Job prospects Data Scientist in British Columbia

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "data scientist" in British Columbia or across Canada.

Job opportunities in British Columbia

The recent trends from the past 3 years were updated on July 25, 2025. The job outlooks over the next 3 years were updated on December 10, 2025.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be Moderate for data scientists (NOC 21211) in British Columbia for the 2025-2027 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
• Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

Some analytical duties of this occupation are likely to change with adoption of digital innovations, which may enable workers to do their jobs more efficiently. 

Examples include cloud computing to improve data management and analysis (for example forecasting, optimizing, natural language processing), and blockchain for transparent and secure digital transactions. 

Some technology companies, particularly software engineering teams, are transforming to adapt to AI as a product feature and to replace staff as a central operational strategy.

Here are some key facts about data scientists in British Columbia:

• Approximately 4,400 people work in this occupation.
• Data scientists mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Computer systems design services (NAICS 5415): 37%
  • Monetary Authorities - central bank and securities, commodity contracts and other intermediation and related activities (NAICS 521, 522, 523): 9%
  • Information and cultural industries (NAICS 51): 9%
  • Insurance Carriers and related activities (NAICS 524, 526): 6%
  • Other professional, scientific and technical services (NAICS 5414, 5416-5419): 5%
• 73% of data scientists work all year, while 27% work only part of the year, compared to 61% and 39% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 45 weeks compared to 42 weeks for all occupations.
• 7% of data scientists are self-employed compared to an average of 17% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 72% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: 28% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: n/a
  • high school diploma or equivalent: less than 5% compared to 28% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: n/a
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: less than 5% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 34% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 57% compared to 12% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in British Columbia by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Labour market conditions over the next 10 years

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