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Data13+ jobs analyzed

Data Scientist Skills 2026

Build ML models and extract insights from complex datasets.

Last updated:

Avg Salary (US)

$80k–$175k

Job Growth

+35% by 2032

Skills Tracked

20

Must Have Skills

4skills · 50%+ of jobs

These appear in more than half of all Data Scientist job postings. Missing these will filter you out of most applications.

  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Leadership
  • Python

Important Skills

1skills · 25–49% of jobs

These appear frequently and strongly improve your competitiveness. Learn these after the must-haves.

  • SQL

Nice to Have

15 skills

These appear less frequently but make you stand out from other candidates.

  • Pandas
  • Statistical Modeling
  • Tableau
  • Spark
  • Teamwork
  • Data Analysis
  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Dask
  • Docker
  • NoSQL
  • Data Mining
  • Quantitative Analysis
  • LLM
  • ML

Free Learning Resources

All resources are free or have a free tier

Which of These Do You Have?

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Skills for Other Roles