Obama administration’s ODNI for putting students in jobs in the Intelligence community.
Susan Bjerke
Associate Professor of BiologyWashburn University of Topeka
Biological And Physical Sciences
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Susan Bjerke: Some of the skills that will be important in the next 3-5 years will be general critical thinking skills and the ability to adapt to changing technology. Almost all science fields are increasingly dependent on technology, so being able to learn new skills and change the way you do things in your job will be important. Being an effective communicator, both in writing and orally, is an overlooked skill in the sciences and is always an important asset.
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Rachel Tan Ph.D.: The scientific method: to be able to find, read, interpret, understand, and implement research. Not only would this enhance personal skills and critical thinking, it could contribute to techniques and methods that could be performed; it could foster questions that would be important in advancing the field; and could set apart an individual.
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Nicole Danos PhD: In the next 3-5 years techniques in Biotech will constantly improve. Which will mean three things:
a) there will be much more data to sort through! It will be important to let the questions being asked direct data analyses.
b) workers will need to be nimble to improve their lab skills. The same principles of good practices will apply!
c) AI tools will be in the workplace. Workers will need to understand these tools and know whether or not they are appropriate for what they are trying to use, and not trust them blindly.
What general advice would you give to a Neuroscientist?
Dr. Melanie Wilcox Ph.D., ABPP: There are some exciting new career pathways for Experimental Psychologists as technology continues to shift the world of work; for example, User Experience (UX) research is a great potential career pathway for Experimental Psychologists.
Luz Garcini PhD, MPH
Assistant ProfessorWhat general advice would you give to a Neuroscientist?
Luz Garcini PhD, MPH: Find a purpose and a meaning in their work and be open to learning from interdisciplinary fields.
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Luz Garcini PhD, MPH: Interdisciplinary, commitment to diversity, flexibility in thinking and approach, fast learning of technological advances, advanced statistical knowledge and skills in mixed methodologies.
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Ivica Labuda PhD: Everyone's career is a unique path, but a strong education gets your foot in the door and graduate programs such as Georgetown's MS in Biotechnology are accelerators for your potential. An advanced degree and the exposure to real-world internships they often provide bring you to a much higher starting point in negotiations and can help you gain confidence to start at higher positions. Salary, however, is just one measure of success -- also important to consider are satisfaction from the working environment, a great team, and potential for professional and personal growth.
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Kristopher Koudelka Ph.D.: Always keep learning. These fields change fast! The leading edge is always unveiling new information that can be applied to the area you are working on, and there will be new techniques developed that allow you to answer questions in more efficient ways. You must learn to regularly update yourself through conversations, reading, conferences, and trainings. This change is fun and exciting, embrace it. It will keep your job feeling new.
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Jeff Heslep: Know how to interpret data. Don't simply know what expected results are necessary for successful projects, know why and be able to explain the data. Technology in the form of automation, machine learning, and robotics is going to become more prevalent in the near future. Knowing how to program automated systems and how to prompt AI is going to be very beneficial. Lab skills will continue to be necessary, but continuing to grow with the advancement of technology is ideal.
What general advice would you give to a Neuroscientist?
Jacob Nordman: Salary potential in my field of neuroscience almost always involves publications, awards, and technical acumen. Therefore, as I mentioned, it is important to start early looking for opportunities that can strengthen these areas. Another important aspect of getting high-profile, and thus high-paying, positions, is being able to tell a story with your research and career. Employers want to see that you have thought deeply and strategically about your career and where it’s going. This will allow them to believe you are a safe bet and worthy of their investment.
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jacob Nordman: The very first thing to do, probably before you even apply for a PhD program, is ask yourself, “What do I want to do with my PhD?” In my field of neuroscience, that usually means one of 3 things: academia, industry, or policy. All three have different requirements and so involve different priorities. If the answer is academia, the most important requirement is publications, awards, and grants. These are what will make you appealing to labs and departments. If the answer is industry, having hands on experience with state-of-the-art techniques relevant to your field, along with the requisite high-profile papers, will make you appealing to employers. Either way, knowing what you will want to do will help you craft a graduate school experience that best equips you to compete in an extraordinarily competitive job marker.
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Jacob Nordman: In the field of neuroscience, the field is increasingly concerned with cellular and pathway specificity – what are the cell types and pathway that control ever-specific physiological functions. Some tools necessary to probe these questions include the powerful single-cell RNA sequencing method, genetic tools like optogenetics and chemogenetics that allow for neural pathway-specific manipulations, and increasingly sophisticated computer models that incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence. These techniques will only become more precise and integral, so familiarity with them now will set you up to learn the newer versions later.
What general advice would you give to a Neuroscientist?
Hung-Chung Huang: Master key concepts in genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry; also learn at least one programming language like R or Python.
Dr. Harit Agroia
Adjunct Professor of Public HealthSan Jose State University
Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Harit Agroia: The Health Science Researcher provides an exciting opportunity for individuals to explore areas of health that they are curious about; this role will be very well-enjoyed by someone who is curious, analytical and detail-oriented. One challenge about the role is that there may be times when research data may have to be re-collected or analyzed with evolving changes to research design and methodologies; being able to manage this effectively requires flexibility and adaptation in order to be thorough and successful in achieving set research goals.
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Dr. Harit Agroia: The Health Science Researcher is a dynamic profession to enter into now given that the world has collectively experienced the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; the effects on social and behavioral patterns for which are largely unknown. From a clinical perspective, there are many opportunities to get involved in research that focuses on the impacts of long-COVID on physical and overall health especially among subsets of the population. The pandemic has also exacerbated health inequities for which there is definitely a need to conduct more qualitative research to hear the voices of impacted communities, the challenges they face, and what may be helpful ways that these challenges can be addressed. Aside from global pandemic related research, there are many other exciting aspects of entering into this profession such as to understand how artificial intelligence will play a role in improving individual and population-level health.
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Lindsey du Toit: Take every opportunity you can to learn, network, and build an effective team of people that bring a greater breadth and depth of skills and expertise to the work on which you will be focusing. Cultivate a life-long sense of intellectual curiosity and learning. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Treat ignorance as an opportunity to learn. Questions demonstrate you want to understand the situation/problem effectively and that you are paying attention. Always demonstrate integrity in your work. It is one of the most valuable traits you can bring to your career. Be kind and supportive of your colleagues.
Dr. David Harmon
Professor of Animal & Food SciencesUniversity of Kentucky
Animal Sciences
What general advice would you give to a Neuroscientist?
Dr. David Harmon: Reading and writing skills are never more important. If you want to do research you have to compete for funds.
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. David Harmon: Opportunities abound. The job opportunities outnumber current graduates. Decide what you want to be good at and then be good at it.
Yan Cong
Purdue University
Romance Languages, Literatures, And Linguistics
What general advice would you give to a Neuroscientist?
Yan Cong: Professionally, focus on building your resume from the first day. This process can involve publishing in your field and connecting with other researchers. Personally, balance between your graduate work and your mental wellbeing.
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Yan Cong: Develop some in-demand skills such as programming or generating content from text models via prompt engineering, et cetera. Get experience and extra income via paid summer internships.
What general advice would you give to a Neuroscientist?
Chelsea Vadnie PhD: There are many specific professions within neuroscience since it is a broad and interdisciplinary field (e.g. science writer, consultant, nurse, statistician, etc.). A neuroscientist generally refers to someone who studies the structure and function of the nervous system. Neuroscientists often act as research scientists working within academia, industry, or a government agency. The specific day-to-day tasks of a neuroscientist will vary depending on the individual’s position and subfield. The daily work of a neuroscientist acting as a research scientist or professor may involve mentoring and teaching, carrying out service work for your organization or subfield, reading and interpreting the literature, grant writing, designing experiments, conducting experiments, analyzing data, preparing and delivering scientific talks, and publishing research papers.
What Neuroscientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Chelsea Vadnie PhD: Obtaining a research and/or teaching neuroscientist position typically requires a bachelor’s degree and a PhD. An MD can be helpful for those pursuing more clinical focused work. The path to becoming a neuroscientist can be long and challenging. Neuroscientists commonly juggle many responsibilities which may impact work-life balance. Neuroscientists frequently view their jobs as stimulating. Neuroscientist jobs often involve problem-solving and creativity. Many enjoy studying the mechanisms and structures underlying the behaviors of humans or other animals. A career as a neuroscientist provides opportunities to help others and contribute to society through research, teaching, and mentoring.
What will help Neuroscientists increase their earning potential?
Chelsea Vadnie PhD: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of medical scientists is expected to grow by 10% from 2022 to 2032. We will continue to need neuroscientists to uncover the biology underlying human behavior and health. Some of the most common causes of disability in the U.S. are diseases and disorders of the nervous system. Anxiety and depression climbed during the pandemic and mental health continues to be a major public health concern. With the aging population increasing, treatments and resources for neurodegenerative disorders will be crucial. Scientific discoveries and new technologies (e.g. brain organoids, brain cell-type characterization, brain-computer interfaces, generative AI, and in vivo imaging and manipulation tools) have and will continue to propel neuroscience forward and will create opportunities for future neuroscientists.