{"id":276760,"date":"2025-10-09T10:52:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?post_type=short-read&p=276760"},"modified":"2025-10-09T10:52:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:52:44","slug":"which-jobs-do-americans-most-associate-with-science","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/10\/09\/which-jobs-do-americans-most-associate-with-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Which jobs do Americans most associate with science?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
A worker harvests greenhouse cherry tomatoes. A scientist prepares a DNA lab sample. An electrical worker repairs a high voltage power line. (Center: John Tlumacki\/The Boston Globe; others, Jim West\/UCG\/Universal Images Group; all via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The image of a scientist in a white lab coat<\/a> is a common stereotype. But from agriculture to auto repair, Americans say a wide variety of other jobs also rely on at least some science knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a recent Pew Research Center survey, we asked U.S. adults how much they think people in 12 diverse occupations rely on an understanding of science to do their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans most closely associate biologists <\/strong>and engineers <\/strong>with science: 86% and 76% of adults, respectively, say these professionals rely a lot on an understanding of science to do their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Americans also see two occupations in health care \u2013 registered nurses <\/strong>and paramedics <\/strong>\u2013 as needing to understand science a lot to do their jobs. About seven-in-ten (69%) say this about nurses and paramedics alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we did this<\/summary>\n

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand what occupations Americans most associate with science. For this analysis, we surveyed 5,085 U.S. adults from April 28 to May 4, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Interviews were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP\u2019s methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the\u00a0questions used for this analysis<\/a>, the\u00a0topline<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0survey methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Smaller majorities of Americans also say two other jobs we asked about require a lot of scientific understanding:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n