Biomedical Scientist
Health Science
Investigate disease and develop treatments through laboratory research.
Why it matters here: NIH, FDA, and the I-270 biotech corridor anchor DMV demand.
Labor Market — DMV Region
Sourced from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS releases (DMV metro and nationwide) plus MD, VA, and D.C. workforce agencies.
Local cost of living is why DMV pay often differs from the national median.
- DMV & state figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS wage & employment estimates and Employment Projections, with OEWS area pay relatives for the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria metro, Maryland, D.C., and Northern Virginia · View source
- Occupation profiles & skills: O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor) · onetonline.org
All salary figures are published estimates for groups of workers, not offers or guarantees for any individual role.
Education & Career Pathways
Multiple ways to get here — pick the one that fits your life.
Career Progression
How you can grow — with expected salary at each step.
- Entry-level Biomedical ScientistLearning the role, supervised work, building core skills.$78,480
- Biomedical Scientist (experienced)Independent work, mentoring newer team members.$109,970
- Senior / Lead Biomedical ScientistOwning projects, specialization, higher responsibility.$152,600
- Manager or specialist trackSupervising a team or moving into a high-demand specialty.$183,120
Skills Required
What you'll actually do — and how you'll be judged.
Research lab bench, weekday hours shaped by experiments
Where you work
A university, NIH or biotech laboratory with benches, tissue culture hoods, freezers and shared instruments.
Hours and schedule
Nominally weekday, but experiments set the clock — cell cultures and time-course studies pull people in on weekends.
Pace and pressure
Long-horizon work with intense stretches; most experiments fail before one works.
Who you work with
A lab group of students, postdocs and technicians under a principal investigator, meeting weekly to present data.
Physical demands
Standing at benches and hoods, fine pipetting work, cold-room and freezer trips.
What people wear
Lab coat, gloves, goggles over ordinary clothes.
Remote reality
Analysis and writing can be remote; bench work cannot.
Workplace culture: what's normal here
- Lab notebooks are legal records — reproducibility beats speed.
- Presenting negative results at lab meeting is normal and expected.
- Instrument time and reagents are shared, so cleanup and sign-up etiquette matters a lot.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook — Work Environment, with regional detail for the DMV.
Official data behind this career
Federal statistics for DMV Region, translated into plain language.
Data unavailable for this category.
Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV metro area
Source: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 2019–2023 5-year estimates (tables DP03, DP02, DP05)
- The DMV functions as one labor market: workers routinely cross state lines to get to work.
- The largest employment destinations are D.C., Fairfax County and Montgomery County.
Top places these workers go to work
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — BEA regional GDP and personal income, most recent published year
Private-sector payroll data from ADP. It is a supplemental near-real-time indicator and does not replace BLS government employment statistics.
Source: ADP National Employment Report — Most recent monthly ADP National Employment Report
- 1U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OOH, OEWS, Employment Projections, CES) — Primary source for occupation wages, outlook, projected openings, education and training.
- 2U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey — Primary source for income, educational attainment, labor force and demographic context by place.
- 3Census LEHD (LODES / OnTheMap) — Primary source for where workers live versus where they work, and local workforce flows.
- 4U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Primary source for regional GDP, industry contribution, compensation and personal income.
- 5ADP National Employment Report — Supplemental near-real-time private-sector employment and pay indicator. Not a replacement for BLS.
Figures describe groups of workers, not any one person. Where an official figure is not published for a category, this page says “Data unavailable for this category.” rather than estimating.
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