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Job outlook for survey statisticians in the United States
Are survey statistician jobs in demand?
Survey statistician job and salary trends over time
Survey statistician jobs over time
Survey statistician job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 404 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 501 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 504 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 515 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 471 | 0.00% |
Average survey statistician salary over time
Survey statistician salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $59,294 | $28.51 | +1.2% |
| 2025 | $58,580 | $28.16 | +3.9% |
| 2024 | $56,408 | $27.12 | +4.4% |
| 2023 | $54,018 | $25.97 | +4.4% |
| 2022 | $51,730 | $24.87 | +0.5% |
Survey statistician jobs by state
Most common states for survey statisticians
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 132 | 19% |
| 2 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 374 | 4% |
| 3 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 318 | 4% |
| 4 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 289 | 4% |
| 5 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 255 | 4% |
| 6 | Delaware | 961,939 | 35 | 4% |
| 7 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 112 | 3% |
| 8 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 92 | 3% |
| 9 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 78 | 3% |
| 10 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 33 | 3% |
| 11 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 22 | 3% |
| 12 | Vermont | 623,657 | 16 | 3% |
| 13 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 16 | 3% |
| 14 | California | 39,536,653 | 957 | 2% |
| 15 | New York | 19,849,399 | 381 | 2% |
| 16 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 302 | 2% |
| 17 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 240 | 2% |
| 18 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 217 | 2% |
| 19 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 197 | 2% |
| 20 | Alaska | 739,795 | 18 | 2% |
Most common cities for survey statisticians
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frankfort | 1 | 4% | $44,743 |
| 2 | Annapolis | 1 | 3% | $77,607 |
| 3 | Dover | 1 | 3% | $70,200 |
| 4 | Juneau | 1 | 3% | $70,585 |
| 5 | Arlington | 2 | 1% | $66,626 |
| 6 | Hartford | 1 | 1% | $76,954 |
| 7 | Lansing | 1 | 1% | $48,783 |
| 8 | Little Rock | 1 | 1% | $47,928 |
| 9 | Rockville | 1 | 1% | $76,819 |
| 10 | Atlanta | 1 | 0% | $49,814 |
| 11 | Baton Rouge | 1 | 0% | $44,037 |
| 12 | Boston | 1 | 0% | $81,530 |
| 13 | Denver | 1 | 0% | $47,086 |
| 14 | Des Moines | 1 | 0% | $32,624 |
| 15 | Indianapolis | 1 | 0% | $55,814 |
| 16 | Montgomery | 1 | 0% | $36,503 |
| 17 | Phoenix | 1 | 0% | $63,358 |
| 18 | Sacramento | 1 | 0% | $79,216 |
Survey Statistician job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of survey statistician experts
San Francisco State University
University of North Carolina at Asheville
Saint Peter's University
University of Northern Colorado
Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Villanova University
Lehigh University
Baylor University
Temple University
University of Texas at El Paso
Dominican College
Andrews University
Radford University
University of Houston - Clear Lake
Brigham Young University -- Hawaii
Humboldt State University
Shawnee State University
What general advice would you give to a Survey Statistician?
Warren Johnson: Statistics/data science and computer science are great professions to enter now. Mathematics is involved in these fields. It allows working with talented students and gaining new insights.
What Survey Statistician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Warren Johnson: Some of us prove theorems on the frontiers of mathematics, but most of us really don't. A good mathematical training allows one to work on many different things in many contexts. Teaching is rewarding if you have good students.
What will help Survey Statisticians increase their earning potential?
Warren Johnson: Many of the greatest ideas that men and women have had are mathematical ideas. The thrill of understanding something difficult and explaining it to talented young people is rewarding. Dislike the grading aspect of the job.
What general advice would you give to a Survey Statistician?
Luella Fu: Statistics is an amazing profession to enter now because the amount of data being collected and stored is always increasing. This makes Statistics a high-demand skill not just now but also in the future. The data is also of a huge variety: sports, medical, environmental, and business being just a few kinds. This means that a Statistician can use Statistics as a tool to explore almost field they want. It’s an incredibly versatile profession. You can also get an industry after a Bachelors, Master’s or PhD, so there is also flexibility in how much training you choose to undergo.
What Survey Statistician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Luella Fu: I think Statisticians enjoy the quantitative reasoning aspect of their jobs, whether it’s designing the data collection, visualizing data, or creating insights from it. It’s also a pretty stable job with good pay. What Statisticians probably don’t like is the amount of time they spend in front of a computer to do their data analyses. It can create eye strain. Also, data cleaning can be full of unexpected challenges that take much longer to solve than one expects.
What will help Survey Statisticians increase their earning potential?
Luella Fu: It varies depending on if you’re an academic or an industry professional, but I think a common theme for all entry-level statisticians is that they’re going to be pulling data out of storage, finding ways to visualize it, and finding ways to summarize it. They’ll usually have very specific goals in mind, either to answer a research or business question, and so they’ll spend quite some time just thinking about what the data is answering and how to showcase the data in the way that best answers those important questions.
What general advice would you give to a Survey Statistician?
Kedai Cheng Ph.D.: For academic jobs, as a professor, we start off our day with a coffee. Thanks to the luxury of academic jobs, I spend most of my day reading and studying, and doing research. Research is totally different from learning. Learning is comparatively easy because everything is written in the book. If I do not under, I can always go over it again and again. It is a matter of time investment. Unlike learning, we do not have a certain answer for research. It is possible that we spend 1 year reviewing all existing literature and do our own experiment, and it turns out nothing worked out. It is a very strongly self-motivated job. And we need to be able to enjoy the loneliness. To other people, it may seem like our jobs are boring and lonely. However, to me, it is different. I rarely get bored, because I want to know what is going on. We can always dig a little deeper on what we have.
What Survey Statistician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Bernd Schroeder: The foundation of mathematics is logical and computational precision. Mathematical results are eternal in that there is no update needed once a result has been shown to be true. Consider Pythagoras' Theorem. It's rather old, but its statement and truth are unchanged, as is its applicability. This logical and computational precision will be of primary importance for as long as human beings practice mathematics, science, as well as have interactions in general. For the future, we need to continually refine our ability to use fundamental skills in mathematics/logic/computations to validate and improve results obtained through complex computations: For example, the computations that underly AI cannot and should not be double checked step-by-step, because they are much too intricate. However, simple test cases can often reveal problems in the system as well as features.
What will help Survey Statisticians increase their earning potential?
Nickolas Kintos PhD: Don't think that you have to limit yourself to specific areas. Mathematics is used in many different fields. Keep your options open.
Khalil Shafie
Dr.University of Northern Colorado
Mathematics And Statistics
What will help Survey Statisticians increase their earning potential?
Khalil Shafie: For a graduate beginning their career in Statistics, I'd advise focusing on building a strong foundation in both theoretical and practical aspects of statistics and seeking opportunities for hands-on experiences
Dr. Brett Elliott
Director of General Education/ProfessorSoutheastern Oklahoma State University
Mathematics Department
What skills stand out on Survey Statistician resumes?
Dr. Brett Elliott: I think what would stand out on a statistician's resume is communication skills, in particular, being able to explain the results of some statistical procedure to others that may not have as much (or any) statistical knowledge.
What skills will help Survey Statisticians earn the most?
Dr. Brett Elliott: I'm not sure they are "skills," but being willing to relocate is one of the things that will lead to higher salaries, and another is a willingness to be a life-long learner. The more areas you are proficient in (both statistical and otherwise) will lead to more opportunities.
Paul Bernhardt
Associate Professor of Statistics, Director of the Applied Statistics Graduate ProgramVillanova University
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
What skills stand out on Survey Statistician resumes?
Paul Bernhardt: A famous statistician, John Tukey, once said that "the best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard." This quote summarizes life as a practicing statistician: you help scientists, businesses, or the government better understand their study subjects, their market, or their interests by carefully analyzing their data and making appropriate inferences. Thus, for statisticians, versatility is key. This can be demonstrated through work or internship experiences, examples of projects completed, a variety of classes taken in school, and strong programming abilities. The better that a statistician is able to portray on a resume that they know how to handle data and work with individuals who need data advice or analysis, the better their resume will look.
What soft skills should all Survey Statisticians possess?
Paul Bernhardt: Statisticians generally have to work with a variety of people from a variety of fields. Thus statisticians have to be eager to learn and ask questions. It is common for a client or a scientist consulting with a statistician for the first time to think that they know what they want, but it is the job of the statistician to ask questions to make sure not only that they understand the data and the data-related issues, but that the analyses goals are feasible. In most statistics jobs, working with others, often as a team, is essential. This requires solid communication skills, both in conveying thoughts on the best procedure as well as in explaining technical results to individuals not familiar with statistical jargon.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Survey Statisticians?
Paul Bernhardt: Statisticians must have a range of methodological knowledge, and which skills are most important will vary heavily from job to job. In some jobs, having experience working with biological data will be most important, and thus particular classwork and methodological skills are most significant. In other cases, statisticians are asked to play a role in designing studies, monitoring data collection, and insuring quality control. Having data analysis skills is very different from knowing experimental design or best survey practices. Most statistics jobs will require expertise in at least one programming language. Pharmaceutical and biostatistics jobs often require knowledge of SAS, whereas finance, business, and other data analysis/science jobs are more likely to require fluency in Python or R. Statisticians who know multiple languages along with database management using SQL are often well-primed for jobs in programming or data science.
What skills will help Survey Statisticians earn the most?
Paul Bernhardt: Experience and willingness to grow and learn more. Because statistics is needed by so many different fields and involves so many different methods, procedures, and skills, time is needed to build up the knowledge that helps an individual acquire a top-earning job as a manager or other team leader. This can often be done within a large company, such as in pharmaceuticals, but it can also be done by moving to new jobs. In many cases, only a few years of experience are needed to move to higher-level positions. For individuals with a Master's degree or Ph.D., earning more often happens much sooner.
Bottom line: If a statistician has the experience, strong communication skills, and is good with a variety of software programs and with database management, they will likely be able to earn a good living with relatively reasonable working hours. For this reason, "statistician"/"data scientist" consistently ranks as one of the top jobs among a variety of rankings. For example, the last six years running, it has been listed in the top three jobs to have by Glassdoor.com
What soft skills should all Survey Statisticians possess?
Wei-Min Huang: Problem-Solving Skills, Creativity, Communication skills, Ability to communicate findings to non-statisticians.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Survey Statisticians?
Wei-Min Huang: Strong mathematical and logical insight, Analytical and formulation skills, Wide-ranging computer skills, Knowing the difference between model-based and data-driven approaches.
Michael Gallaugher Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Elected Director of The Classification SocietyBaylor University
Department of Statistical Science
What skills stand out on Survey Statistician resumes?
Michael Gallaugher Ph.D.: Like with the hard/technical skills, I think coding ability stands out most on a statistician's resume. As data today is getting more complex, computational experience is needed regardless of whether or not the applicant is going into academia or industry. In addition, past interdisciplinary work would stand out as well.
What soft skills should all Survey Statisticians possess?
Michael Gallaugher Ph.D.: From the beginning, statistics have been very interdisciplinary and have become even more so in recent years. With that comes working with people with various backgrounds, including those who have only a very basic understanding of mathematics and statistics. Therefore, a statistician needs to reduce the mathematical and computational jargon to simple language.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Survey Statisticians?
Michael Gallaugher Ph.D.: With the types of data being analyzed today, computational and coding skills are key. Anyone entering the statistics field, regardless of going into academia or industry, should be comfortable coding in at least one statistical computing language such as R, python, or more recently, Julia. In addition, and this is probably obvious, strong mathematical skills are also very important.
What type of skills will young Survey Statisticians need?
Dr. Pallavi Chitturi Ph.D.: In addition to a strong foundation in statistical methodology and applied statistics, graduates should also gain exposure to programming and modern languages such as R and SAS. Effective written and oral communication skills are also essential to success in the workforce.
What experience really stands out on Survey Statistician resumes?
Dr. Pallavi Chitturi Ph.D.: Experiences outside the classroom, such as research projects, case competitions, and leadership experience really stand out on resumes. I urge students to participate in case competitions and data challenges and take a leadership role in student professional organizations. In the Statistical Science & Data Analytics (SSDA) major at the Fox School, students apply theoretical knowledge to a real project involving industry data in their Capstone course. Students engage in the entire process of solving a real-world data science project: from clarifying objectives, collecting and processing data, to applying suitable and appropriate analytic methods to the problem.
Dr. Amy Wagler Ph.D.
Associate Chair and Associate ProfessorUniversity of Texas at El Paso
Departament of Mathematical Sciences
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Survey Statisticians?
Dr. Amy Wagler Ph.D.: There will be an impact without a doubt. Back in March, we had to quickly change course for mentoring and teaching our students in statistics and data science. Valuable learning experiences were lost and one-on-one interaction with students was lacking. By the fall, we had more time to plan but still had all instruction online. We are trying to recreate the impactful teaching practices in an online setting, and we are getting better at it now. However, the learning curve is steep.
What experience really stands out on Survey Statistician resumes?
Dr. Amy Wagler Ph.D.: Working on applied interdisciplinary projects is a skill that demonstrates mastery of statistical methods and knowledge, but also demonstrates experience working with professionals with domain expertise.
Dr. AnnMarie DelliPizzi Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology, Coordinator of the Health Sciences Program, Honors Program DirectorDominican College
Math and Science Department
What skills stand out on Survey Statistician resumes?
Dr. AnnMarie DelliPizzi Ph.D.: Certainly the more hands-on skills a student has in the lab, the better the chance of securing a laboratory position. If the opportunity is available, I encourage all students to participate in a research project. Research supplements skills and techniques developed through lab-based coursework. In addition, research trains students to design innovative projects, develop analytical skills, think critically and troubleshoot problems. Consistent with many other jobs, employers look for individuals who are motivated, can demonstrate teamwork, and have strong interpersonal skills, including verbal and written communication.
Anthony Bosman Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of MathematicsAndrews University
Mathematics Department
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Survey Statistician job market given the pandemic?
Anthony Bosman Ph.D.: The pandemic has accelerated the disruption that was already occurring in nearly every industry. As such, companies are reimagining the nature of work, re-writing job descriptions and becoming more accommodating of remote work.
What skills stand out on Survey Statistician resumes?
Anthony Bosman Ph.D.: Employers are looking for a combination of proficiency in technical skills as well as those distinctly human literacies sometimes referred to as "soft skills". Applicants should signal that they have the resilience and adaptability to thrive under changing conditions, able to quickly adopt new technologies and acquire needed skills as their changing job descriptions require it.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Survey Statisticians to find work opportunities?
Anthony Bosman Ph.D.: The increasingly decentralized office and remote-friendly nature of many jobs, particularly in the knowledge sector, should open up more opportunities for graduates to compete for jobs across the country and beyond. Applicants, therefore, shouldn't restrict their search to a narrow, local region.
Dr. Miodrag Lovric Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorRadford University
Mathematics and Statistics Department
What skills stand out on Survey Statistician resumes?
Dr. Miodrag Lovric Ph.D.: According to the book written by Denning and Brown, "A new culture of learning", the half-life of an acquired skill is 5 years. This implies that much of what you learned 10 years ago is obsolete and half of what you learned 5 years ago is almost irrelevant.
Many companies are using an immense suite of collaboration tools such as Zoom, Slack, Google Hangouts and Chat, Microsoft teams, virtual whiteboards, and similar gears to assist remote teams.
The following soft (interpersonal) skills will be in demand during and after the pandemic: creativity, collaboration, adaptability, negotiating, and emotional intelligence. On the flip side, top in-demand hard skills include digital skills related to remote working, cybersecurity, analytic reasoning and data analysis, and artificial intelligence.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Survey Statisticians to find work opportunities?
Dr. Miodrag Lovric Ph.D.: According to the Handshake web site, "Where are College Students Going After they Graduate?", based on their analysis of more than 13 million job applications, the most popular city in each region of the U.S. was local to that region, every region retained more than 50 percent of graduates, and NYC was the single most popular city for job seekers. However, due to the corona pandemic, I believe that in the most foreseeable future some other cities will become much more attractive. From my personal, international, perspective (I have been living in eight countries) the best places for new college graduates to start a life are those that enable optimal balance among factors such as affordability, real estate values, crime rates, and culture.
Susan Barton
Professor of MathematicsBrigham Young University -- Hawaii
Faculty of Math and Computing
How would you rate the starting salaries for Survey Statisticians, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?
Susan Barton: With a bachelor's degree in Mathematics or Applied Mathematics, the starting salary and various types of career prospects are very good.
With more advanced degrees in mathematics, the starting salary is even better. In the 2019 USA Today/Wall 24/7 report for top careers, for both salary and job satisfaction, six of the top 10 are closely related to mathematics and applied mathematics (#2 Mathematician, #3 University Professor, #5 Statistician, #7 Data Scientist, #9 Operations Research Analyst --uses math to help companies solve problems and operate more efficiently, and #10 Actuary). Each of these careers has a predicted growth rate that exceeds 22% through 2026.
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Once hired, salary increases and advances in one's career have a lot to do with demonstrating ability, talent, dependability, successfully taking on new assignments, and fitting a need within the company. You need to show you are a valuable asset to your employer throughout your career.
David Marshall
Lecturer and Research AssociateHumboldt State University
Department of Mathematics
What type of skills will young Survey Statisticians need?
David Marshall: Students often use me as a reference, and the most often asked question I get from an employer in a reference call is, "How does this person work in groups?" Working in teams is important and a skill you can develop. If you have not yet graduated, learn to work well with others. If you are a high performer, learn to help others be better. This is important for everyone, learn to contribute, and how to effectively communicate. Lately, I would also suggest that you learn a group or team productivity software. I'm not going to talk about specific "groupware," just that you need to put some time into learning the functions of the productivity software you are currently using. Be able to talk about how you used it to accomplish goals; employers love that.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Survey Statisticians to find work opportunities?
David Marshall: Finding work is currently hard, but things will get better. I can't add anything other than letting many people who know you look over your application materials. Ask people you trust to suggest ways to say what you are saying in a clear and uncomplicated way. And as a faculty who reads hundreds of student papers, please write within your vocabulary. Nothing turns off a reader more quickly than a writer who uses a $10 word when a $2 word works just as well. I would also start reading the Economist to learn about technology investment trends.
Will there be an increase or decrease in demand for Survey Statisticians in the next 5 years?
John Whitaker: I believe it is unclear if there will be any increase or decrease in mathematicians' demand over the next five years. Mathematicians are needed in various professions such as the insurance industry, education, governmental agencies, and any field that cost analysis, marketing, scheduling, or analytical research. The insurance industry has indicated that there will be an increased market for mathematicians. It is the case that the pandemic has spotlighted the need for folks with mathematical skills, such as mathematical modeling. Optimization for the distribution of any preventative recourses and vaccines has also been highlighted. My best guess is that there will be a slight increase over what has been a fairly steady demand for mathematicians and statisticians.