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What is a statistician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted expert
Susan Barton
introduction image

Statisticians deal with data. They source it, collect it, organize it, display it, and present it to company executives, who use it to identify trends and take a peek into the mysteries of the future, predicting possible changes and figuring out strategic moves.

As a statistician, you will create polls, design questionnaires, and conduct surveys to lay your hands on precious data. Then you work your magic and turn it into gold using mathematical theories and statistical methods to seek out patterns.

You will need to know your craft to be considered for a statistician position. You will need at least a bachelor's degree in mathematics, statistics, or a related field. Your analytical thinking has to be on the spot, and keeping private information to yourself should not be a problem.

What general advice would you give to a statistician?

Susan BartonSusan Barton LinkedIn profile

Professor of Mathematics, Brigham Young University -- Hawaii

Be willing to put all the effort you can into your job. Employers want people who are willing to work diligently and willing to continue to learn new things throughout their careers. However, you need to find a good balance between family and work.
ScoreStatisticianUS Average
Salary
6.6

Avg. Salary $84,726

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
4.3

Growth rate 31%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
2.7
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.22%

Asian 22.75%

Black or African American 5.06%

Hispanic or Latino 7.59%

Unknown 4.95%

White 59.43%

Gender

female 36.81%

male 63.19%

Age - 35
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 35
Stress level
4.3

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level
9.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance
7.4

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Statistician career paths

Key steps to become a statistician

  1. Explore statistician education requirements

    Most common statistician degrees

    Bachelor's

    63.5 %

    Master's

    23.5 %

    Doctorate

    4.8 %
  2. Start to develop specific statistician skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Data Analysis8.96%
    Statistical Methods8.87%
    Statistical Techniques6.51%
    Statistical Data5.66%
    Logistic Regression4.73%
  3. Complete relevant statistician training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New statisticians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a statistician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real statistician resumes.
  4. Research statistician duties and responsibilities

    • Manage Medicaid fraud and abuse portfolios by analyzing medical and pharmacy claims data.
    • Conduct analysis and large data management using SAS, SQL on UNIX.
    • Develop advanced statistical analysis using SPSS on quantitative and qualitative data
    • Conduct statistical analysis including sampling, multivariate analysis, factor analysis, time-series modeling, regression and logistic analysis.
  5. Prepare your statistician resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your statistician resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a statistician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable statistician resume templates

    Build a professional statistician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your statistician resume.
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  6. Apply for statistician jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a statistician job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first statistician job

Daba YagueDaba Yague LinkedIn profile

Statistician, AZ Dept of Health Services

My dad is a statistician and he pushed me to try stats. I got my undergrad at ASU in appled statistics where I learned SAS, logistic regression and other stats concepts. I had really good teachers that were good at explaining the concepts. I took the math classes at the tempe campus and they were difficult! But I survived them lol. I and some classmates were put on a team and had an interesting capstone where we did some consulting for Ping and told them what machine was their slowest producing one. We also tried to make a Shiny R app to help visualize the presentation. We presented our findings in front of the CEO, management, and teachers. I got my masters in biomedical infornatics, a broad healthcare field that focuses on how to improve patient outcomes and I took some more stats classes along with the other classes. Now I work as a data quality analyst for the Dept of Health Services and am looking for other opportunities to gain more experience.

Average statistician salary

The average statistician salary in the United States is $84,726 per year or $41 per hour. Statistician salaries range between $60,000 and $119,000 per year.

Average statistician salary
$84,726 Yearly
$40.73 hourly

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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