Biological Scientists, All Other
US occupation · SOC 19-1029
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $98,920
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $76,800 – $127,670
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 55,850
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- +4.7%
- At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 4,300
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- Bachelor's degree
- BLS
- All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
- Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
- Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.
What the work involves
All biological scientists not listed separately.
More specific O*NET® occupations under this one: Bioinformatics Scientists, Biologists, Geneticists, Molecular and Cellular Biologists.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- Bachelor's degree
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 64 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.
Biology & Life Sciences
- Biology/Biological Sciences, General
- Molecular Biology
- Structural Biology
- Photobiology
- Radiation Biology/Radiobiology
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Other
- Botany/Plant Biology
51 more programmes
- Plant Pathology/Phytopathology
- Plant Physiology
- Plant Molecular Biology
- Botany/Plant Biology, Other
- Cell/Cellular Biology and Histology
- Anatomy
- Developmental Biology and Embryology
- Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology and Anatomy
- Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences, Other
- Medical Microbiology and Bacteriology
- Virology
- Parasitology
- Mycology
- Immunology
- Microbiology and Immunology
- Infectious Disease and Global Health
- Entomology
- Animal Physiology
- Genetics, General
- Molecular Genetics
- Microbial and Eukaryotic Genetics
- Animal Genetics
- Plant Genetics
- Genome Sciences/Genomics
- Genetics, Other
- Pathology/Experimental Pathology
- Pharmacology
- Toxicology
- Biometry/Biometrics
- Biostatistics
- Computational Biology
- Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Other
- Biotechnology
- Ecology
- Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography
- Evolutionary Biology
- Aquatic Biology/Limnology
- Environmental Biology
- Population Biology
- Conservation Biology
- Systematic Biology/Biological Systematics
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Ecology, Evolution, Systematics and Population Biology, Other
- Neuroscience
- Neuroanatomy
- Neurobiology and Anatomy
- Neurobiology and Behavior
- Neurobiology and Neurosciences, Other
- Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Biology & Life Sciences at the Major step.
Where many students take biology & life sciences
- University of California-San DiegoLa Jolla, CA · 20% of degrees · 34,948 undergraduates
- Arizona State University Campus ImmersionTempe, AZ · 10% of degrees · 64,674 undergraduates
- Texas A&M University-College StationCollege Station, TX · 10% of degrees · 59,615 undergraduates
- University of California-DavisDavis, CA · 18% of degrees · 32,253 undergraduates
- University of California-Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA · 17% of degrees · 33,475 undergraduates
- Michigan State UniversityEast Lansing, MI · 13% of degrees · 40,922 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Psychology
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Psychology at the Major step.
Where many students take psychology
- Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchester, NH · 12% of degrees · 163,164 undergraduates
- Arizona State University Digital ImmersionScottsdale, AZ · 11% of degrees · 53,782 undergraduates
- University of Central FloridaOrlando, FL · 10% of degrees · 59,146 undergraduates
- Florida International UniversityMiami, FL · 15% of degrees · 39,508 undergraduates
- Liberty UniversityLynchburg, VA · 12% of degrees · 50,012 undergraduates
- California State University-FullertonFullerton, CA · 11% of degrees · 38,546 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Mathematics & Statistics
- Mathematical Biology
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Mathematics & Statistics at the Major step.
Where many students take mathematics & statistics
- University of California-Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA · 7% of degrees · 33,475 undergraduates
- University of California-Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CA · 10% of degrees · 23,113 undergraduates
- University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignChampaign, IL · 5% of degrees · 36,258 undergraduates
- The University of Texas at AustinAustin, TX · 4% of degrees · 42,855 undergraduates
- University of California-BerkeleyBerkeley, CA · 4% of degrees · 33,068 undergraduates
- University of California-DavisDavis, CA · 4% of degrees · 32,253 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Other fields
Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies
- Nutrition Sciences
- Human Biology
- Marine Sciences
Sources
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0
Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk