Median annual wage
$103,120AlabamaData scientists job market in Alabama
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
Data availability
Published industry context is limited
The report below shows the available evidence. Missing figures are not estimated.
Occupation pay
What Data scientists earn in Alabama
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
- Middle 50% of published wages
- $74,140 – $127,660
- U.S. median annual wage
- $120,230
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Alabama
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Data scientists, compared with the Alabama median of $103,120.
Alabama median$103,120
Huntsville, AL$111,810+8.4% vs. state
Birmingham, AL$94,240−8.6% vs. state
Tuscaloosa, AL$92,880−9.9% vs. state
Montgomery, AL$87,640−15.0% vs. state
Mobile, AL$83,910−18.6% vs. state
Columbus, GA-AL$78,620−23.8% vs. state
View 1 more published metro area
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL$71,240−30.9% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Alabama median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Local research
What the data shows for data scientists in Alabama
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
Using the national share of employment as the benchmark, data scientists have a published location quotient of 0.49 in Alabama in OEWS May 2025. Their state employment share is 0.49 times the national share. The state estimate is 1,740 jobs, 0.7% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.82 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. The comparison describes where existing employment is concentrated, not current hiring or future growth.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
Pay differs widely between metro areas
The median wage at the upper end of Alabama's metro comparison is 56.9% above the lower end in OEWS May 2025. The 6 published estimates on a shared wage basis extend from Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL at $71,240 to Huntsville, AL at $111,810. The wage difference alone does not account for living costs or job availability.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSMetro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
The national median annual wage for data scientists is $120,230 in OEWS May 2025. Alabama's corresponding estimate is $103,120, or 14.2% below that benchmark. The comparison uses published medians without adjusting for living costs or individual workers' circumstances.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSFindings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Current market signals
Recent statewide layoff-notice context alongside the published BLS figures below. This signal does not feed the Job Market Health score.
Statewide WARN notices
Alabama statewide12 notices in this source
Notice dates from Aug 4, 2026 to Nov 1, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: This is the number of WARN notices with notice dates in this period in Alabama’s official statewide list. It is a statewide count only, and does not identify any employer.
Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. WARN covers qualifying large layoffs and closures under applicable law, not all layoffs, and thresholds vary by state.
Alabama Department of Workforce About WARN data
Source last checked
Indeed job postings · Alabama
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
133.4Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+33.4%Versus the February 2020 baseline
-0.8%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Oct 30, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
+0.7%Industry employmentU.S. -0.1%State data coverage: 95.18%
+3.5%EstablishmentsU.S. +2.7%State data coverage: 95.18%
+4.4%Avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +4.5%State data coverage: 95.18%
79,825Represented establishmentsEstablishments in the industries that employ this occupation, not employers hiring itIndustry mix share 81.7%, separate from the data coverage on the trend cards
Industry employment change over time
Year-over-year change for the industries that employ Data scientists in Alabama · percentage change
Year-over-year employment change (%) by reference quarter
Latest published values
- Alabama · 2026 Q1+0.7%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
Every published quarter
BLS does not publish a national quarterly series for this occupation’s industry mix, so only the Alabama series is shown. The U.S. figure on the cards above is the latest quarter benchmark.
| Quarter | Alabama | State data coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | -0.4% | 95.18% |
| 2024 Q3 | -0.8% | 95.18% |
| 2024 Q4 | -0.5% | 95.18% |
| 2025 Q1 | -0.7% | 95.18% |
| 2025 Q2 | -0.5% | 95.18% |
| 2025 Q3 | +0.1% | 95.18% |
| 2025 Q4 | +0.1% | 95.18% |
| 2026 Q1 | +0.7% | 95.18% |
Industry mix behind this view
Which industries are weighted into this view. Not a ranking of employers or of job quality.
| Industry group | Share of occupation employment | Local employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional and business services | 41.3% | +0.7% | 32,790 | $1,600 |
| Financial activities | 19.9% | +1.4% | 17,219 | $2,125 |
| Information | 11.9% | -0.8% | 4,907 | $1,916 |
| Private education and health services | 7.9% | +1.9% | 24,909 | $1,137 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 7.0% | -0.2% | 35,578 | $1,160 |
| 900000 Suppressed by BLS | 4.8% | Suppressed | Suppressed | Suppressed |
The publication date above is the official BLS news release date for this reference quarter, linked to the notice. These values have not been matched to the independently verified snapshot. The data period above is the quarter the figures describe.
QCEW describes the industries that employ this occupation, not the occupation itself. It is not a count of job openings and is not part of the 0-100 Job Market Health score.
Evidence record
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Data scientists
- SOC code
- 15-2051
- State
- Alabama
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- +0.7%State data coverage 95.18%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -0.1%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.8 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +3.5%State data coverage 95.18%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +4.4%State data coverage 95.18%
- Industry mix vintage
- BLS-NEM-2025-35
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/data-scientists/alabama#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
AI & this occupation
How AI relates to Data scientists work
Across 3 research exposure measures, Data scientists is in the higher technical AI exposure band based on the mean of the available source-specific percentile ranks. Exposure describes how much of the work the studied AI capabilities could technically assist with; it is not a forecast of job loss.
Observed use of Claude for this occupation's tasks is in the higher third of occupations in the Anthropic Economic Index, a dated observed task-exposure benchmark, not conversation share or the share of workers using AI. Its observation window is not recorded in this saved release.
JobMarketHealth has not measured an AI effect on this occupation's employment or wages, and these figures do not enter its scores; there is no clear evidence of displacement in the data shown here.
Exposure measures (kept separate)
- GPTs are GPTs exposure (β, GPT-4 rated): 0.75 of 1, national percentile 96 (higher third)
- Microsoft AI applicability: 0.36 of 1, national percentile 98 (higher third)
- OECD AI Capability Gap (lower gap = higher potential exposure): gap 1.7 of 23, national percentile 78 (higher third); mean of O*NET detailed occupations
OECD capability gap by domain
As published by the OECD: the gap between what the occupation demands (0-5) and current AI capability in each domain. A lower gap means AI is closer to the requirement (higher potential exposure); 0 means AI already meets it or the domain is not relevant.
- Language: gap 0.23 (demand 3.23 of 5)
- Social interaction: gap 0.55 (demand 2.55 of 5)
- Problem solving: gap 0.78 (demand 2.77 of 5)
- Creativity: gap 0.00 (demand 2.13 of 5)
- Metacognition & critical thinking: gap 1.13 (demand 3.13 of 5)
- Knowledge, learning & memory: gap 0.13 (demand 3.13 of 5)
- Vision: gap 0.00 (demand 0.25 of 5)
- Manipulation: gap 0.00 (demand 0.00 of 5)
- Robotic intelligence: gap 0.00 (demand 0.00 of 5)
National context: what businesses used generative AI for
From the Census 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (all industries; businesses whose employees used generative AI). Census did not measure Data scientists specifically.
- Writing or editing documents, emails, or communications: 85.4%
- Searching for information or technical help: 49.9%
- Interpreting, analyzing, translating, or summarizing documents: 44.6%
- Information processing, paperwork, or filing: 34.7%
Alabama context
In the Census BTOS core AI-use question, an estimated 22.1% of Alabama employer businesses reported using AI in the two weeks ending 2026-10-04 (U.S.: 24.6%).
Separately, the one-time 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (collected 2025-11-17 to 2026-02-08) found 15.9% of Alabama businesses using AI at that time, and 18.4% reporting that employees used generative AI for work tasks in the prior six months. It describes how AI was being used then, not a trend.
Using each occupation's exposure band and Alabama employment weights (OEWS May 2025), 26.7% of covered jobs are in occupations in the higher-exposure band. This describes the state's occupation mix, not a measured AI effect.
Exposure and observed usage are separate measures and neither equals job loss. Census BTOS figures are business-level surveys and are not occupation-specific. Sources: GPTs are GPTs occupation exposure; Microsoft Working with AI: AI applicability; OECD AI Exposure Measure (AI Capability Gap); Anthropic Economic Index; Census BTOS Core AI Use; Census BTOS AI Supplement 2025-26. These figures do not affect Job Market Health scores. Explore AI & Jobs · How we use AI data.
How to read this page
QCEW measures employment and wages by industry, not by occupation. We weight those industry conditions using the published industry mix for Data scientists. These figures describe the industries that employ Data scientists; they are not direct counts of people working in the occupation or of jobs currently open. This page is not part of the national 0 to 100 Job Market Health score.
Source: BLS QCEW. See the methodology, the national Data scientists report and about the data.
Related occupations
Compare Alabama with other statesPublished industry employment, business locations and average weekly industry wages for up to three states, with the national benchmark in percentage points.
Data scientists in other states
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