Water chemist vs process chemist

The differences between water chemists and process chemists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a process chemist has an average salary of $81,542, which is higher than the $57,165 average annual salary of a water chemist.

The top three skills for a water chemist include water samples, QC and laboratory equipment. The most important skills for a process chemist are lab equipment, HPLC, and R.

Water chemist vs process chemist overview

	Water Chemist	Process Chemist
Yearly salary	$57,165	$81,542
Hourly rate	$27.48	$39.20
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	8,829	29,813
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	-	-

Water chemist vs process chemist salary

Water chemists and process chemists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Water Chemist	Process Chemist
Average salary	$57,165	$81,542
Salary range	Between $39,000 And $83,000	Between $54,000 And $121,000
Highest paying City	-	Wilmington, DE
Highest paying state	-	Delaware
Best paying company	-	Bio-Rad Laboratories
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between water chemist and process chemist education

There are a few differences between a water chemist and a process chemist in terms of educational background:

	Water Chemist	Process Chemist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Water chemist vs process chemist demographics

Here are the differences between water chemists' and process chemists' demographics:

	Water Chemist	Process Chemist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 59.1% Female, 40.9%	Male, 77.3% Female, 22.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 18.2% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 20.5% White, 57.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between water chemist and process chemist duties and responsibilities

Water chemist example responsibilities.

Administer various laboratory safety audits with regard to OSHA rules and regulations to maintain adherence and manage necessary corrective actions.
Operate and maintain lab instrumentation such as pH meter, titration apparatus, spectrophotometer, etc.
Design FTIR chemical mapping/imaging experiments to evaluate sample heterogeneity, contamination, diffusion kinetics, dispersion quality and polymer cure uniformity.
Conduct laboratory analysis through the use of atomic absorption spectroscopy, titrations, and spectrophotometry.

Process chemist example responsibilities.

Manage synthesis and production of specialty chemicals for carpet and textile industry.
Support new, modify and existing chemical processes by developing and validating HPLC and GC methods with a rapid turnaround time.
Analyze unknown materials with FTIR, Raman, and SEM-EDS.
Display improving working knowledge of business processes as they relate to GMP manufacturing.
Create titration solution and other solutions such as stock solutions used in analysis.
Show a desire to learn about and understand advance chemistry principles underlying project assignments.

Water chemist vs process chemist skills

Common water chemist skills

Water Samples, 14%
QC, 13%
Laboratory Equipment, 12%
Water Treatment Plant, 12%
Water Quality, 11%
Laboratory Procedures, 9%

Common process chemist skills

Lab Equipment, 7%
HPLC, 6%
R, 5%
GMP, 5%
NMR, 4%
Sigma, 4%

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Water Chemist vs Process Chemist

Updated January 8, 2025

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