Research Assistant

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Research Assistant assists with a research program or project. Works in a variety of fields within science or the social sciences, in programs based at a university or research institution, or works on government or industry sponsored research projects. Conducts field or library research or recruits participants for a study; may also assist with legal research.

Job Outlook

There were 507 Research Assistant job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 21417 in the United States.

We do not have this data at this time.

Salary

Many new Research Assistant jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $66,084.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $60,805.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Research Assistant postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $49,791.

Education and Experience

Posted Research Assistant jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	52.31%
Master's Degree	19.96%
Doctoral Degree	18.56%
Other	12.21%

Posted Research Assistant jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	69.2%
3 to 5 years	25.95%
6 to 8 years	3.11%
9+ years	1.74%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Research Assistant positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Research (95.17%)
Communication (34.17%)
Writing (24.96%)
Detail Oriented (22%)
Management (17.1%)
Presentations (14.67%)
Organizational Skills (14.16%)
Microsoft Office (13.7%)
Microsoft Excel (13.17%)
Interpersonal Communications (12.1%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Data Collection (28.08%)
Literature Reviews (6.94%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Administrative Support (5.72%)
Laboratory Equipment (11.84%)
Clinical Research (13.1%)
Molecular Biology (13.57%)
Biochemical Assays (9.39%)
Chemistry (11.06%)
Biochemistry (10.61%)
Clinical Trials (10.81%)
Cell Cultures (10.08%)
Biology (28.72%)
Python (Programming Language) (6.67%)
Data Entry (14.74%)
Computer Science (6.79%)
Data Management (8.96%)
Data Analysis (23.23%)
Research Methodologies (7%)
Project Management (7.59%)
Research Experiences (15.02%)
Social Sciences (7.7%)
Psychology (10.2%)
Institutional Review Board (IRB) (9.67%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Genotyping (4.19%)
Western Blot (4.89%)
Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) (3.94%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Literature Reviews (100%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Research Assistant skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Research Assistant Professor
Student Research Assistant
Graduate Research Assistant
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Research Laboratory Assistant
Library Research Assistant
Biology Research Assistant
Neuroscience Research Assistant
High Performance Computing Engineer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Research Assistant jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Pennsylvania State University (858)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (601)
University of California (361)
Mass General Brigham (339)
UT Health (263)
University of Pennsylvania (262)
The University of Texas System (236)
University of Colorado (203)
University of Kansas (202)
University of Chicago (195)

North Carolina

University of North Carolina (106)
North Carolina State University (76)
East Carolina University (52)
North Carolina State Of (35)
Duke University (22)
Wake Forest University (14)
Western Carolina University (12)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (10)
American Institutes For Research (9)
Wake Forest Baptist Health (8)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Science and Research