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Job outlook for research directors in the United States
Research director job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected research director job growth rate is 19% from 2018-2028.
About 150,300 new jobs for research directors are projected over the next decade.
Research director salaries have increased 5% for research directors in the last 5 years.
There are over 14,042 research directors currently employed in the United States.
There are 51,298 active research director job openings in the US.
The average research director salary is $108,875.
Are research director jobs in demand?
Research director job and salary trends over time
Research director jobs over time
Research director job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14,042 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 13,321 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 13,096 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 12,318 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 11,512 | 0.00% |
Average research director salary over time
Research director salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $108,875 | $52.34 | +3.2% |
| 2025 | $105,533 | $50.74 | +1.1% |
| 2024 | $104,424 | $50.20 | --0.2% |
| 2023 | $104,606 | $50.29 | +1.1% |
| 2022 | $103,498 | $49.76 | +0.7% |
Research director jobs by state
Most common states for research directors
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 247 | 28% |
| 2 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 162 | 23% |
| 3 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 362 | 20% |
| 4 | South Carolina | 5,024,369 | 810 | 16% |
| 5 | Vermont | 623,657 | 99 | 16% |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 3,930,864 | 602 | 15% |
| 7 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 827 | 14% |
| 8 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 726 | 13% |
| 9 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 653 | 13% |
| 10 | Louisiana | 4,684,333 | 597 | 13% |
| 11 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 556 | 13% |
| 12 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 137 | 13% |
| 13 | Mississippi | 2,984,100 | 372 | 12% |
| 14 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 586 | 11% |
| 15 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 152 | 11% |
| 16 | Delaware | 961,939 | 108 | 11% |
| 17 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 824 | 10% |
| 18 | New York | 19,849,399 | 1,813 | 9% |
| 19 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 844 | 9% |
| 20 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 333 | 9% |
Most common cities for research directors
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Needham | 2 | 7% | $106,208 |
| 2 | Bethesda | 2 | 3% | $93,163 |
| 3 | Annapolis | 1 | 3% | $93,585 |
| 4 | Ann Arbor | 2 | 2% | $95,951 |
| 5 | Cambridge | 2 | 2% | $106,061 |
| 6 | Washington | 8 | 1% | $112,963 |
| 7 | Boston | 4 | 1% | $106,134 |
| 8 | Atlanta | 3 | 1% | $93,589 |
| 9 | Miami | 3 | 1% | $81,032 |
| 10 | Chandler | 2 | 1% | $95,772 |
| 11 | Orlando | 2 | 1% | $83,081 |
| 12 | Savannah | 2 | 1% | $95,113 |
| 13 | Urban Honolulu | 2 | 1% | $86,532 |
| 14 | Chicago | 5 | 0% | $95,640 |
| 15 | New York | 2 | 0% | $119,390 |
| 16 | San Diego | 2 | 0% | $120,222 |
| 17 | San Francisco | 2 | 0% | $136,510 |
| 18 | Anchorage | 1 | 0% | $96,396 |
Research Director job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of research director experts
Morehouse School of Medicine
McMurry University
The University of Iowa
State University of New York at Oswego
The College of Wooster
Portland State University
University of La Verne
Ohio State University
Ohio State University
Dr. DeQuan Smith
Assistant Director, Graduate Education & Career ConnectionsMorehouse School of Medicine
Division of Graduate Education in Biomedical Sciences
What soft skills should all Research Directors possess?
Dr. DeQuan Smith: Adaptability, collaboration, learning agility, emotional intelligence, creativity, interpersonal communication, growth mindset, focus mastery, and innovation.
Daniel Patten Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorMcMurry University
Department of Sociology and Criminology
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Research Directors?
Daniel Patten Ph.D.: I think it is safe to say yes. The tougher question is what those impacts are likely to be. Some of those impacts can already be seen. According to some recent research, COVID has impacted students very differently, usually split down lines of social class. For example, many students have delayed graduation with the poorest students most likely to do so. Other impacts have been the loss of a job, internship, or job offer after graduation. All of these will likely have lasting impacts for the future. Most prominently, many graduates can expect lower earnings for longer parts of their career than past generations. Unfortunately, this effect will be more pronounced for students coming from low-income families. One reason for this among many is a lack of social networking opportunities. College can be a time where low-income students expand their social capital by building relationships with others of different social backgrounds. The COVID world is even more segregated than before despite technological systems designed to keep us connected.
All of these impacts say nothing about health-related impacts. Of course, little is known about the long-term health complications associated with COVID. Yet, medical bills may linger alongside college debt for many students. College is also a time for heightened anxiety without COVID where mental illness tends to manifest. COVID can only serve to exacerbate such an issue. Many of these issues could be alleviated to some degree depending on our societal response to these problems. However, at this time, many students are finding little succor for major problems.
Lastly, it is hard to say what the impacts of limiting social life will be. Many students will have to go without entirely or experience quite different alternatives to many traditional social gatherings. It is often in these spaces and through these experiences we gain informal skills that employers seek such as oral communication skills, especially those that are more impromptu.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Research Director job market given the pandemic?
Katina Lillios: Anthropologists are trained in critical thinking and in developing solutions to the challenges that we face in our global community. Because of their distinctive skills in critical thinking and in analyzing problems that engage with cultural differences, graduates with anthropology degrees are found in a wide range of job settings, from educational institutions, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and corporations, particularly those involving cross-cultural markets and goods. Most students graduating with a BA or BS in Anthropology do not go into academia. The pandemic has created significant budget challenges in all these settings, however. Given that, there with likely be a bottleneck in new positions for a few years, and college graduates will need to be patient, resourceful, and flexible. They should seek or create opportunities to keep up their skills, perhaps even in settings they did not imagine working in, and maintain connections with the communities they hope to work with and in. In academic institutions, there will likely be an increasing shift to online delivery of courses, so aspiring instructors (students graduating with an MA or PhD) might want to think about developing the skills and content for some online courses they hope to teach.
What skills stand out on Research Director resumes?
Katina Lillios: While the precise skills that are desired depend on the job, there are some that all graduates from an Anthropology program should work on developing. These include experience contributing to group projects, collaborating with diverse communities, strong communication and writing skills, versatility, and mastery of a specialized skill, such as GIS, a foreign language, statistics, and other digital technologies.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Research Directors to find work opportunities?
Katina Lillios: With an Anthropology degree in hand, it is easier to find employment in high population density areas, where colleges/universities, museums, libraries, and hospitals are located.
Ryan Barker
Visiting InstructorState University of New York at Oswego
Departments of Biological Sciences and Health Promotion and Wellness
What Research Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Ryan Barker: Gap years are great for experience, do your best to find a job on the ground in your local area but keep mastering things like Zoom or Webex and other telecommunication services. Take the time to set up a designated site in your apartment or home and be prepared to use it because foriegn firms want American talent to strength their presence in the American and global market.
What general advice would you give to a Research Director?
Ryan Barker: Put your time in, get your experience, make your bosses proud and move on. So long as there is a strong market, don't waste time "waiting" for the perfect job, leave. Go out and get it, just don't level on bad terms and make sure you provided value at the time of your departure.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Research Director job market given the pandemic?
Melanie Long Ph.D.: Of course, the biggest question at the moment is how quickly the job market will recover, especially in industries that experienced the largest declines due to the pandemic such as hospitality and travel. Once the public health crisis has been addressed and demand does recover, some industries may see a surge in applications from recent graduates and others whose career trajectories were on pause during the pandemic.
For example, we have been discussing this possibility in the job market for economics professors. Some observers have noted that PhD candidates may delay their search for academic posts by a year due to the sharp decline in hiring this year. As a result, even if the number of academic posts increases to normal levels next year, the number of applicants may increase as well, heightening competition for the available jobs.
I would also expect that some employers will consider making telecommuting a permanent option moving forward. Many companies found themselves forced to have employees work remotely due to the pandemic, despite any concerns about potential drawbacks. This situation created an experiment of sorts for companies, and those satisfied with the results in terms of productivity and other outcomes may look to adopt telework in the long term. Moreover, some employees are likely to appreciate more options to work from home as a way to avoid long commutes or high housing prices in metropolitan areas with strong labor markets.
Finally, the pandemic has shed light on the challenges faced by families and individuals trying to balance work with childcare. These challenges have been particularly acute for women, who continue to spend more time on care of dependents than men. Time spent on childcare increased dramatically as schools and childcare services shut down. The result has been that women have dropped out of the labor force at a far greater rate than men during the pandemic. Moving forward, the heightened visibility of these challenges for women may prompt employers to consider greater scheduling flexibility or other policies that make it easier to balance family obligations with work.
What experience really stands out on Research Director resumes?
David Cadiz MBA, Ph.D.: Based on feedback I have been getting from organizations that have been interviewing and hiring our new graduates, there are two primary components on new graduate resumes that are setting these new graduates apart in terms of those getting more interest for interviews versus those who are not. First, students who have had at least one HR-specific internship (multiple internships would be even better) are definitely seeing more interest from employers. A lot of entry-level HR jobs are asking for applicants with some HR experience and those with internships can meet that requirement and essentially get passed that first hurdle. Second, I am a bit biased here because I am a faculty advisor for a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) student group at PSU, but students that actively participate and take on a leadership role in a student group have seen a lot of interest from employers. By participating in these groups, the students are able to show employers that they have gained some leadership skills and are willing to go over and beyond in terms of spending time volunteering for a group that is focused on developing HR professionals.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Research Directors?
Allyson Brantley Ph.D.: For most of our History majors -- as with any others -- I'm sure there will be an impact, but it's hard to say whether or not it will be long-lasting. Since some of our graduates go into fields like museum work and public history, they may find it challenging to enter into those fields right away, given that museums have been facing severe budgetary constraints. There may be some impacts down the line in terms of the ability to get an internship or entry-level position in these fields.
I think we may also see an uptick in the number of history undergraduates who choose to go into master's or Ph.D. programs (something that indeed occurred in the wake of the Great Recession); without many job options, many pursue additional degrees.
What type of skills will young Research Directors need?
Bart Elmore: There really is no profession that does not lean on history. Politicians speak of what the "Founding Fathers" believed in trying and getting legislation passed. Business leaders have to look back at old annual reports and financial records to understand economic trends and predict problems that might arise in the future. Even doctors have to learn how to examine health data compiled decades ago to understand how best to treat their patients. I'm not sure people think of history this way, but the truth is, knowing how to digest historical data and translate it into useful information that can help guide decisions in the present is what historians do. I cannot think of a more powerful discipline when it comes to learning skills that will help young graduates live better lives once they leave the university.
How do you envision technology impacting Research Directors in the next 5 years?
Bart Elmore: It is already changing the profession. Global Information Systems (GIS) maps and textual recognition technology, among other digital tools, are helping us see history like we never have before. This is why historians can enter the job market with real technical skills that have broad application in many different professions. Many history classes offered today require students to learn how to use new digital tools to do their research, and I see that becoming even more commonplace in the next five years. This bodes well for history majors going off into a job market that seeks young graduates with computer skills.
What Research Director skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Ben Brown: Always the soft skills of holding a conversation and working with people, regardless of the pandemic.