The Most Popular STEM Careers in 2025

Finding STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) jobs has always been seen as a reliable path to stable income. Many STEM jobs are high-earning, and they play vital practical roles in our day-to-day lives. From applied mathematics and computer science jobs to careers in medicine and even teaching, there are countless STEM career paths you can take.

But which path is going to be right for you? And how can you find the best paying STEM careers?

Data Science

It should come as no surprise to anyone that data science is probably the best paying STEM career available right now. Check just about any list of careers in mathematics or computer science, and some variation of data scientist/data analyst will appear.

It’s worth noting that these jobs aren’t as exclusive as you might think. If you have any science background, you’re probably qualified to find a job in data science with some minimal training. Many data science/analytics roles are really just looking for someone who is experienced at working with large data sets, which almost any science background will provide.

The wave of investment in AI companies is still going strong and looks set to do so for another couple of years. That said, there’s no telling how long the current excitement will last, so if this is a career you’re interested in, now’s the time to get on board.

Engineering

The best engineering jobs can be seriously high-paying, and even lower-paying roles are often fairly lucrative. Furthermore, while some roles will expect you to have specialised degrees, engineering is one of those fields you can come to from many directions, depending on what you’re doing.

It also helps that engineering is a ‘real world’ discipline – that is to say, one that absolutely couldn’t be replaced by an AI. Many people working in STEM are increasingly concerned that, despite having chosen what they felt was a safe and stable career path, AI has the potential to disrupt all that.

Engineering is, for the most part, safe from this disruption, though perhaps not as much as our next entry on the list.

Doctors & Nurses

In many ways, the opposite of engineering as far as transferable skills are concerned, if you want to be a doctor, then you’ll need specific, specialised qualifications as well as years of experience and training. The same can be true for nurses, although it is possible to become a nurse without majoring in nursing. 

Either way, going into medicine is as much a lifestyle as it is a job. You’ll spend many more years in some form of education, you’ll have to work unsociable hours, and even when you’re not working, you’ll often be on call. Put simply, it’s not the kind of job you should go into unless it’s something you really want for yourself.

With that in mind, it can also be one of the best STEM careers for those who love it. Not only is medicine incredibly fulfilling, it’s also well-paying for those who have the right experience and specialisation.

Teaching

This last one may be a controversial entry on the list, but we feel it warrants inclusion nonetheless. While teaching rarely gets ranked among the best paying STEM careers, it absolutely can be if you make the right choices and have a genuine passion for your subject. Furthermore, it’s in very high demand, particularly subjects like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The first choice you’ll have to make if you’re looking to teach is age group. Generally speaking, that’s a choice between high school and academia. Both can be well paying if you find the right institution, but you’ll generally find that high schools are a postcode lottery while academia is pure luck.

If you do choose to go the high school route, remember that you don’t have to work in state-funded schools. Private schools have just as much demand for teachers and are generally far more equipped to pay competitive salaries.

All of this to say that teaching has the potential to be one of the best paying STEM careers for you if you do your research, find the right institution, and are willing to move for work. This is particularly true for maths graduate jobs where finding a job outside of education/academia will almost always mean shifting away from your core discipline in some way, shape or form.