This page presents information
of the pay scales of US scientists. The data, which is collected
from salary.com, is summarized
and tabulated here. Comparisons with some other selected employment sectors
are provided at the bottom of this webpage.
The information
is current as of January, 2002.
Notably changes since our July, 2000 report are
summarized below.
Bookmark this page and
come back since the tables
will be periodically updated.
Summary
Employee Type
Median Salary
Experienced Physicist
$97,295
Experienced Geologist
$85,172
Experienced Astronomer
$79,214
Experienced Biologist
$72,676
Experienced Chemist
$70,123
Experienced Researcher
$69,884
Experienced Academic Researcher
$60,320
Experienced Biochemist
$50,964
Comments: Physicists are the best paid scientists by
a significant margin. The relatively high pay scale of astronomers is somewhat
surprising since there are no industrial jobs in astronomy. The salary figure for
geologists benefits from the petroleum industry. It is hard to understand
why biochemists are paid so poorly.
Comprensive Salary Table
Employee Type
25th Percentile Salary
Median Salary
75th Percentile Salary
Astronomer
$77,955
$79,214
$91,404
Biologist I
$37,197
$43,165
$49,578
Biologist II
$46,447
$51,487
$58,629
Biologist III
$64,661
$72,676
$86,027
Biochemist I
$40,061
$41,751
$48,802
Biochemist II
$42,888
$47,070
$51,524
Biochemist III
$47,087
$50,964
$57,679
Biophysicist
$42,771
$46,970
$54,410
Chemist I
$38,710
$42,293
$46,893
Chemist II
$47,616
$52,827
$59,262
Chemist III
$61,994
$70,123
$82,805
Clinical Researcher I
$35,482
$46,918
$49,072
Clinical Researcher II
$50,683
$59,323
$64,033
Clinical Researcher III
$63,302
$69,884
$76,682
Geologist I
$38,926
$42,630
$45,916
Geologist II
$51,957
$58,020
$63,610
Geologist III
$77,962
$85,172
$95,252
Physicist I
$48,798
$55,223
$64,918
Physicist II
$58,520
$62,558
$70,248
Physicist III
$87,758
$97,295
$103,599
Academic Researcher I
$38,532
$44,275
$46,001
Academic Researcher II
$47,366
$53,071
$58,766
Academic Researcher III
$51,653
$60,320
$69,862
Zoologist
$43,336
$52,912
$65,253
Notes: Tier I scientists have 0-2 years of experience; Tier II
scientists have 2-4 years; Tier III have 5 or more years of experience.
Pay Scales for Educators Across All Academic Subjects
Employee Type
25th Percentile Salary
Median Salary
75th Percentile Salary
High School Teacher
$34,822
$43,949
$51,623
Assistant Professor
$47,743
$58,432
$71,185
Associate Professor
$59,417
$72,309
$88,921
Full Professor
$76,466
$93,781
$115,200
Comments: The above data indicates that full professors
are as well paid as industrial scientists. High school salaries are low – an
indication that state and local governments do not put sufficient money into public
education. What is even worse is that the pay
for high school teachers
has hardly changed in a year and a half.
Salaries of Engineers in Scientifically Related Fields
Employee Type
25th Percentile Salary
Median Salary
75th Percentile Salary
Chemical Engineer I
$49,635
$53,300
$58,733
Chemical Engineer II
$60,394
$68,151
$76,148
Chemical Engineer III
$79,129
$88,325
$98,723
Electrical Engineer I
$46,341
$52,141
$57,309
Electrical Engineer II
$55,269
$59,849
$68,170
Electrical Engineer III
$70,251
$76,305
$84,574
Materials Engineer I
$41,072
$48,881
$50,178
Materials Engineer II
$51,901
$58,862
$64,565
Materials Engineer III
$57,208
$63,179
$68,190
Mechanical Engineer I
$43,009
$47,687
$51,578
Mechanical Engineer II
$53,961
$58,110
$64,368
Mechanical Engineer III
$62,049
$67,867
$75,106
Petroleum Engineer I
$39,121
$42,967
$45,934
Petroleum Engineer II
$55,130
$59,230
$70,968
Petroleum Engineer III
$78,729
$98,037
$99,967
Selected Salaries of Other Sectors for Comparative Purposes
Compared to July, 2000
(see the previous report), scientists
in general experienced small salary increases
matching the current (January, 2002) low inflation rate. Exceptions
are the following: Geologists' salaries jumped by about 10% while chemists' salaries
dropped by about 5%. Surprisingly,
chemical engineers witnessed good pay advances. Indeed, engineers as a group
faired well. Moderately sizeable salary increases (about 10%) occurred for
clinical researchers, tier I physicists, and tier I and II academic researchers.
This list was compiled by Jupiter Scientific,
an organization devoted to the promotion of
science through books, the internet
and other means of communication.
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