Graduates · Ontario · 2021 Census
What can you do with a mathematics and statistics degree?
What graduates actually work as, from Statistics Canada, beside what Job Bank says about each job: openings, pay, and what it takes.
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What can you do with a mathematics and statistics degree in Ontario?
In the 2021 Census, the most common jobs among employed Ontarians aged 25 to 34 with a bachelor's degree or higher in mathematics and statistics were mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries (7.9%), post-secondary teaching and research assistants (6.3%) and financial and investment analysts (5.4%). The 12 most common jobs cover only 46.3% of graduates, so mathematics and statistics leads to a wide spread of work rather than one career.
What graduates really do
What jobs do mathematics and statistics graduates in Ontario actually have?
Ontario is published for the mathematics and statistics group, so the lead table is Ontario graduates aged 25 to 34.
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries | 7.9% | 755 | Moderate | $51.28/hr |
| Post-secondary teaching and research assistants | 6.3% | 605 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Financial and investment analysts | 5.4% | 515 | Limited | $43.27/hr |
| Data scientistsOur guide | 4.9% | 475 | Limited | $47.69/hr |
| Secondary school teachersOur guide | 3.7% | 355 | Moderate | $48.08/hr |
| Economists and economic policy researchers and analysts | 3.1% | 300 | Limited | $51.28/hr |
| Software developers and programmers | 3% | 290 | Limited | $48.08/hr |
| Software engineers and designersOur guide | 2.6% | 250 | Very limited | $56.73/hr |
| University professors and lecturers | 2.6% | 250 | Moderate | $64.10/hr |
| Banking, credit and other investment managers | 2.3% | 225 | Moderate | $58.97/hr |
| Financial auditors and accountantsOur guide | 2.3% | 220 | Moderate | $40.87/hr |
| Professional occupations in business management consulting | 2.2% | 215 | Moderate | $44.94/hr |
How does it look for other groups?
These are different groups of people, shown separately on purpose: a different place, age group or level of education. Do not read them as one comparison.
| Job | Share of graduates | People | Job Bank outlook | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secondary school teachersOur guide | 6.6% | 1,890 | Moderate | $48.08/hr |
| Financial auditors and accountantsOur guide | 4.2% | 1,205 | Moderate | $40.87/hr |
| Information systems specialists | 4.2% | 1,195 | Moderate | $47.00/hr |
| Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries | 3.6% | 1,025 | Moderate | $51.28/hr |
| Software developers and programmers | 3.1% | 875 | Limited | $48.08/hr |
| Computer and information systems managers | 3.1% | 870 | Limited | $66.67/hr |
| Seniors managers - public and private sector | 2.5% | 715 | No Job Bank outlook | — |
| Software engineers and designersOur guide | 2.5% | 715 | Very limited | $56.73/hr |
| Financial advisorsOur guide | 2% | 560 | Moderate | $36.06/hr |
| Financial and investment analysts | 1.9% | 550 | Limited | $43.27/hr |
| Retail and wholesale trade managers | 1.9% | 550 | Moderate | $43.27/hr |
| Professional occupations in business management consulting | 1.9% | 530 | Moderate | $44.94/hr |
Do those jobs have openings?
Which of those jobs are hiring?
None of the 12 most common jobs for these graduates has a good or very good Ontario outlook from Job Bank for 2025 to 2027; the best-rated are listed below. That means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hired. Outlook is a province-wide forecast of openings against job seekers, not a promise for any one town or employer.
- Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries: Job Bank outlook moderate, 7.9% of these graduates.
- Secondary school teachers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 3.7% of these graduates.
- University professors and lecturers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 2.6% of these graduates.
- Banking, credit and other investment managers: Job Bank outlook moderate, 2.3% of these graduates.
- Financial auditors and accountants: Job Bank outlook moderate, 2.3% of these graduates.
- Professional occupations in business management consulting: Job Bank outlook moderate, 2.2% of these graduates.
When the degree is not enough
What does the degree not lead to on its own?
A mathematics or statistics degree is not a licence, and no regulator controls most of the jobs it leads to. Employers look at your analytical skills and whatever you can show you have done with them.
Teaching builds on the degree and needs the teacher education program and certification. Added programming or data skills, from a college certificate or on the job, often help for analyst and data roles.
Routes that need more than the degree
Become an Ontario certified teacher
The Ontario College of Teachers describes a consecutive program as a four-semester program leading to a Bachelor of Education, open to students who have completed an undergraduate degree. Its becoming-a-teacher page lists a postsecondary degree of at least three years plus a four-semester teacher education program, then an application to the College for certification. Ontario College of Teachers: teacher education program providersAdd a college graduate certificate
Ontario Colleges states that graduate certificates require a university degree or a college certificate or diploma for admission, and build on knowledge and experience from earlier postsecondary study. Check each program on ontariocolleges.ca for its own entry requirements. Ontario Colleges: program types
Jobs to look at
Careers worth a closer look
Full guides: what the work is really like, who hates it, what it pays, and the route in.
- Data scientistTurning messy records into an answer somebody can act on, then explaining honestly how sure you are.Career guide
- Software developerWriting and fixing the instructions behind an app or a system, mostly by reading other people's code and working out why it is wrong.Career guide
- TeacherGetting thirty people who did not choose to be there to learn something, five times a day, and marking it afterwards.Career guide
- AccountantMaking sure a business's numbers are true, explaining what they mean, and being the person who notices the thing that does not add up.Career guide
- Financial advisorHelping people decide what to do with their money over decades, while holding a licence that says you are allowed to recommend products.Career guide
- Insurance agentHelping people and businesses work out what could go wrong and what it would cost, then selling them protection against it.Career guide
Read this before you rely on it
What the numbers do not show
- The Census is from 2021. Jobs and hiring have moved since. Job Bank's outlook is current to 2025 to 2027.
- It counts employed people and what they do, not whether they wanted that job or use their degree in it. A graduate working as a retail supervisor is counted in the data exactly like one working in their field.
- It is a 25% sample, and Statistics Canada rounds every count to a multiple of five. Small groups are noisy.
- For Ontario the Census publishes bachelor's degree or higher together, so those tables include master's and doctoral graduates.
- Each person is counted once, by their highest credential. A person who finished a diploma and then a degree appears under the degree, not the diploma.
- The 12 jobs shown are the most common, not all of them. The rest of the graduates are spread across hundreds of other jobs.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, tables 98-10-0447-01 and 98-10-0403-01; Job Bank (Employment and Social Development Canada) Ontario outlooks and wages, linked on each job. We join them by occupation code and change neither.
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