At a federal or state statistical agency, university research operation, market-research firm, or specialty data operation, you support statistical work — preparing data for analysis, supporting senior statisticians and analysts, running structured calculations, and the operational support statistical operations require.
Statistical-assistant work sits in the support layer of statistical operations — preparing source data for analysis, supporting senior statisticians with data preparation and validation, running standard statistical calculations, supporting documentation work that research reports require, and the cross-functional coordination statistical work involves. The assistant works statistical software (SAS, R, SPSS, Stata, occasionally specialty platforms), the data infrastructure, and the workflow that statistical projects run on. Data-preparation accuracy, support quality, and project contribution are the operating measures.
Variance is real: at federal statistical agencies (BLS, Census, BEA, NCHS, NCES) the work supports specific federal statistical programs; at university research it integrates with academic research workflows; at market-research and specialty operations the focus narrows to industry-specific work. The technical-skill dimension matters — statistical-assistant roles increasingly require statistical-software fluency beyond what historical clerk roles required.
This role fits people who are analytically capable, comfortable with statistical-software platforms, and patient with the methodical work statistical operations involve. AAS or BS in statistics, mathematics, or related fields; statistical-software training; and ongoing CE anchor advancement. The trade-off is the support-tier visibility of assistant work in statistical operations and the modest pay typical of assistant positions, balanced against the path into analyst or specialist roles for people who develop the skills.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Admin & Office roles →At a federal or state statistical agency, university research operation, market-research firm, or specialty data operation, you support statistical work — preparing data for analysis, supporting senior statisticians and analysts, running structured calculations, and the operational support statistical operations require.
Median pay for a Statistical Assistant is about $51K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $38K to $79K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Active Learning, and Complex Problem Solving.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 2.5% through 2034, with roughly 5,900 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Statistical Analyst, Statistical Programmer, and Statistical Engineer.
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