Data Scientist Job Trends

Data Scientist
UK

The median Data Scientist salary in the UK is £80,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 28 October 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 321 541 466
Rank change year-on-year +220 -75 +53
Permanent Data Scientist jobs 697 129 294
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.26% 0.43%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.62% 0.29% 0.45%
Number of salaries quoted 364 78 116
10th Percentile £50,375 £42,500 £38,620
25th Percentile £62,500 £52,500 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £70,000 £62,879
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% +11.32% -10.17%
75th Percentile £95,000 £86,875 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £91,500 £94,375
UK excluding London median annual salary £75,000 £55,000 £56,250
% change year-on-year +36.36% -2.22% -12.11%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
28 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title 111,899 44,574 64,814
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 92.11% 90.14% 95.27%
Number of salaries quoted 75,070 26,702 36,798
10th Percentile £30,625 £28,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,000 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,623 £52,500 £57,000
Median % change year-on-year +13.57% -7.89% -5.00%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £93,750 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £45,390 £50,000
% change year-on-year +21.17% -9.22% -4.76%

Data Scientist Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Data Scientist job postings relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Data Scientist job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Scientist Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in the UK

Data Scientist Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for Data Scientist jobs over the 6 months to 28 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Data Scientist in the UK

Data Scientist Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in Data Scientist jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 28 October 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England +217 650 £80,000 +14.29% 75
UK excluding London +155 394 £75,000 +36.36% 63
London +98 282 £84,250 +12.33% 39
Work from Home +52 148 £67,500 -3.57% 45
North of England +22 116 £83,774 +52.32% 14
South East +20 88 £85,000 +100.00% 29
South West +3 83 £75,000 +7.14% 12
Midlands -7 70 £70,000 -12.50% 2
East Midlands +17 62 £70,000 -12.50%
North West -9 56 £75,000 +25.00% 7
Yorkshire +13 49 £85,000 +54.55% 6
Wales - 17 £75,000 - 3
North East - 11 £80,000 - 1
Northern Ireland -70 10 £72,500 +81.25%
West Midlands -40 8 £75,013 +7.74% 2
Scotland +4 5 £75,013 +66.70%
East of England -40 5 £45,000 -23.40% 3

Data Scientist Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 28 October 2026, Data Scientist job ads cited the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent Data Scientist job ads.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Data Science99.7%695
2Machine Learning48.1%335
3AI39.2%273
4Python32.9%229
5Analytics28.8%201
6SQL16.9%118
7Generative AI13.3%93
8Actionable Insight13.2%92
9MLOps12.9%90
10Degree12.2%85
11Natural Language Processing11.8%82
12Predictive Modelling11.0%77
13Statistics10.0%70
14Azure9.9%69
15Decision-Making9.8%68
16Mentoring9.0%63
17CI/CD8.9%62
18AWS8.3%58
19Roadmaps8.2%57
20LLM8.0%56
21Problem-Solving7.9%55
22Software Engineering7.2%50
23Validation7.0%49
24Agile6.9%48
24Data Analysis6.9%48
24GCP6.9%48
24Mathematics6.9%48
28Data Engineering6.6%46
28Deep Learning6.6%46
30Security Cleared6.5%45

Data Scientist Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Senior Data Scientist52.1%363
2Lead Data Scientist16.6%116
3Principal Data Scientist5.6%39
4Research Scientist5.2%36
5Machine Learning Scientist3.9%27
6Developer3.6%25
7Data Engineer3.4%24
8Machine Learning Researcher2.4%17
9Artificial Intelligence Engineer2.2%15
9Senior Data Engineer2.2%15
9Statistician2.2%15
12Lead Developer1.9%13
13Data Manager1.7%12
14Research Software Engineer0.9%6
14Senior Software Engineer0.9%6
16Senior Data Warehouse Specialist0.7%5
17Data Analytics Scientist0.4%3
18Data Analyst0.3%2
18Data Science Leader0.3%2
18Junior Data Scientist0.3%2
79 Data Scientist jobs Nationwide