Career Options

"The data industry is growing rapidly. A minor in statistics gives me concrete skills for the job market."

— Undergraduate Lauren Foust

Job Market Booms for Statistics and Data Science (SDS) Experts

If you’re looking for a fascinating career with incredible job growth potential, consider a degree in statistics. Statistics is the science about data and a core in data science. We train students to analyze and interpret data for industry, the government, and non-profit organizations, and to be a leader or expert in statistical research and data science.

Consider:

  • The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that jobs for statisticians will grow 34 percent from 2016 to 2024, much faster than the growth rate of 7 percent for all occupations.

  • U.S. News & World Report named statistician No. 1 for the best business job in 2018.   

  • Master’s degrees in biostatistics and statistics rank as the two best graduate degrees for jobs, according to an analysis in Fortune magazine.

Our graduates work for the pharmaceutical industry, medical device companies, the financial services industry, and federal agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau and the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The American Statistical Association says there is a proliferation of good jobs in the field because many places need statistical expertise, including:

  • Business and finance. Helping industry improve efficiency in business processes; working with banks to identify risk and opportunity.

  • Data analytics. Contributing to advancements in the computing industry through machine learning, speech recognition, and artificial intelligence.

  • The environment. Conducting analyses that lead to better management of the earth’s natural resources.

  • Medicine and health. Helping medical researchers identify new treatments for diseases and understand the prevalence of diseases among various populations.

  • Politics and government. Improving voter targeting and assessing the success of government policies and programs.

  • Sports. Working with professional or college sports teams using statistics.

Other fields that employ statisticians include agriculture, biology, census, chemistry, computer science, ecology, economics, education, engineering, epidemiology, forestry, genetics, insurance, law, manufacturing, marketing, medical clinical trials, national defense, pharmacology, physics, psychology, public health, safety, science writing, sociology, survey methods, telecommunications, transportation, and zoology.

Different Job Titles for Statistical Experts

Job titles for those who graduate with a degree in statistics or data analytics engineering include:

  • Biostatistician, statistician, and Statistical Analysis System (SAS) programmer.

  • Analyst, such as business analyst, data analyst, quantitative risk analyst, financial analyst, market research analyst, operations research analyst, quality analyst, and risk analyst.

  • Scientists such as statistical scientist, data scientist, and environmental scientist.