Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other
US occupation · SOC 19-4099
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $62,280
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $48,030 – $79,780
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 73,910
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- +4.4%
- At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 11,200
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- Associate'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 life, physical, and social science technicians not listed separately.
More specific O*NET® occupations under this one: Quality Control Analysts, Remote Sensing Technicians.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- Associate's degree
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 12 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.
Social Sciences
- Criminology
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Social Sciences at the Major step.
Where many students take social sciences
- University of California-Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA · 25% of degrees · 33,475 undergraduates
- University of California-Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CA · 27% of degrees · 23,113 undergraduates
- University of California-BerkeleyBerkeley, CA · 17% of degrees · 33,068 undergraduates
- University of California-IrvineIrvine, CA · 15% of degrees · 30,197 undergraduates
- Arizona State University Digital ImmersionScottsdale, AZ · 8% of degrees · 53,782 undergraduates
- University of California-DavisDavis, CA · 13% 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.
Physics & Chemistry
- Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, General
- Materials Science
- Materials Chemistry
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Physics & Chemistry at the Major step.
Where many students take physics & chemistry
- University of California-BerkeleyBerkeley, CA · 3% of degrees · 33,068 undergraduates
- Pennsylvania State University-Main CampusUniversity Park, PA · 2% of degrees · 42,284 undergraduates
- University of FloridaGainesville, FL · 3% of degrees · 35,629 undergraduates
- The University of Texas at AustinAustin, TX · 2% of degrees · 42,855 undergraduates
- University of Washington-Seattle CampusSeattle, WA · 3% of degrees · 31,942 undergraduates
- Texas A&M University-College StationCollege Station, TX · 2% of degrees · 59,615 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.
Criminal Justice
- Criminal Justice and Corrections, General
- Criminal Justice/Safety Studies
- Criminalistics and Criminal Science
- Forensic Science and Technology
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Criminal Justice at the Major step.
Where many students take criminal justice
- Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchester, NH · 6% of degrees · 163,164 undergraduates
- CUNY John Jay College of Criminal JusticeNew York, NY · 46% of degrees · 11,590 undergraduates
- Sam Houston State UniversityHuntsville, TX · 20% of degrees · 17,743 undergraduates
- Liberty UniversityLynchburg, VA · 6% of degrees · 50,012 undergraduates
- University of Maryland Global CampusAdelphi, MD · 6% of degrees · 49,664 undergraduates
- The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyEdinburg, TX · 9% of degrees · 28,666 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.
Science Technologies/Technicians
- Science Technologies/Technicians, General
- Chemical Process Technology
- Physical Science Technologies/Technicians, Other
- Science Technologies/Technicians, Other
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