Environmental Data Scientist

Use data to tackle environmental challenges

TechCoding: Medium

A Day in the Life

A typical Tuesday: cleaning and analyzing satellite imagery data to track deforestation, building a model that predicts air quality based on weather and industrial data, and writing a summary for a government agency that will use your findings to inform policy.

Salary Range

Entry

$60k–$90k

Mid-Career

$90k–$140k

Senior

$140k–$200k+

BLS / Glassdoor, 2025

Education Pathway

Typical:

MS in Environmental Science, Data Science, or GIS

Alternatives:

BS in Environmental Science + data skills
Data science background + environmental focus
Geography degree + Python/R

Time to Entry:

4–6 years (BS+MS)

Helpful Majors:

Environmental Science, Data Science, Geography, Earth Science

Growth Ladder

Research Analyst→

Environmental Data Scientist→

Senior Scientist→

Research Director

Years to Senior: 5–7 years

Lateral moves: Data Scientist, Policy Analyst, Public Health Analyst

What You'd Work On

•Analyzing geospatial and environmental datasets (satellite imagery, climate models, sensor networks)
•Building models that forecast environmental changes or assess risk
•Presenting findings to scientists, policymakers, and non-technical audiences

Skills to Try

•Explore NASA Earthdata or NOAA datasets — download something and visualize it in Python
•Learn geopandas and folium to work with geospatial data
•Study a real environmental data science project (many research groups share code on GitHub)

Internship Path

Look for internships at environmental consulting firms, government agencies (EPA, NOAA, USGS), nonprofits (World Resources Institute), or climate tech startups. Python/R + GIS skills + domain interest in the environment is the differentiator.

Job Outlook

HIGH DEMAND

Climate tech is a growing sector. Government and nonprofit demand is steady; private sector is increasing rapidly.

Create Action Plan Explore Career Adventure

Salary and outlook data is approximate and varies by location, company, and experience.

🐑

Preparing your wellness journey...

Environmental Data Scientist

A Day in the Life

Salary Range

Education Pathway

Growth Ladder

What You'd Work On

Skills to Try

Internship Path

Job Outlook

Related Roles

Environmental Data Scientist

A Day in the Life

Salary Range

Education Pathway

Growth Ladder

What You'd Work On

Skills to Try

Internship Path

Job Outlook

Related Roles