← All careers

Science

Geneticists

Research and study the inheritance of traits at the molecular, organism or population level. May evaluate or treat patients with genetic disorders.

Median salary

$93,330

Typical range

$55k – $160k

Job outlook

+1% (about average)

AI exposure

Plan a path to Geneticists

Education

Typical entry: Master's degree

Plan my path to this →

Typical progression

  1. Geneticists Intern

    Internship

    $36,000

    ~4 mos to advance

  2. Junior Geneticists

    Entry / Junior

    $54,500

    ~2 yrs to advance

  3. Geneticists

    Established

    $93,330

    ~3 yrs to advance

  4. Senior Geneticists

    Senior

    $126,555

Internships are a common on-ramp here — they speed up landing that first role and improve your odds, which is why the Safe and High-ceiling plans build one in.

Key skills

A typical day

  • Supervise or direct the work of other geneticists, biologists, technicians, or biometricians working on genetics research projects.
  • Plan or conduct basic genomic and biological research related to areas such as regulation of gene expression, protein interactions, metabolic networks, and nucleic acid or protein complexes.
  • Prepare results of experimental findings for presentation at professional conferences or in scientific journals.
  • Maintain laboratory notebooks that record research methods, procedures, and results.
  • Write grants and papers or attend fundraising events to seek research funds.

Fields of study

Any field

Top colleges for Science

Explore all

Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.