Monthly Labor Review • May 2011 3

Visual Essay: STEM Occupations

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 

(STEM) occupations: a visual essay

 Ben Cover, John I. Jones, and Audrey Watson

S

TEM occupations—technical jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—play an 

instrumental role in expanding scientific frontiers, 

developing new products, and generating technological 

progress. These occupations are concentrated in cuttingedge industries such as computer systems design, scientific research and development, and high-tech manufacturing industries. Although educational requirements vary, 

most of these occupations require a bachelor’s degree or 

higher. Accordingly, STEM occupations are high-paying 

occupations, with most having mean wages significantly 

above the U.S. average. Using May 2009 data from the 

Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program, this 

visual essay takes a closer look at STEM occupations.

For the purposes of this essay, the STEM occupation 

group is defined as consisting of 97 specific occupations 

that made up about 6 percent of U.S. employment1

—

nearly 8 million jobs—in May 2009. These 97 occupations include those in computer and mathematical sciences, architecture and engineering, and life and physical 

sciences. Because managerial and postsecondary teaching 

occupations associated with these functional areas require 

similar skills and knowledge, these managerial and teaching occupations are included among the 97 occupations, 

as are two sales occupations that require scientific or technical education at the postsecondary level: sales engineers 

and wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives of 

technical and scientific products. This is only one possible 

definition of STEM occupations; other definitions exist 

that may be better suited for other uses.2

The first two charts in this visual essay present an 

overview of the largest STEM occupations as well as the 

highest- and lowest-paying STEM occupations. These 

charts are followed by information on the industries 

with especially large proportions of STEM occupations, 

and a more detailed look at one of these industries, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing. The remainder 

of the visual essay focuses on geographic differences in 

employment and wages for STEM occupations. Several 

charts in this last section rely on the concept of location quotients, which are ratios that compare an occupation’s share of employment in an area to its share of U.S. 

employment. For example, an occupational group that 

makes up 10 percent of employment in a specific metropolitan area and 2 percent of U.S. employment would 

have a location quotient of 5 for that metropolitan area. 

A location quotient above 1 indicates a stronger-thanaverage local presence of STEM occupations.

The aggregate data for STEM occupations presented 

here are based on a special tabulation of Occupational 

Employment Statistics data created for this visual essay. 

OES estimates for individual STEM occupations, including national industry-specific data and cross-industry 

data for the Nation, States, and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas, are available from the BLS Occupational 

Employment Statistics homepage at www.bls.gov/oes/

home.htm. This visual essay was prepared by Ben Cover, 

John I. Jones, and Audrey Watson, economists in the 

OES program. For more information, contact the OES

program at oesinfo@bls.gov.

1 The Occupational Employment Statistics survey provides an estimate of all full- and part-time wage and salary jobs in nonfarm 

industries. The survey does not include the self-employed, owners 

and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, or unpaid 

family workers.

2

 For example, a narrower definition might exclude STEM managerial and postsecondary teaching occupations, while a broader 

definition might include social science occupations or occupations 

directly associated with manufacturing and repairing technologically 

advanced products and equipment, such as semiconductor processors or avionics technicians. 
Visual Essay: STEM Occupations

4 Monthly Labor Review • May 2011

1. Employment by occupation for the largest STEM occupations, May 2009

Computer support specialists

Computer systems analysts

Computer software engineers, applications

Sales representatives, wholesale/manufacturing,

 technical/scientific products

Computer software engineers, systems software

Computer programmers

Network and computer systems administrators

Computer and information systems managers

Civil engineers

Mechanical engineers

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550

Employment (in thousands)

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Most of the largest STEM occupations were related to computers.

• The largest STEM occupations—computer support specialists; computer systems analysts; and computer 

software engineers, applications—each had employment of approximately 500,000. By comparison, the 

largest occupations overall, retail salespersons and cashiers, had employment of 4.2 and 3.4 million, respectively.

• The largest STEM occupation that is not specifically computer related was sales representatives, wholesale 

and manufacturing, technical and scientific products, with employment of about 400,000.
Monthly Labor Review • May 2011 5

 2. Highest- and lowest-paying STEM occupations, May 2009

Mean annual wage (in dollars)

0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000

Natural sciences managers

Engineering managers

Computer and information systems managers

Petroleum engineers

Physicists

All STEM occupations

Environmental science and protection technicians

All occupations

Biological technicians

Surveying and mapping technicans

Agricultural and food science technicians

Forest and conservation technicians

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Overall, STEM occupations were high-paying occupations. The average annual wage for all STEM occupations was $77,880 in May 2009, and only 4 of the 97 STEM occupations had mean wages below 

the U.S. average of $43,460.

• Natural science managers was the highest-paying STEM occupation.

• The highest-paying STEM occupations had mean annual wages of $100,000 or more, and included all 

of the managerial STEM occupations, petroleum engineers, and physicists.

• Although the wages for the lowest-paying STEM occupations were not far below the U.S. mean for all 

occupations, there were considerable differences between the wages of the highest-paying and lowestpaying STEM occupations. Technician and technologist occupations—including forest and conservation technicians, agricultural and food science technicians, surveying and mapping technicians, and 

biological technicians—tended to be among the lowest-paying STEM occupations.
Visual Essay: STEM Occupations

6 Monthly Labor Review • May 2011

 3. STEM occupations as a percent of industry employment for selected industries, May 2009

Computer systems design and related services

Architectural, engineering, and related services

Software publishers

Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing

Scientific research and development services

Data processing, hosting, and related services

Communications equipment manufacturing

Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control 

instruments manufacturing

Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing

All industries

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Percent

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• STEM occupations made up 6 percent of U.S. employment, but more than half of employment in some 

industries.

• More than half of the jobs in scientific research and development services; computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing; software publishers; architectural, engineering, and related services; and computer 

systems design and related services were in STEM occupations. The share in the latter two industries was 

the highest, at nearly two-thirds.

• STEM occupations accounted for 34 to 40 percent of jobs in data processing, hosting, and related services 

and in several high-tech manufacturing industries.

• Some industries had almost no STEM occupations. Those in which STEM occupations made up less than 

0.1 percent of the jobs included several retail trade and food service industries, child day care, personal care 

services, nursing care facilities, and community care facilities for the elderly.
Monthly Labor Review • May 2011 7

4. The largest occupations in the pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing industry, May 2009

Packaging and filling machine operators and 

tenders

Chemists

Medical scientists, except epidemiologists

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, 

and tenders

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

Chemical technicians

First-line supervisors/managers of production 

and operating workers

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and 

weighers

Biochemists and biophysicists

Biological technicians

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000

NOTE: Darker bars indicate STEM occupations.

Employment

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Chemists and medical scientists were the largest STEM occupations in pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing, with employment of 14,340 and 13,760, respectively, and were the second and third largest occupations in the industry. Several of the largest occupations in this industry, however, were production occupations, including the industry’s largest occupation, packaging and filling machine operators and tenders, 

which had employment of 22,760.

• The five STEM occupations shown in the chart made up about 17 percent of total employment in pharmaceutical manufacturing, and about 52 percent of the industry’s STEM employment.

• About 30 percent of all biochemists and biophysicists, 18 percent of chemists, and 14 percent of medical 

scientists, except epidemiologists, were employed in this industry.

• Biological technicians employed in pharmaceutical manufacturing earned an average of $42,950 per year, 

not statistically different from the mean of $43,460 for all occupations in the U.S. The remaining four 

STEM occupations in this chart had above-average wages, ranging from $46,740 for chemical technicians to 

$91,720 for medical scientists, except epidemiologists.

• As is typical for industries with high percentages of STEM occupations, the overall average wage in pharmaceutical manufacturing ($63,450) was substantially above the U.S. all-occupations mean. However, several 

other industries with high percentages of STEM jobs had higher overall mean wages; this reflects, in part, the 

prevalence of relatively low-paying production occupations in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Visual Essay: STEM Occupations

8 Monthly Labor Review • May 2011

55. STEM occupations as a percent of total employment, by geographic area, May 2009

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• High concentrations of STEM occupations are usually in areas with technology centers and research parks.

• The metropolitan areas where STEM occupations accounted for at least 15 percent of total jobs were San 

Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (193 per 1,000 jobs); Boulder, CO (173 per 1,000 jobs); Huntsville, AL

(167 per 1,000 jobs); Framingham, MA (162 per 1,000 jobs); Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, MA-NH (158 

per 1,000 jobs); and Durham, NC (157 per 1,000 jobs).

• The concentration of STEM occupations in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, which includes the center of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County, was more than three times that for the U.S. as a whole.

• The highest concentration of jobs in STEM occupations was not found in the center of Silicon Valley (San 

Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA), but in a nonmetropolitan area, St. Mary's County, MD (207 per 1,000 

jobs).
Monthly Labor Review • May 2011 9

.6. Annual average STEM wages, by geographic area, May 2009

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• The areas with the highest annual average wages for STEM occupations were Idaho Falls, ID

($110,660); San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($109,930); San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood 

City, CA ($97,970); Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV ($94,610); and LowellBillerica-Chelmsford, MA-NH ($94,190). 

• Areas with high concentrations of STEM occupations tended to have higher wages for those occupations. An area’s mean wages for STEM occupations and their concentration (STEM jobs per 

1,000 jobs) had a correlation coefficient of 0.67; this indicates that areas with higher wages for 

STEM jobs also had relatively more STEM jobs. For instance, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, 

had STEM employment of 171,290 with a high job concentration (193 per 1,000 jobs) and a high 

annual average wage ($109,930). With STEM employment of 3,090, Idaho Falls, ID, is an example 

of an exception to the relationship between higher concentrations of STEM occupations and higher 

wages. Despite its especially high average annual wage for STEM occupations, Idaho Falls had a 

STEM job concentration (62 per 1,000 jobs) near that of the United States overall (44 per 1,000 

jobs).
Visual Essay: STEM Occupations

10 Monthly Labor Review • May 2011

 7. Geographic areas with the highest location quotients for industrial engineers, by wage and employment level,

 May 2009 

8.0

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

60,000 65,000 70,000 75,000 80,000 85,000 90,000

Annual mean wage (in dollars)

NOTE: Bubble size shows employment level.

Palm Bay-MelbourneTitusville, FL

8.0

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

Decatur, IL Holland-Grand Haven, MI

Columbus, IN

Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI

Metro Division

Kokomo, IN

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Palm Bay-MelbourneTitusville, FL

Location quotient Location quotient

• Industrial engineers held fewer than 2 of every 1,000 jobs in the U.S. as a whole, but approximately 7 to 12 

jobs per 1,000 in the areas shown.

• Most of the geographic areas where industrial engineers made up a relatively large share of local employment 

were in Michigan or Indiana. Decatur, IL, and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL, also had among the highest employment shares of industrial engineers.

• Although industrial engineers made up above-average shares of employment in the geographic areas shown on 

the chart, most of these areas did not have high employment levels for industrial engineers. Detroit-LivoniaDearborn, MI, had the highest number—4,670—among the areas shown. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, 

FL, was next highest with 1,330 industrial engineers, while the other areas each had fewer than 1,000.

• Of the areas shown, only Kokomo, IN, and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI, had wages for industrial engineers 

above the U.S. average of $77,090 for this occupation. 
Monthly Labor Review • May 2011 11

8. Geographic areas with the highest location quotients for environmental scientists and specialists, including

 health, by wage and employment level, May 2009

9.0

8.5

8.0

7.5

7.0

6.5

6.0

5.5

5.0

9.0

8.5

8.0

7.5

7.0

6.5

6.0

5.5

5.0

40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 90,000 100,000

Annual mean wage (in dollars)

NOTE: Bubble size shows employment level.

Location quotient Location quotient

Tallahassee, FL

Olympia, WA

Boulder, CO

Trenton-Ewing, NJ

Jefferson City, MO

Kennewick-PascoRichland, WA

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Olympia, WA, had the highest concentration of environmental scientists and specialists of any metropolitan area in the United States: environmental scientists and specialists, including health made up approximately 5 jobs per 1,000 in Olympia, more than 8 times the average employment share of this occupation 

in the U.S. as a whole. A second metropolitan area in Washington, Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, also had 

one of the highest employment shares of environmental scientists and specialists.

• Despite their high employment concentrations of environmental scientists and specialists, each of the 

areas shown had fewer than 1,000 jobs in this occupation. Among the areas included in the chart, the 

number of environmental scientist and specialist jobs ranged from 300 in Jefferson City, MO, to 840 in 

Trenton-Ewing, NJ. By contrast, areas with relatively large numbers of environmental scientist and specialist jobs included the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Division (3,440); 

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX (2,650); the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA New England City and 

Town Area Division (2,040); and the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division (1,980).

• Wages for environmental scientists and specialists varied widely among the areas shown, from $43,610 in 

Jefferson City, MO, to $88,040 in Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, WA. The U.S. average wage for this occupation was $67,360. 
Visual Essay: STEM Occupations

12 Monthly Labor Review • May 2011

9. Geographic areas with the highest location quotients for chemists, by wage and employment level, May 2009

Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ

Metro Division

Bethesda-FrederickGaithersburg, MD

Metro Division Kennewick-PascoRichard, WA

Boulder, CO

Pine Bluff, AR

College StationBryan,TX

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 

Annual mean wage (in dollars)

NOTE: Bubble size shows employment level.

Location quotient Location quotient

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• The Wilmington, DE, area had an employment concentration of chemists more than 10 times the U.S. average. Although chemists accounted for less than 1 job per 1,000 in the U.S. as a whole, chemists held more 

than 6 of every 1,000 jobs in the Wilmington, DE-MD-NJ Metropolitan Division and 5 of every 1,000 in 

College Station-Bryan, TX.

• Of the areas shown, the Wilmington, DE and Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, MD Metropolitan Divisions had the highest numbers of chemists, with employment of 2,070 and 1,870, respectively. The remaining areas in the chart each had 500 or fewer chemist jobs.

• Wages for chemists in all of the areas shown except College Station-Bryan, TX, exceeded the $72,740 U.S. 

average for chemists. With an average wage of $108,710 for chemists, Bethesda-Frederick-Gaithersburg, 

MD, had the highest pay of any of the areas shown.
Monthly Labor Review • May 2011 13

10. STEM occupations with the highest location quotients in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, May 2009

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Location quotient

Computer hardware engineers

Sales engineers

Computer software engineers, systems software

Computer and information scientists, research

Electronics engineers, except computer

Electro-mechanical technicians

Computer software engineers, applications

Mathematical science occupations, all other

Engineering managers

Electrical engineers

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Most of the STEM occupations with the highest location quotients in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, 

were related to information technology.

• Computer hardware engineers made up almost 1 percent of employment in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa 

Clara, CA, while computer hardware engineers nationwide made up only 0.05 percent of total employment; 

the result is a location quotient of nearly 19.

• Although computer hardware engineers had the highest STEM location quotient in San Jose-SunnyvaleSanta Clara, CA, their employment level (8,310) was exceeded by that of computer software engineers, systems software (24,460).

• Wages for the occupations shown ranged from $61,090 for electro-mechanical technicians to $162,760 for 

engineering managers. All wages were higher than the national average for that occupation.
Visual Essay: STEM Occupations

14 Monthly Labor Review • May 2011

Location quotient

11. STEM occupations with the highest location quotients in Boulder, CO, May 2009

Physicists

Computer hardware engineers

Hydrologists

Chemical technicians

Chemical engineers

Environmental scientists and specialists, including 

health

Materials engineers

Electronics engineers, except computer

Computer software engineers, systems software

Chemists

0 5 10 15 20 25 

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• The STEM occupations with the highest location quotients in Boulder, CO, were related to the physical sciences and engineering even though the STEM occupations with the highest employment levels were those 

related to information technology.

• The concentration of employment for physicists in Boulder, CO, was 21 times the national average.

• Although physicists had the highest location quotient among the occupations shown, the chart’s occupation 

with the highest employment level was computer software engineers, systems software, (2,590) and the lowest 

was hydrologists (80).

• Wages for the occupations shown ranged from $59,820 for chemical technicians to $116,640 for computer 

hardware engineers. 
Monthly Labor Review • May 2011 15

Mathematicians

Aerospace engineers

Computer and information scientists, research

Engineers, all other

Computer hardware engineers

Chemical engineers

Physicists

Electronics engineers, except computer

Aerospace engineering and operations technicians

Electrical engineers

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

12. STEM occupations with the highest location quotients in Huntsville, AL, May 2009

Location quotient

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• The STEM occupations with the highest location quotients in Huntsville, AL, were related to math, engineering, information technology, and the physical sciences. 

• The concentration of employment for mathematicians in Huntsville, AL, was 31 times the national average; 

mathematicians accounted for 0.62 of every 1,000 jobs in Huntsville. 

• Among Huntsville’s STEM occupations with high location quotients, the occupation with the highest level of 

employment was engineers, all other, with 2,980. Although aerospace engineers had a location quotient close 

to 20, this represented fewer jobs.

• Wages for the occupations shown ranged from $64,800 for aerospace engineering and operations technicians 

to $106,980 for engineers, all other.