These Are The 10 States With The Highest Research Associate/Postdoctoral Research Fellow Salaries For 2017

Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do research associate/postdoctoral research fellows get paid where I live?

And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for research associate/postdoctoral research fellows by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.

To better understand how salaries change across America, we decided to take a look the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average pay for research associate/postdoctoral research fellows by state.

Additionally, we wanted to adjust the salary based on the cost of living in a state — because your salary goes further in North Carolina than it does in California.

The state with the best salary for research associate/postdoctoral research fellows after this adjustment? That would be Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for salaries:

Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.

If youâre interested, you can read more about the job scene here:

How we determined pay by state

As we mentioned earlier, we took the average annual salary data for research associate/postdoctoral research fellows from the 2016 Bureau of Labor Statistics — specifically their ‘Occupational Employment Statistics.’

To make the comparison of salaries apples to apples across states, we also took into account the cost of living in each state.

We then created an index by dividing the average wage for a state by the cost of living relative to average. As an example, the cost of living index in California is 135.9 and the average pay is $105310, so our index value would be:

$105,310 * (100 / 135.9) = $77,490

We then ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary index ranking as highest average salary for research associate/postdoctoral research fellows.

Here’s a look at the full ranking for all states.

Detailed List Of Research Associate/postdoctoral Research Fellow Salaries By State

Rank	State	Adjusted Salary	Average Wage	Cost Of Living
1	Arkansas	$132,169	$115,120	87.1
2	Delaware	$112,850	$114,430	101.4
3	North Carolina	$106,687	$100,180	93.9
4	New Jersey	$105,512	$128,620	121.9
5	Ohio	$102,718	$96,350	93.8
6	Kansas	$102,424	$92,080	89.9
7	Alabama	$97,763	$89,160	91.2
8	Pennsylvania	$95,936	$97,280	101.4
9	Maine	$94,268	$104,450	110.8
10	Tennessee	$93,154	$83,280	89.4
11	Oklahoma	$90,504	$80,730	89.2
12	Utah	$89,086	$82,850	93.0
13	Arizona	$88,102	$86,340	98.0
14	New Mexico	$87,025	$83,980	96.5
15	Texas	$86,063	$78,060	90.7
16	West Virginia	$86,038	$80,360	93.4
17	Maryland	$85,920	$107,830	125.5
18	Louisiana	$83,702	$79,350	94.8
19	South Carolina	$81,955	$81,300	99.2
20	Washington	$80,560	$84,750	105.2
21	California	$77,490	$105,310	135.9
22	Illinois	$77,420	$73,240	94.6
23	Montana	$77,380	$78,000	100.8
24	Florida	$76,866	$75,560	98.3
25	Colorado	$74,903	$77,750	103.8
26	New Hampshire	$74,589	$87,270	117.0
27	Michigan	$74,089	$65,940	89.0
28	Massachusetts	$70,907	$94,590	133.4
29	New York	$70,832	$92,790	131.0
30	Minnesota	$70,793	$71,360	100.8
31	Iowa	$70,362	$64,030	91.0
32	Wisconsin	$70,175	$67,930	96.8
33	South Dakota	$69,180	$71,740	103.7
34	Georgia	$69,157	$63,210	91.4
35	Idaho	$68,545	$63,130	92.1
36	Oregon	$66,565	$76,950	115.6
37	North Dakota	$66,277	$65,880	99.4
38	Missouri	$66,106	$59,760	90.4
39	Kentucky	$62,928	$56,950	90.5
40	Mississippi	$56,763	$48,760	85.9
41	Nebraska	$56,582	$51,830	91.6
42	Hawaii	$50,708	$85,140	167.9

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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