Life, physical, & social science occupations

Broad Occupation

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2024 Workforce
1.84M
Average Age
40.7
Average Salary
$91,785
Average Male Salary
$100,337
Average Female Salary
$82,616

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 $91,785 in 2024.

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Management, business, science, & arts occupationsComputer, engineering, & science occupations

Employment

Employment and salary information for the Life, physical, & social science occupations workforce. Life, physical, & social science occupations workforce in 2024 was 1,841,062 people, of which 48.3% were women and 51.7% were men. Life, physical, & social science occupations are paid most in NYC-Brooklyn Community District 16--Ocean Hill & Brownsville PUMA, NY but are relatively concentrated in Middlesex County (East)--Cambridge PUMA, MA.

Employment Over Time

Metric
Grouping
952,547
Male Workforce
± 23.9k
888,515
Female Workforce
± 23.1k

The Life, physical, & social science occupations workforce in 2024 was 1,841,062 people (48.3% women and 51.7% men). This implies an average annual growth of 53.4% between 2014 (1,200,161) and 2024 (1,841,062).

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Employment by Location

Level
Metric

This map shows the states in the United States shaded by average wage for Life, physical, & social science occupations.

During 2024, the states that concentrated the best average annual wage were District of Columbia ($128,304), Massachusetts ($111,370), and California ($111,145).

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Yearly Wage Ranking

$91,785
AVERAGE WAGE
#7 in the ranking (2014)
$69,878
NATIONAL AVERAGE WAGE
For all occupations across the US

In 2024, Life, physical, & social science occupations earned an average of $91,785, $21,907 more than the average national salary of $69,878

The graph shows the ranking of Life, physical, & social science occupations in relation to all Broad Occupation in 2014.

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Wage Distribution

Gender
0.383
WAGE GINI

In 2024, Life, physical, & social science occupations had a wage GINI coefficient of 0.383, which is lower than the national average of 0.474. 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).

The graphic shows the distribution of average salaries by buckets for Life, physical, & social science occupations compared to the entire workforce in the country.

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Industry

Information on the industries that employ Life, physical, & social science occupations and on wages 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 Taxi & limousine service ($460,260).

Occupations by Industries

Metric
Value
1.84M
2024 Workforce
± 33,114
3.79%
1 YEAR GROWTH
± 2.47%

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 38.3%, followed by Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges with 30.5% and Pharmaceutical & medicine manufacturing with 15.7%.

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Diversity

Demographic information on Life, physical, & social science occupations in the US. The workforce of Life, physical, & social science occupations in 2024 was 1,841,062 people, with 48.3% woman, and 51.7% men. The average age of male Life, physical, & social science occupations in the workforce is 41.8 and of female Life, physical, & social science occupations is 39.5, and the most common race/ethnicity for Life, physical, & social science occupations is White.

Gender and Age

Metric

The workforce of Life, physical, & social science occupations in 2024 was 1,841,062 people, with 48.3% woman, and 51.7% men.

The age ranges that concentrated the largest workforce were 30 to 34 years (291,797 people), 25 to 29 years (274,277  people), and 35 to 39 years (243,000 people). Among them they concentrated 44% of the total workforce.

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Ethnicity

Gender

In 2024, 11.2% of Life, physical, & social science occupations workers were Hispanic and 88.8% non-Hispanic.

The treemap shows the distribution of Hispanic workers according to their origin, highlighting Mexican (46.3%), Puerto Rican (14.4)%, and All Other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino (6.42)%

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Races

In 2024, 64.9% of the Life, physical, & social science occupations workforce were White, of which 46.9% were women and 53.1% men. Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Asian (14.8%) and Two or More Races (9.17%).

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Education & Skills

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 the most specialized major according to RCA in 2024 were Physical Sciences.

Among the necessary skills for Life, physical, & social science occupations, Reading Comprehension stands, but the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Life, physical, & social science occupations need more than the average amount of Science.

Majors

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

The most common majors achieved by Life, physical, & social science occupations in 2024 (counting all academic degrees) were Biology (362,679 people), Physical Sciences (221,622 people), and Psychology (167,792 people).

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Education Levels

Metric

The main educational levels achieved by the Life, physical, & social science occupations workers were Graduate Degree (890,319 people), Bachelors Degree (636,873 people), and Some college (125,699 people).

The graphic shows the Life, physical, & social science occupations workforce by gender and educational level.

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Skills

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Value

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, Critical Thinking, Writing.

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