Explore safer careers (2)
Lower estimated automation risk
Why it fits
Directly reuses chemical properties, experiments, instrumentation, formulation, analysis, and product development.
Why it fits
Applies chemistry expertise to lectures, labs, demonstrations, student feedback, and curriculum.
Alternative careers
Related career paths that build on similar skills and experience
Why it fits
Uses chemistry, reactions, process conditions, scale-up, safety, and troubleshooting.
Why it fits
Transfers protocols, equipment qualification, acceptance criteria, documentation, and quality evidence.
Occupation snapshot
What does this snowflake show?
What's this?
We rate jobs using four factors. These are:
- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions
These are some key things to think about when job hunting.
Risk & user votes
Calculated automation risk
Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.
More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.
Human strengths important in this job
These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.
Decision-making and problem solving
Very importantWhy this matters
Thinking creatively
Quite importantWhy this matters
Coordinating others’ work
Quite importantWhy this matters
Coaching and developing others
Quite importantWhy this matters
Consulting and advising others
Quite importantWhy this matters
Show 1 more strength
Active learning
Quite importantWhy this matters
What users think
Based on 485 votes
Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 24% chance of automation.
What do you think the risk of automation is?
What is the likelihood that Chemists will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?
Sentiment
Based on user votes over time
View sentiment trend
How opinions have changed over time
Pay & outlook
Wages
In 2024, the median annual wage for Chemists was $84,150 ($40 per hour).
The median annual wage for Chemists was 70.0% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.
View wage trend
Wages over time
Growth
The number of 'Chemists' job openings is expected to rise 4.9% by 2034
View employment trend
Total employment, and estimated job openings
Updated projections are due 09-2025.
Volume
As of 2024 there were 83,250 people employed as 'Chemists' within the United States.
This represents around 0.05% of the employed workforce across the country
Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Chemists'.
People also viewed
Job description
Conduct qualitative and quantitative chemical analyses or experiments in laboratories for quality or process control or to develop new products or knowledge.
O*NET-SOC code: 19-2031.00
What people are saying (13)
Aspects of Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Organic Chemistry, and Polymers (as a part of Organic Chemistry) are very relevant to developing new materials with desirable properties. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the U.S.A. categorizes Chemists and Material Scientists as one and the same profile.
Job opportunities for Material Scientists do allow Chemists to be considered as Material Scientists when the Chemist has experience and multiple credits in Physical Chemistry, Polymers, and/or Inorganic Chemistry. Many Chemists follow this professional direction. In fact, some departments are even named 'Materials Chemistry'.
This fact indicates that one of these professions has an incorrect percentage representation on this website. Either Materials Science should have 51% (or a percentage much closer to Chemistry) on this website, or Chemistry should have 22% (similar to Materials Science). The large discrepancy simply reflects a mistaken view on the nature of their work.
Chemistry, by default, incorporates aspects of Physical Chemistry applicable to materials. It is suggested to reassess the activities of chemists to correct the percentage that has been flawed in a previous assessment.
There are autotitrators and autosamplers for many different equipment (Dissolution systems, HPLC, GC, UPLC, Mass spec and so on). These technologies have been around for decades yet analysts are still required to prepare samples, analyze them and then interpret and report data .
The two tenants which make a job susceptible to replacent by automation are Predictability and complexity. Some chemical analysis (more specifically wet chemistry, non-instrumental techniques) is more complex than what current automation systems can handle (i.e. chemical digestion of a sample, followed by extraction with a solvent, evaporation of the solvent) also sample quality is unpredictable (hence why QC labs exist, if every manufacturing method was flawless there would be no need for QC/QA).
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