Also called: Tax Model Economist, Distributional Analyst
Builds computer models that run a proposed tax change on millions of sample households to show who wins and who pays more.
Modelers maintain huge programs that mimic the whole tax system, using anonymized tax returns and survey data. When a politician proposes a new credit, they code it in, run it, and produce tables showing effects by income level. Much of the day is coding, checking results, and writing careful explanations.
Government and think-tank pay. Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 7 years after high school. Master's or PhD in economics, plus strong programming.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Economics, Statistics, Computer Science, Public Policy.
Growing about average. Small specialty at a handful of agencies and think tanks (approx.).
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI helps write and check code; modeling judgment and explaining results stay human.
Classes: AP Calculus, AP Computer Science, Economics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-3011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.