Explore Jobs
Find Specific Jobs
Explore Careers
Explore Professions
Best Companies
Explore Companies
The differences between pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a pharmacist has an average salary of $118,968, which is higher than the $79,535 average annual salary of a pharmaceutical scientist.
The top three skills for a pharmaceutical scientist include dosage forms, pharmaceutical sciences and formulation development. The most important skills for a pharmacist are patients, customer service, and employee development.
| Pharmaceutical Scientist | Pharmacist | |
| Yearly Salary | $79,535 | $118,968 |
| Hourly rate | $38.24 | $57.20 |
| Growth Rate | 17% | 2% |
| Number Of Jobs | 45,560 | 50,943 |
| Job Satisfaction | - | 3.67 |
| Most Common Degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Average Age | 41 | 42 |
| Years Of Experience | 4 | - |
Pharmaceutical scientists must have master's degrees or doctorates in pharmacology, chemistry, biology, anatomy, or math. Paid around $86K per year, those who choose this career path perform drug discovery research, development, and testing. They also execute experiments for system-based research projects aimed at introducing new drugs to the marketplace.
Pharmacists are medical experts who distribute prescribed medications and immunizations to individuals. They are responsible for ensuring the quality of medicines supplied to patients, which should be within the law and prescribing only what is suitable to the condition of the user and provide proper knowledge on how to take them and possible reactions or side effects that may occur. Pharmacists could work in all environments where medications are used, or medication therapy is appraised as part of patients' care plan but most commonly in hospitals, community-based setting, and health systems.
Pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Pharmaceutical Scientist | Pharmacist | |
| Average Salary | $79,535 | $118,968 |
| Salary Range | Between $55,000 And $115,000 | Between $93,000 And $151,000 |
| Highest Paying City | South San Francisco, CA | Sacramento, CA |
| Highest Paying State | California | California |
| Best Paying Company | BASi | Safeway |
| Best Paying Industry | Pharmaceutical | Retail |
There are a few differences between a pharmaceutical scientist and a pharmacist in terms of educational background:
| Pharmaceutical Scientist | Pharmacist | |
| Most Common Degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Most Common Major | Pharmacy | Pharmacy |
| Most Common College | Duke University | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor |
Here are the differences between pharmaceutical scientists' and pharmacists' demographics:
| Pharmaceutical Scientist | Pharmacist | |
| Average Age | 41 | 42 |
| Gender Ratio | Male, 63.0% Female, 37.0% | Male, 43.2% Female, 56.8% |
| Race Ratio | Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 7.0% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 5.6% Asian, 20.9% White, 62.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 11% |