Life, physical, & social science occupations

Broad Occupation

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2020 Workforce

1.49M

Average Age

40.8

Average Salary

$76,344

Average Male Salary

$84,405

Average Female Salary

$67,300

About

Life, physical, & social science occupations are most often employed by the Scientific research & development services industry. The average yearly wage for Life, physical, & social science occupations was $76,344 in 2016. The top 3 most similar occupations to Life, physical, & social science occupations by wage are Healthcare practitioners & technical occupations, Business & financial operations occupations, and Arts, design, entertainment, sports, & media occupations.

Life, physical, & social science occupations are part of the Computer, engineering, & science occupations, along with Computer & mathematical occupations, Architecture & engineering occupations, and Life, physical, & social science occupations.

The top 3 locations that employ the most Life, physical, & social science occupations are Bethesda, Potomac & North Bethesda PUMA, MD, Cambridge City PUMA, MA, and Rockville, Gaithersburg Cities & North Potomac PUMA, MD. The top 3 locations with a relatively high concentration of Life, physical, & social science occupations are Cambridge City PUMA, MA, Bethesda, Potomac & North Bethesda PUMA, MD, and Newton City & Brookline Town PUMA, MA.

Photo by BASF - We create chemistry

Information on the businesses and industries that employ Life, physical, & social science occupations and on wages and locations for those in the field. Scientific research & development services is the industry that employs the most Life, physical, & social science occupations, both by share and by number, though the highest paid industry for Life, physical, & social science occupations, by average wage, is Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals. Life, physical, & social science occupations are paid most in Noblesville City & Fishers Town (East) PUMA, IN but are relatively concentrated in Cambridge City PUMA, MA.

Yearly Wage

$76,344

AVERAGE SALARY

± $1,333

In 2020, Life, physical, & social science occupations earned an average of $76,344, $20,390 more than than the average national salary of $55,954.

Healthcare practitioners & technical occupations make somewhat more than Life, physical, & social science occupations while Arts, design, entertainment, sports, & media occupations make somewhat less. This chart shows the various occupations closest to Life, physical, & social science occupations as measured by average annual salary in the US.

Wage Distribution

0.394

WAGE GINI

In 2015, Life, physical, & social science occupations had a wage GINI coefficient of 0.394, which is lower than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed more evenly for Life, physical, & social science occupations (shown in red) than for the overall labor force (shown in gray).

Wage by Location

HIGHEST PAYING PUMAS

This map shows the Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) in the United States shaded by average annual wage for Life, physical, & social science occupations.

Spatial Concentration

PUMAs with a Relatively High Concentration of Life, physical, & social science occupations

This map displays which Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) in the United States have a relatively high population of Life, physical, & social science occupations.

Most Common

The most common industries employing Life, physical, & social science occupations, by number of employees, are Scientific research & development services, Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges, General medical and surgical hospitals, and specialty (except psychiatric and substance abuse) hospitals, Pharmaceutical & medicine manufacturing, Administration of environmental quality & housing programs, Architectural, engineering & related services, Elementary & secondary schools, Offices of other health practitioners, Management, scientific & technical consulting services, Industrial & miscellaneous chemicals, and Administration of human resource programs.

Highest Paying

The highest paying industries for Life, physical, & social science occupations, by average wage, are Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals, Computer & peripheral equipment manufacturing, and Water transportation.

Industries by Share

1.49M

2020 Workforce

± 29,859

5.2%

1 YEAR GROWTH

± 2.72%

The number of people employed as Life, physical, & social science occupations has been growing at a rate of 5.2%, from 1,420,246 people in 2019 to 1,494,141 people in 2020.

This graphic shows the share of Life, physical, & social science occupations employed by various industries. Scientific research & development services employs the largest share of Life, physical, & social science occupations at 14.8%, followed by Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges with 13.2% and General medical and surgical hospitals, and specialty (except psychiatric and substance abuse) hospitals with 6.91%.

Diversity

Demographic information on Life, physical, & social science occupations in the US. The average age of male Life, physical, & social science occupations in the workforce is 41.7 and of female Life, physical, & social science occupations is 39.7, and the most common race/ethnicity for Life, physical, & social science occupations is White (Non-Hispanic).

Composition by Sex

790k

MALE WORKFORCE

± 21,763

704k

FEMALE WORKFORCE

± 20,553

52.9% of Life, physical, & social science occupations are Male, making them the more common sex in the occupation. This chart shows the sex breakdown of Life, physical, & social science occupations.

Race & Ethnicity

Most Common Race or Ethnicity of Life, physical, & social science occupations

White (Non-Hispanic)
Asian (Non-Hispanic)
Black (Non-Hispanic)

66.9% of Life, physical, & social science occupations are White (Non-Hispanic), making that the most common race or ethnicity in the occupation. Representing 14.4% of Life, physical, & social science occupations, Asian (Non-Hispanic) is the second most common race or ethnicity in this occupation. This chart shows the racial and ethnic breakdown of Life, physical, & social science occupations.

Age by Sex

41.7

AVERAGE MALE AGE

± 0.384

39.7

AVERAGE FEMALE AGE

± 0.383

The median age of Life, physical, & social science occupations is 40.8, and Male employees are generally 2.09 years older than than their Female counterparts.

Education

Data on higher education choices for Life, physical, & social science occupations from The Department of Education and Census Bureau. The most common major for Life, physical, & social science occupations is Biology but a relatively high number of Life, physical, & social science occupations hold a major in Physical Sciences.

Majors

ACS PUMS data only shows the major for bachelor's degrees. However, we can filter the data based on highest degree obtained.

MOST COMMON MAJORS

MOST SPECIALIZED MAJORS

Skills

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for Life, physical, & social science occupations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Life, physical, & social science occupations need many skills, but most especially Reading Comprehension. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Life, physical, & social science occupations need more than the average amount of Science, Programming, and Mathematics.