Career Explorer Science
Grows with AI
Epidemiologists
Investigate and describe the determinants and distribution of disease, disability, or health outcomes. May develop the means for prevention and control.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 65% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +18.7% by 2035, much faster than average. The work leans on creative vision and emotional intelligence.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $87,220
- Job growth to 2035
- +18.7%
- Openings a year
- 800
- People doing it (2025)
- 12,800
- Usual route in
- Master's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Present research or technical information
- Write material for artistic or commercial purposes
- Research biological or ecological phenomena
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Direct scientific or technical activities
- Coordinate activities with clients, agencies, or organizations
- Develop research plans or methodologies
What the work looks like
- Communicate research findings on various types of diseases to health practitioners, policy makers, and the public.
- Oversee public health programs, including statistical analysis, health care planning, surveillance systems, and public health improvement.
- Investigate diseases or parasites to determine cause and risk factors, progress, life cycle, or mode of transmission.
- Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention.
- Monitor and report incidents of infectious diseases to local and state health agencies.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- More of these jobs, as more research is needed to effectively combat the adverse health consequences of diseases as advances in health technology improves the ability to discover, identify, and understand more about them.
- More of these jobs, as the volume of data shared and analyzed across the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) is expected to grow.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Mental health and substance abuse social workersGrows with AI, Index 90, +10.3%
- Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselorsGrows with AI, Index 83, +18.4%
- Community and social service specialists, all otherGrows with AI, Index 70, +5.5%
- Counselors, all otherGrows with AI, Index 69, +5.9%
Also known as: Epidemiologist, Infection Control Practitioner (ICP), Nurse Epidemiologist, Research Epidemiologist, Chronic Disease Epidemiologist, Communicable Diseases Specialist, Environmental Epidemiologist, Epidemiology Investigator.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.