Data Scientists vs Nurse Practitioners
Nurse Practitioners earns $12,070 more at the middle. Every figure is US government data you can check.
| Data Scientists | Nurse Practitioners | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay in the middle median annual wage, May 2025 | $120,230 | $132,300 |
| Pay range 10th to 90th percentile | $67,240 to $199,130 | $101,340 to $174,420 |
| Years of school you pay for our own estimate from published entry requirements, not a BLS figure | 4 | 6 |
| Typical entry education | Bachelor's degree | Master's degree |
| Jobs opening up each year | 24,800 | 29,400 |
| Growth by 2035 | 34.6% | 41.0% |
| People doing it now | 275,600 | 336,300 |
| Where the pay is highest and lowest state medians, not adjusted for cost of living or taxes | $163,350 in Washington down to $69,490 in Mississippi | $168,520 in California down to $105,750 in Alabama |
Also compared: Advertising vs Data Scientists Advertising vs Nurse Practitioners Aerospace Engineers vs Data Scientists Aerospace Engineers vs Nurse Practitioners Civil Engineers vs Data Scientists Construction Managers vs Data Scientists
Jobs that use what you already know
Same skills, same knowledge, same daily tasks. Most of these are not on this site.
Data Scientists
- Statisticians
- Statistical Assistants
- Financial Quantitative Analysts
- Operations Research Analysts
- Bioinformatics Scientists
- Bioinformatics Technicians
What these usually take: Usually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience.
Nurse Practitioners
- Registered Nurses
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Family Medicine Physicians
- Acute Care Nurses
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
What these usually take: Graduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
O*NET 30.3 Database, U.S. Department of Labor. These are jobs that use similar skills, knowledge and daily tasks. It is a measure of how alike two jobs are — not a record of people moving between them.
Jobs that take more training than this one
A job zone is the U.S. Department of Labor’s published measure of how much preparation a job takes. It says nothing about pay.
- StatisticiansGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- Financial Quantitative AnalystsGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- Operations Research AnalystsGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- Bioinformatics ScientistsGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- MathematiciansGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- Computer and Information Research ScientistsGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- BiostatisticiansGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
O*NET 30.3 Database and O*NET Job Zones, U.S. Department of Labor. A job zone is a published measure of how much preparation an occupation takes, not a measure of pay or of whether a job is better. Pay differences are BLS median annual wages, May 2025, and are shown only where both jobs are on this site.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment and wage data, May 2025, and employment projections 2025-35. Years of school is our own estimate from published entry requirements, not a BLS figure. State medians are not adjusted for cost of living or taxes, and that difference could be large either way. No advice, just data.