Massachusetts·Computer and Mathematical Occupations·SOC 15-2021

Best Mathematician programs in Massachusetts, ranked by enrollment

Conduct research in fundamental mathematics or in application of mathematical techniques to science, management, and other fields.

51 schools in Massachusetts run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,261 people a year. The job pays a median of $104,190 in Massachusetts across about 40 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledCryptographerMathematicianResearch ScientistComputational ScientistAlgebraistResearcherCryptanalystGeometrician
Graduates / yr
2,261
in Massachusetts
Median pay · Massachusetts
$104,190
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
40
people employed
Schools
51
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
64%
across those schools
Median net price
$24,533
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Massachusetts that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

11 programs in Massachusetts that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Massachusetts (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Massachusetts page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
11,069
47.3%
46$48,772$21,544
2740
32.7%
11$60,930$21,143
3252
11.1%
11$60,930$21,143
466
2.9%
4$89,651$23,175
558
2.6%
1
625
1.1%
2$60,930$21,143
719
0.8%
5$48,772$21,544
815
0.7%
1$72,338$18,500
99
0.4%
1$59,718$20,150
105
0.2%
1$59,063$21,500
113
0.1%
2$60,930$21,143

Top 25 schools in Massachusetts

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 12 of the 51 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Northeastern University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
303Financial Mathematics91%$18,9255%
2Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
285Financial Mathematics96%$11,6665%
3Boston University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs
271Financial Mathematics89%$21,95611%
4University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Amherst, MA Public · 4 feeder programs
257Mathematics, General$42,68283%60%
5Harvard University
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
245Applied Mathematics, General$114,27998%$15,0134%
6Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
101Financial Mathematics91%$21,12616%
7Brandeis University
Waltham, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
98Financial Mathematics86%$25,07440%
8Babson College
Wellesley, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
88Financial Mathematics93%$30,32617%
9University of Massachusetts - Lowell
Lowell, MA Public · 3 feeder programs
77Mathematics, General$49,57165%83%
10Clark University
Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs
53Financial Mathematics77%$23,33240%
11College of the Holy Cross
Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
47Mathematics, General$61,76187%$24,53318%
12Tufts University
Medford, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
47Mathematics, General$110,51294%$23,57011%
13Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs
46Mathematics, General90%$32,92660%
14Amherst College
Amherst, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
38Mathematics, General$78,50094%$16,0819%
15Williams College
Williamstown, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
36Mathematics, General$55,19394%$10,7478%
16Bentley University
Waltham, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
33Financial Mathematics87%$31,67745%
17Smith College
Northampton, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
31Mathematics, General89%$17,18321%
18Wellesley College
Wellesley, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
29Mathematics and Computer Science92%$19,29214%
19University of Massachusetts - Boston
Boston, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
19Mathematics, General49%84%
20Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
17Mathematics, General$48,45753%88%
21Westfield State University
Westfield, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
14Mathematics, General$47,92254%81%
22Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
13Mathematics, General84%$26,08336%
23Framingham State University
Framingham, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
10Mathematics, General48%84%
24Assumption University
Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
8Mathematics, General$41,69575%$24,20683%
25Gordon College
Wenham, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
8Mathematics, General69%$23,07769%

All 51 schools in Massachusetts

Every school in Massachusetts with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Massachusetts that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Northeastern UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit3033
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgePrivate not-for-profit2853
Boston UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit2714
University of Massachusetts - AmherstAmherstPublic2574
Harvard UniversityCambridgePrivate not-for-profit2452
Boston CollegeChestnut HillPrivate not-for-profit1012
Brandeis UniversityWalthamPrivate not-for-profit983
Babson CollegeWellesleyPrivate not-for-profit881
University of Massachusetts - LowellLowellPublic773
Clark UniversityWorcesterPrivate not-for-profit534
College of the Holy CrossWorcesterPrivate not-for-profit471
Tufts UniversityMedfordPrivate not-for-profit472
Worcester Polytechnic InstituteWorcesterPrivate not-for-profit465
Amherst CollegeAmherstPrivate not-for-profit381
Williams CollegeWilliamstownPrivate not-for-profit361

What mathematicians earn in Massachusetts

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Massachusetts
$104,190
Mean annual
$103,600
Jobs in state
40
What the range looks like
10th pct$72,030Median$104,19090th pct$149,520
Versus the national median
-17.8%

U.S. median $126,710. Massachusetts pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.93×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Massachusetts

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
$104,190median
40 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-0.7%
Little or no change
Openings per year
100
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
0
2,400 → 2,400
Typical entry education
Master's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Mathematicians page.

How to become a Mathematician

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Master's degree

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Top skills

MathematicsCritical ThinkingActive LearningReading ComprehensionWritingScience

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Massachusetts

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 20 majors mapped to Mathematicians17 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 26.1199Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Other
  • 27.0101Mathematics, General
  • 27.0102Algebra and Number Theory(no graduates reported)
  • 27.0103Analysis and Functional Analysis
  • 27.0104Geometry/Geometric Analysis(no graduates reported)
  • 27.0105Topology and Foundations
  • 27.0199Mathematics, Other
  • 27.0301Applied Mathematics, General
  • 27.0303Computational Mathematics
  • 27.0304Computational and Applied Mathematics
  • 27.0305Financial Mathematics
  • 27.0306Mathematical Biology
  • 27.0399Applied Mathematics, Other
  • 27.0502Mathematical Statistics and Probability
  • 27.0503Mathematics and Statistics
  • 27.9999Mathematics and Statistics, Other
  • 30.0801Mathematics and Computer Science
  • 30.4901Mathematical Economics
  • 30.5001Mathematics and Atmospheric/Oceanic Science(no graduates reported)
  • 38.0102Logic

Common questions

Answers for people weighing mathematicians programs in Massachusetts.

What degree do you need to become a Mathematician?+

Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Mathematics, General, which awarded 1,069 degrees in Massachusetts in 2024-25, 47.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Mathematician?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 11 programs to this occupation. The largest are Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Mathematical Economics, plus 3 more. Together they graduate about 2,261 people a year in Massachusetts.

How much do mathematicians earn in Massachusetts?+

The median is $104,190 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 17.8% below the U.S. median of $126,710. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for mathematicians growing?+

BLS projects a -0.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Massachusetts?+

51 institutions in Massachusetts reported graduates from at least one of the 11 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do mathematicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Cryptographer, Mathematician, Research Scientist, Computational Scientist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 15-2021.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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