Best States for Data Scientists in 2026

Across the U.S., data scientists have a national median annual salary of $120,230 and total national employment of 262,440 in 2026. Within that national picture, CareerGPS Pro identifies 49 states and state‑equivalents in its geography set for this occupation, with the largest state‑level employment count at 39,310 roles. Within the top 10 states, California ranks #1 with the highest CareerGPS Geography Score, while Washington offers the highest reported median salary among these states. Employment counts also vary substantially, from more than 39,000 in California down to a few thousand in states like Maryland and New Jersey. All of the top 10 states share the same projected growth rate of 33.5% in the supplied data, so their differences in overall CareerGPS Geography Score reflect other dimensions captured in the scoring methodology beyond growth alone.

For data scientists overall, the national median annual salary in 2026 is $120,230. Several top‑ranked states report median salaries above this level, including California at $141,590, New York at $130,460, Washington at $163,350, Texas at $122,090, Massachusetts at $131,750, New Jersey at $135,280, Virginia at $126,430, and Maryland at $136,370. Among the top 10 states, North Carolina’s median salary of $119,090 and Pennsylvania’s $106,850 are below the national median salary of $120,230. On the employment side, national employment for data scientists is 262,440 roles. Within that context, California’s 39,310 data scientist positions represent the largest state‑level employment count reported in this dataset, while states such as Maryland (3,340) and New Jersey (6,430) have smaller employment counts among the top‑ranked states.

California ranks #1 in the CareerGPS Pro state results with a Geography Score of 78.75, a median annual salary of $141,590, and employment of 39,310 data scientists. Compared with other large‑employment states in the top 10, California’s employment count is higher than New York’s 23,970, Texas’s 25,860, North Carolina’s 11,430, and Pennsylvania’s 13,810. California’s median salary of $141,590 is also higher than the median salaries in New York ($130,460), Texas ($122,090), North Carolina ($119,090), and Pennsylvania ($106,850).

Washington illustrates that the highest reported salary in a group does not automatically correspond to the top overall rank. Washington’s median salary of $163,350 is higher than California’s $141,590, yet Washington ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 61.70, while California ranks #1 with a Geography Score of 78.75. This pattern appears elsewhere. Maryland’s median salary of $136,370 is higher than Virginia’s $126,430, but Maryland ranks #8 with a Geography Score of 46.07, compared with Virginia’s #7 ranking and Geography Score of 46.27. These comparisons show that the CareerGPS Pro Geography Score and rank incorporate factors beyond salary alone, even within the same broad growth outlook.

New York ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 62.20, a median salary of $130,460, and employment of 23,970 data scientists. Massachusetts ranks #5 with a Geography Score of 51.34, a median salary of $131,750, and employment of 9,420. New Jersey (#6) and Maryland (#8) both have relatively high median salaries for data scientists at $135,280 and $136,370, respectively, with smaller employment counts of 6,430 in New Jersey and 3,340 in Maryland. Virginia, ranked #7, reports a median salary of $126,430 and employment of 8,920. Within this group, New York has a higher employment count than Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, while Maryland’s median salary of $136,370 is higher than the median salaries in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia.

North Carolina ranks #9 with a CareerGPS Geography Score of 44.80, a median salary of $119,090, and employment of 11,430 data scientists. Pennsylvania ranks #10 with a Geography Score of 42.96, a median salary of $106,850, and employment of 13,810. Between these two states, Pennsylvania has a higher employment count than North Carolina, while North Carolina’s median salary is higher than Pennsylvania’s. Both states share the common projected growth rate of 33.5% found across all top‑10 entries in this dataset, so their differing Geography Scores mainly highlight that the CareerGPS Pro rankings incorporate more than growth alone.

CareerGPS Pro uses authoritative labor‑market data for the data scientist occupation (code 15-2051) and applies its CareerGPS Geography Score methodology to compare states. For this article, we rely on four supplied metrics for each state: median annual salary, employment, projected growth rate, and the CareerGPS Geography Score and rank. The national benchmark for 2026 is a median annual salary of $120,230 and employment of 262,440. CareerGPS Geography Scores aggregate multiple dimensions into a single number for each state, then rank those states. The score components and internal weights are not detailed in the supplied evidence, so this article does not attribute a state’s rank to any specific factor. Instead, we describe observable differences in the reported salaries, employment counts, growth rates, and scores, and we recommend that readers interpret these rankings alongside their own priorities, such as preferred region or personal circumstances, which are outside the scope of this data.