Computer and Information Research Scientists

Top scored Future-proof High pay & lowrisk
Minimal Risk
Low High

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
7.8/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

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

11% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): This occupation appears difficult to replace end-to-end with current or near-future automation, including AI software and robotics. Roles in this range usually depend on human judgement, creativity, care, leadership, specialist expertise, or adapting to messy real-world situations. AI and machines may still change parts of the work, but the occupation is likely to remain a distinct human role.

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.

Thinking creatively

Very important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Communicating with people outside the organization

Very important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Instructing

Quite important
Why this matters
Teaching or coaching others—explaining steps, giving feedback, and adapting to different learners so they can do the work safely and correctly.
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Show 3 more strengths

Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Operations analysis

Quite important
Why this matters
Figure out what people need and what a product must do, then translate those requirements into a workable design.
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What users think

Based on 454 votes

30% chance of full automation within the next two decades

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 11% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Computer and Information Research Scientists 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

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Computer and Information Research Scientists was $140,910 ($68 per hour).

The median annual wage for Computer and Information Research Scientists was 184.7% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Computer and Information Research Scientists' job openings is expected to rise 19.7% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 38,480 people employed as 'Computer and Information Research Scientists' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 4 thousand people are employed as 'Computer and Information Research Scientists'.

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What people are saying (5)

Leave a comment
Adobe Wrestler
19 Nov 2025 00:41
With enough ML programming, AI will reach convergence . When ML programming hits an exponential curve, humans won't be able to catch up or understand what is happening. AI won't make it obvious; it would distract humans all the while this is happening.
Özgür Taylan Çelik (Moderate)
20 Jul 2025 09:25
There’s no way we’ll go two decades without some breakthrough—surely someone will cook up a clever wrapper AI that mimics human-centric skills. Honestly, give it 20 years and not only will AI replicate those skills, it’ll probably start churning out its own fresh takes on human impact (thematic analysis included).
Joe (Moderate)
22 Oct 2024 05:28
AI will continue to grow stronger, leaving less "medium" skilled positions available
Hot Take (No chance)
27 Mar 2024 00:12
Computer Science is developing AI currently. After AGI is achieved people still need to understand the mechanics behind it. Computer Scientists will be necessary to align AI with human goals.

I do see a lot of programming jobs getting obsolete, but programming is not Computer Science. Programming is a tool. If we ever render computer scientists obsolete then we might as well render physicists, mathematicians and other researchers obsolete.

I believe as the world become more digital the necessity to understand Computer Science will grow :)
BibirMengkeroet (No chance)
13 Sep 2022 11:51
AI could only replace (best) computer scientists when singularity happens. At that point, all jobs were already replaced. What's the point of the financial system anyway?
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Job description

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.

O*NET-SOC code: 15-1221.00