Data Scientists Salary In 2022: How Much Can A Data Scientist Earn?

Last Updated on: August 1, 2022

Data is generated with every click on a laptop, swipe on a smartphone and even when devices communicate with each other. With people spending more time online and devices becoming smarter, the data being generated is growing manifold. The total data in the world reached an estimated 44 zettabytes in 2020, and this is expected to reach a whopping 463 exabytes by 2025. In India, at least 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is generated every day. Organisations are now grappling with how to make sense of this sea of data, as the ability to analyse this can offer several benefits, from predicting new cancer treatments to identifying national security threats and forecasting demand from a new market.

A data scientist, with specialised skills, can convert such fragmented data into actionable insights. This is particularly essential for the smooth functioning and success of tech-enabled sectors like ecommerce. Highly qualified and experienced professionals are likely to be in high demand since the most specialised branches of data science cannot be fully automated.

This is why career opportunities in this field have grown exponentially over the years. Companies no longer shy away from offering an attractive data scientist salary to reap the benefits of data-driven decision making. So, how much does a data scientist earn? Here are some key figures to determine that. 

Median salary of Data Science professionals 

The average salary of data scientists was ₹16.8 lakhs per annum in 2021, up by 25.4% from 2020. The share of data scientists in the salary bracket between ₹15-₹25 lakhs per annum grew from 14.5% in 2020 to 20.5% in 2021, while the share in the ₹25-₹50 lakhs per annum salary bracket rose from 7.8% in 2020 to 13.7% in 2021.  

Salary By Experience Level

The internet and ecommerce sectors offer the highest salary, at an average of ₹25.8 lakhs a year, while banking and insurance are only slightly behind, at ₹24.3 lakhs per annum. These figures are close to what engineering graduates from the esteemed IITs and NITs earn, which is ₹27.6 lakhs per year. The median salary of engineering graduates from other institutes is lower, at ₹19.4 lakhs.

Data Scientist Salaries Across Industries

The highest median data scientist salary in India is offered in Bangalore, where data professionals can earn around ₹19.1 lakhs annually on average. This is followed by Mumbai at ₹17.5 lakhs per annum.

There is a salary gap between male and female data scientists in India. The average data scientist salary for men in India is ₹18.3 lakhs per annum, while women are at a much lower salary of ₹12.2 lakhs per annum.

Big Data analysts (₹20 lakhs/annum) and AI/ML engineers (₹17.8 lakhs) draw the highest salary packages in the country. However, a data architect can command more than ₹25 lakhs per annum.

If the salary excites you, it may be wise to consider upskilling to advance your career in this arena. Check GeekLurn’s Data Science Architect Program, which offers a 100% placement guarantee. It provides:

• 320+ hours of live training sessions
• 6 months of live interactive classes offered by the principal or senior data scientists and industry experts 
• 1.5 years of research project experience certificate
• a chance to work on 50+ sponsored and funded research projects 
• certification from top companies like Microsoft and IBM

Support is offered via LMS and mentoring sessions. The curriculum is focused on clarifying the most important concepts and principles and is aligned well with the job requirements and standards of employers. To pursue this course, you do not need to have any prior knowledge of the field. The data scientist salary per month is often dependent on your expertise and how updated you are. So, it is a good idea to register for a course to kickstart your data science career.

After this program, you can immediately begin working with companies hiring data scientists. The average data scientist salary in India for freshers and people with less than 1 year of experience is ₹5,71,493 per annum. The average salary for data scientists with 1 to 4 years of experience is ₹8,00,750 per annum.

Factors determining the package of Data Scientists 

If you are wondering what the salary of a data scientist is, the answer depends on some key parameters. Here are a few things to tick off to command a handsome salary.

1. Experience

While freshers can hope to earn more than ₹5 lakhs per annum, late-career data scientists can expect ₹18 lakhs and above per annum. Similarly, you can expect data scientist salary growth as you continue to learn on the job, advancing from early career to mid-career. 

2. Skills 

Being skilled in Azure can help you get noticed by 95% of the Fortune 500 companies. Apache Spark, AWS and Apache Hadoop are other helpful skills and tools like Tableau and SAS are also in high demand. A data science certification course will help you gain a foothold right at the onset of the era of big data concepts and technologies. 

3. Location

Data scientist salary in the US is higher in larger cities like Boston, Los Angeles, Charlotte, New York and Seattle. The same is true for India. New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune are the data science job hotspots in India. The salary also depends on the city you work in. For instance, data scientists in Hyderabad can earn ₹8,77,564 per year. The figure stands at ₹7,80,692 per annum in Pune. 

Data Scientist Average Annual Salary In Top Indian Cities

4. Organisation

Salaries offered by MNCs and large companies are higher. If you’re able to get a job with companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Deloitte, Accenture, TCS, Cognizant, Wipro and Capgemini, even your starting compensation package is likely to be quite attractive. For instance, the latest data science salary at Google is ₹14,62,745 and at IBM is ₹11,28,733 per annum. 

The bottom line

Businesses have woken up to the importance of streamlining their data pipelines for accurate and focused analysis for effective decision making. Professionals in the roles of analysts and engineers may continue to see jumps in their salaries in 2022 and beyond. 

Neel Neeraj

Neel is a Product Manager with an interest in Data Science, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, DevOps, and Blockchain with expertise in Python, R, Java, Power BI and Data analytics.