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 23 October 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 318 537 462
Rank change year-on-year +219 -75 +38
Permanent Data Scientist jobs 697 130 306
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.26% 0.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.63% 0.29% 0.46%
Number of salaries quoted 375 78 120
10th Percentile £50,000 £42,500 £38,620
25th Percentile £61,000 £52,500 £50,968
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £70,000 £62,879
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% +11.32% -5.09%
75th Percentile £95,000 £85,000 £77,813
90th Percentile £100,000 £90,000 £95,625
UK excluding London median annual salary £75,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +36.36% - -12.00%

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
23 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title 111,319 44,214 65,925
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 92.21% 89.77% 95.38%
Number of salaries quoted 75,105 26,119 37,592
10th Percentile £30,500 £28,128 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,000 £41,592
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £52,500 £56,252
Median % change year-on-year +12.38% -6.67% -6.25%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £45,497 £50,000
% change year-on-year +20.89% -9.01% -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 23 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 23 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 +203 650 £80,000 +14.29% 626
UK excluding London +132 388 £75,000 +36.36% 226
London +86 287 £83,500 +11.33% 417
Work from Home +60 155 £67,500 -3.57% 291
North of England +23 116 £80,000 +45.45% 60
South East +17 86 £80,000 +88.24% 58
South West -2 79 £75,000 +7.14% 26
Midlands -2 69 £70,000 -12.50% 35
East Midlands +16 62 £70,000 -12.50% 10
North West +8 58 £75,000 +36.36% 39
Yorkshire +11 47 £85,000 +54.55% 16
Wales - 16 £75,000 - 15
North East - 11 £80,000 - 5
Northern Ireland -72 10 £72,500 +81.25% 3
East of England -34 7 £60,000 +2.13% 25
West Midlands -40 7 £75,013 +7.74% 25
Scotland +4 5 £75,013 +85.22% 8

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

For the 6 months to 23 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 Learning49.2%343
3AI39.9%278
4Python33.3%232
5Analytics28.8%201
6SQL17.1%119
7Actionable Insight13.8%96
8Generative AI13.3%93
9MLOps13.1%91
10Degree12.2%85
11Natural Language Processing11.8%82
12Predictive Modelling11.0%77
13Statistics10.5%73
14Azure10.0%70
15Decision-Making9.8%68
16Mentoring9.3%65
17CI/CD8.8%61
18LLM8.5%59
18Roadmaps8.5%59
20AWS8.3%58
21Problem-Solving7.9%55
22Software Engineering7.6%53
23Agile7.2%50
23Mathematics7.2%50
25Data Analysis7.0%49
25GCP7.0%49
27Deep Learning6.9%48
28Validation6.7%47
29Data Engineering6.6%46
29Security Cleared6.6%46

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 Scientist16.4%114
3Principal Data Scientist5.6%39
4Research Scientist5.5%38
5Machine Learning Scientist4.0%28
6Data Engineer3.7%26
7Developer3.6%25
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 Engineer1.1%8
15Research Software Engineer0.9%6
15Senior Software Engineer0.9%6
17Senior Data Warehouse Specialist0.7%5
18Data Analytics Scientist0.4%3
19Data Analyst0.3%2
19Data Science Leader0.3%2
730 Data Scientist jobs Nationwide