Guide · Data science
Data science in government
The federal job series for data scientists, how many people hold it, where they work, and the law behind it. Counted from OPM's workforce files.
A job series of its own
On 20 December 2021 the Office of Personnel Management released the final classification flysheet and qualification standard for the Data Science Series, 1560.[1] OPM tied the new series to the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018.[1] Before it, from June 2019, agencies could add "(Data Scientist)" to the title of a position in another series.[1]
How many
OPM's monthly workforce files show nobody in series 1560 in September 2020 or September 2021. The count reached 119 in September 2022, 1,130 in September 2024 and 1,245 in September 2025. The newest file, for August 2026, shows 1,216.[2]
| Snapshot | Data science (1560) | Statistics (1530) | Operations research (1515) | All employees in the file |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-09 | 0 | 3,386 | 5,502 | 2,181,106 |
| 2021-09 | 0 | 3,522 | 5,583 | 2,191,011 |
| 2022-09 | 119 | 3,587 | 5,542 | 2,180,296 |
| 2023-09 | 544 | 3,694 | 5,665 | 2,261,016 |
| 2024-09 | 1,130 | 3,855 | 5,870 | 2,313,216 |
| 2025-09 | 1,245 | 3,459 | 5,509 | 2,190,219 |
| 2026-08 | 1,216 | 2,980 | 4,887 | 2,024,832 |
The series count is not a count of everyone doing data science. Statisticians, operations researchers, computer scientists and analysts in other series do much of the same work. Between September 2025 and August 2026 the statistics series went from 3,459 to 2,980, and all civilian employees in the files from 2,190,219 to 2,024,832.[2]
Where they work
In August 2026, people in series 1560 worked in 39 departments and agencies. The largest groups were in Defense with 473, Health and Human Services with 135, Veterans Affairs with 106, Commerce with 63 and Homeland Security with 60.[2]
Data: series-1560-by-department-2026-08.csv
The law behind it
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act was approved on 14 January 2019.[4] It requires the head of each agency to designate a nonpolitical appointee as the agency's Chief Data Officer, and a senior employee as its Evaluation Officer.[4] Its Title II, the OPEN Government Data Act, defines an open government data asset as public data that is machine-readable and available in an open format.[4]
What the work asks for
OPM describes the series as work on "the methods, processes, algorithms, tools, and systems to extract and interpret findings" from structured and unstructured data, including visualizing the findings.[1] The primary requirement is professional knowledge of computer science and of mathematical and statistical theory.[1]
The earlier version of this site ran posts on the best programming language, the best Python library and NoSQL databases. The federal standard names knowledge, not products: a language is a tool for the knowledge the series asks for, and the choice usually follows the team and the data.
Counting caveats
OPM's files cover civilian employees of the executive branch, with exceptions that include the Postal Service, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.[3] Each snapshot is a head count for one month; people who joined and left between snapshots do not appear.
See also: AI in the public sector.
Sources
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Memorandum for Human Resources Directors: Position Classification Flysheet and Qualifications Standard for the Data Science Series, 1560, 20 December 2021. Read 28 October 2026.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Workforce Data, employment snapshot files for September 2020 to September 2025 (version 4 each) and August 2026 (version 1), from data.opm.gov/api/v1/files/employment, counted by this site. Read 28 October 2026.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Workforce Data, Data sources (employee coverage). Read 28 October 2026.
- Public Law 115-435, Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, approved 14 January 2019 (govinfo). Read 28 October 2026.
How this page was counted: rows of each OPM employment file whose occupational_series_code is 1560 (each row is one employee; the count column, stored as text, was cast to a number), read on 28 October 2026. The CSV files beside this page carry the counts, the file addresses and the read date.