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Mathematicians: Career Profile

Conduct research in fundamental mathematics or in application of mathematical techniques to science, management, and other fields. Solve problems in various fields using mathematical methods.

The Daily Work of Mathematicians Perform?

Typical responsibilities of mathematicians include:

• Mentor others on mathematical techniques.
• Maintain knowledge in the field by reading professional journals, talking with other mathematicians, and attending professional conferences.
• Develop new principles and new relationships between existing mathematical principles to advance mathematical science.
• Disseminate research by writing reports, publishing papers, or presenting at professional conferences.
• Assemble sets of assumptions, and explore the consequences of each set.
• Perform computations and apply methods of numerical analysis to data.
• Address the relationships of quantities, magnitudes, and forms through the use of numbers and symbols.
• Conduct research to extend mathematical knowledge in traditional areas, such as algebra, geometry, probability, and logic.

What Mathematicians Need to Know

Effective mathematicians combine a mix of skills and domain knowledge.

Key Skills

The competencies most central to this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:

Top Knowledge Areas

Other Mathematicians Job Titles

Common job titles for this role include:

• Agent-Based Modeler
• Algebraist
• Applied Mathematician
• Cipher Expert
• Computational Mathematician
• Computational Scientist
• Cryptanalyst
• Cryptographer

How Many Mathematicians Are There?

There are roughly 101,262 mathematicians working in the United States today. Demand is forecast to grow by +8.5% over the projection horizon.

How Much Do Mathematicians Make?

Statistic	Value
Annual median	$66,238
Hourly median	$31.85
10th percentile	$41,758
25th percentile	$53,998
75th percentile	$78,479
90th percentile	$90,719

Wages vary widely based on experience, location, and industry.

Mathematicians Salary by State

State	Annual median salary
District of Columbia	$154,480
California	$143,890
Virginia	$142,150
Washington	$137,180
Maryland	$128,940
Illinois	$127,290
Colorado	$108,500
Florida	$105,370
Nevada	$102,900
New York	$98,620
Ohio	$96,780
New Jersey	$96,620
Michigan	$63,430

Pay by U.S. Region

Pay for mathematicians differ across the country. These regions lead on median pay:

Region	Median annual wage	Share of U.S. jobs	Location quotient
Southeast	$135,394	29.3%	5.75
Far Western US	$134,288	30.5%	2.39
Middle Atlantic	$116,364	26.3%	2.78
Rocky Mountains	$108,500	3.6%	1.41
Great Lakes	$91,854	10.2%	0.92

Top Metro Areas

Metro area	State	Median annual wage	Employment
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	WA	$176,000	110
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	DC	$160,510	220
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	CA	$149,150	40
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	IL	$127,290	60
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	NV	$102,900	50
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	NY	$91,290	150

Top Industries Employing Mathematicians

The bulk of mathematicians are found across these industries:

Industry	Employment	Median annual wage
Educational Services	440	$63,430
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services	390	$137,180
Manufacturing	160	$146,440

The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.

Tools and Technology

• Graphics or photo imaging software: Adobe Photoshop (hot technology)
• Operating system software: Apple macOS (hot technology)
• Content workflow software: Atlassian JIRA (hot technology)
• Operating system software: Bash (hot technology)
• Development environment software: C (hot technology)
• Object or component oriented development software: C# (hot technology)
• Object or component oriented development software: C++ (hot technology)
• Web platform development software: Cascading style sheets CSS (hot technology)
• Enterprise application integration software: Extensible markup language XML (hot technology)
• Web platform development software: Hypertext markup language HTML (hot technology)
• Analytical or scientific software: IBM SPSS Statistics (hot technology)
• Web platform development software: JavaScript (hot technology)

The Day-to-Day Environment

Daily working conditions for mathematicians tends to involve the following characteristics:

• E-Mail
• Freedom to Make Decisions
• Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals
• Importance of Being Exact or Accurate
• Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams

Education and Training

This career aligns with Extensive Preparation Needed (Job Zone 5), reflecting the level of preparation typically expected.

Similar Occupations

Similar Occupations

• Financial Quantitative Analysts (Supplemental)
• Computer and Information Research Scientists (Primary-Short)
• Software Developers (Supplemental)
• Operations Research Analysts (Primary-Long)
• Statisticians (Primary-Short)
• Biostatisticians (Primary-Long)
• Data Scientists (Primary-Short)
• Bioinformatics Technicians (Primary-Long)

Where to Study

Aspiring mathematicians typically earn programs in:

Mathematics and Statistics

15 programs across 4 majors

• Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Statistics
• Other Statistics

Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies

3 programs across 3 majors

• Mathematics & Computer Science
• Mathematical Economics
• Mathematics and Atmospheric/Oceanic Science

Biological and Biomedical Sciences

1 programs across 1 majors

• Biomathematics & Bioinformatics

Philosophy and Religious Studies

1 programs across 1 majors

• Philosophy

Sources

Data on this page comes from the following authoritative sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
• BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
• O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 15-2021.00 (Mathematicians).