Job Market Health score
52/ 100
Balanced
Improving
- At least 90% of required inputs and occupation-industry mapping are covered.
Job Market Health scores are derived indicators based on published data, informational only, not a forecast or guarantee.
Computer and information research scientists
SOC 15-1221 · 15-0000 · Reference month July 2026
Conduct research into fundamental computer and information science as theorists, designers, or inventors. Develop solutions to problems in the field of computer hardware and software.
In short
As of July 2026, Computer and information research scientists have a Job Market Health score of 52/100, classified as Balanced. This score is our derived indicator, not a government statistic.
The published median annual wage is $140,300.
BLS projects about 2,900 average annual openings and +21.8% employment growth over the 2025-2035 projection period. Projected openings are a modeled yearly average, not jobs open today.
$140,300Median annual wageOEWS May 2025
2,900Projected annual openingsBLS Employment Projections 2025-2035
+21.8%Projected growth2025–2035
37,200Total employmentOEWS May 2025
How to read this page
The score is a national composite from 0 to 100 that weights near term hiring demand at 50 percent, the occupation's own employment fundamentals at 30 percent, and long-term outlook at 20 percent. Wages and occupation profile details are context shown alongside it, not score inputs. See the full methodology.
Median annual wage and metro employment come from BLS OEWS, which is annual. Projected annual openings and projected growth come from BLS Employment Projections and describe the published projection horizon, so they are not a count of jobs open today. Values shown as not published are suppressed by the source rather than filled in here.
Job Market Health trend
Published composite score by reference month
Score components
The three published inputs behind the composite
Largest metro markets by employment
OEWS metro employment, where the jobs are, not a quality ranking
| Metro area | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 3,420 | 1.09 | $161,090 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 2,210 | 1.95 | $218,420 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 2,100 | 0.22 | $170,890 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 1,680 | 1.09 | $121,530 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 1,670 | 0.70 | $171,440 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 1,620 | 0.60 | $170,510 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 1,620 | 0.78 | $211,270 |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 1,070 | 0.79 | $156,750 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 940 | 0.15 | $155,960 |
| Ogden, UT | 810 | 3.00 | $96,740 |
Education & training
Typical entry requirements · BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035
Top skills
Occupation profile · O*NET 31.0 Database
- Complex Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Active Listening
- Reading Comprehension
- Systems Analysis
- Programming
- Systems Evaluation
- Active Learning
- Speaking
Also known as: Computer Scientist, Computer Specialist, Control System Computer Scientist, Research Scientist, Scientific Programmer Analyst
Sources & releases
Every figure above traces to a published release
Values marked “Not published” are suppressed or not published by the source. We leave them blank rather than estimating them.
Related occupations
O*NET® lists these occupations as related. Each link opens the same published view of score, wages and outlook.
Keep going
Learn how to judge a market from these numbers in how to tell if a job market is healthy, or why projected growth and annual openings often disagree in projected growth vs projected annual openings. Coverage, revisions and limits are explained on about the data.
The datasets behind these figures, and what each one can and cannot show, are set out on data sources.