In 2013, Nevada made major headway in the data science field when the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and Reno’s Desert Research Institute (DRI) joined forces with IBM to harness big data analytics for the purpose of improving environmental, social, and economic conditions, as well as the state’s public education system. Since then, the state has established a reputation for offering a strong job market and high salaries for data science professionals.
According to an article published by Forbes in 2014, data science salaries are often linked to an individual’s level of familiarity with technical tools and skills pertaining to:
- Distributed development
- Programming languages
- Open databases
- Social graph processing
- SQL databases
- Spreadsheets
- Analytics
- Visualization
Starting Salary Ranges for Data Scientist in Nevada’s Major Cities
According to an article published by the Las Vegas Sun in 2015, Las Vegas and Reno are leading Nevada into a tech-centric future. Leading this charge is Switch, a cloud services provider that announced plans to invest $2 billion for the expansion of a data warehouse in Las Vegas and Reno by 4.5 million square-feet. The ambitious development project is expected to create at least 5,000 new jobs, which signals greater opportunity and greater pay for data scientists in these local communities.
Of course, Switch isn’t the only tech powerhouse making waves in Nevada. In 2015, NPR ran a story highlighting Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh’s “Downtown Project.” Hsieh’s vision was to invest $350 million in personal funds to transform downtown Las Vegas into a bustling tech hub. As of 2015, Downtown Project has helped to launch roughly 60 startups and generated at least 800 jobs.
But it’s not just companies that are revitalizing Nevada’s local tech scenes. Las Vegas is also birthplace of the InNEVation Center, a 65,000 square-foot collaborative meeting space for tech students, professionals, educators, and leaders to interact and advance the technology infrastructure throughout Nevada and its localities.
The InNEVation Center has become such an important driving force behind Nevada’s tech initiatives that even institutes of higher education are taking notice. In 2016, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) opened three research and economic development offices at InNEVation, even opting to house one of its supercomputers there.
In 2016, Robert Half Technology analyzed thousands of job placements made in recent years to determine the starting average salaries for data scientists working Nevada’s major cities. The following salary statistics provided by the IT staffing agency only show base salary rates and do not include additional income achieved through bonuses and other incentive payouts:
Las Vegas Area
- Las Vegas: $95,000-$134,000
- North Las Vegas: $95,000-$134,000
- Paradise: $95,000-$134,000
Reno Area
- Reno: $107,000-$151,000
- Sparks: $96,000-$136,000
- Carson City: $96,000-$135,000
Other Cities
- Henderson: $95,000-$134,000
- Fallon: $96,000-$136,000
- Elko: $94,000-$132,000
- Winnemucca: $107,000-$151,000
Salaries for Data Scientists in Nevada According to Career Focus and Industry of Employment
In 2014, the United States Department of Labor released the average annual salaries for two areas in which Nevada’s data scientists most often work:
Operations Research
- $112,400
Financial Services
- $95,300
Salaries for Nevada’s Data Scientists that Specialize in Statistical Modeling
By hosting the Big Data Innovation Summit in 2016, Las Vegas has established itself as a leader in data science. In 2014, the United States Department of Labor found that statistical modeling specialists working in the Las Vegas-Paradise area earned an average annual salary of:
- Las Vegas-Paradise – $101,470
Salary Survey Results for Nevada’s Data Scientists Working in Operations Research
In 2014, the United States Department of Labor reported that the Las Vegas-Paradise area employed over 85% of Nevada’s data scientists working in the area of operations research. At that time, these data scientists earned an average annual salary of:
- Las Vegas-Paradise – $113,180
The US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics information shown here reflects salary data for broad occupational classifications that include data scientists. These estimates are expressed as 90th percentile averages to reflect the fact that data scientists are recognized as the top earners within each classification.