Research Summary. After extensive research by the Zippia data science team, we identified these details of researcher salary by state for the United States:
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Connecticut has the highest researcher salary of $101,894
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North Dakota has the lowest researcher salary of $33,004
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The national average salary for researchers is $67,145
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The national hourly pay for researchers is $32.28
You can read more on the specific methodology.
Background
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 researchers 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 researcher 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.
The state with the best salary for researchers after this adjustment? That would be Connecticut.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for researcher salaries:
Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.
Highest-Paid Researchers By State
| Rank | State | Average Researcher Salary | 10th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecticut | $101,894 | $56,000 | $183,000 |
| 2 | New Jersey | $98,688 | $54,000 | $178,000 |
| 3 | New Hampshire | $93,502 | $50,000 | $171,000 |
| 4 | Rhode Island | $86,267 | $46,000 | $159,000 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | $84,820 | $45,000 | $157,000 |
| 6 | California | $84,744 | $46,000 | $153,000 |
| 7 | Indiana | $82,021 | $46,000 | $145,000 |
| 8 | New York | $76,045 | $40,000 | $143,000 |
| 9 | Hawaii | $75,092 | $62,000 | $90,000 |
| 10 | Delaware | $74,962 | $39,000 | $141,000 |
| 11 | Maine | $74,868 | $39,000 | $142,000 |
| 12 | Arizona | $72,481 | $39,000 | $131,000 |
| 13 | Oregon | $71,913 | $39,000 | $130,000 |
| 14 | Maryland | $71,886 | $38,000 | $134,000 |
| 15 | Idaho | $69,784 | $39,000 | $123,000 |
| 16 | Vermont | $69,680 | $36,000 | $132,000 |
| 17 | Nevada | $68,697 | $37,000 | $127,000 |
| 18 | Washington | $67,105 | $37,000 | $120,000 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | $65,976 | $34,000 | $124,000 |
| 20 | Michigan | $65,970 | $36,000 | $119,000 |
| 21 | Illinois | $60,055 | $34,000 | $104,000 |
| 22 | Virginia | $58,920 | $31,000 | $109,000 |
| 23 | Arkansas | $57,518 | $32,000 | $101,000 |
| 24 | Ohio | $57,287 | $31,000 | $104,000 |
| 25 | Tennessee | $56,328 | $31,000 | $100,000 |
| 26 | Oklahoma | $55,691 | $31,000 | $98,000 |
| 27 | Alaska | $51,746 | $31,000 | $86,000 |
| 28 | Minnesota | $49,662 | $30,000 | $81,000 |
| 29 | Montana | $49,577 | $30,000 | $80,000 |
| 30 | New Mexico | $49,537 | $27,000 | $89,000 |
| 31 | Wisconsin | $49,460 | $28,000 | $85,000 |
| 32 | North Carolina | $48,939 | $26,000 | $89,000 |
| 33 | Georgia | $48,643 | $27,000 | $87,000 |
| 34 | Colorado | $48,581 | $28,000 | $83,000 |
| 35 | Florida | $45,782 | $24,000 | $84,000 |
| 36 | Wyoming | $45,681 | $27,000 | $77,000 |
| 37 | Texas | $45,518 | $24,000 | $83,000 |
| 38 | West Virginia | $45,075 | $24,000 | $82,000 |
| 39 | Kansas | $44,113 | $25,000 | $76,000 |
| 40 | Kentucky | $42,091 | $23,000 | $74,000 |
| 41 | Missouri | $40,424 | $23,000 | $70,000 |
| 42 | South Dakota | $38,981 | $23,000 | $64,000 |
| 43 | Alabama | $38,724 | $21,000 | $69,000 |
| 44 | Louisiana | $37,933 | $20,000 | $69,000 |
| 45 | Utah | $37,744 | $21,000 | $66,000 |
| 46 | South Carolina | $36,723 | $20,000 | $66,000 |
| 47 | Nebraska | $35,913 | $21,000 | $61,000 |
| 48 | Mississippi | $35,166 | $19,000 | $63,000 |
| 49 | Iowa | $33,977 | $19,000 | $57,000 |
| 50 | North Dakota | $33,004 | $21,000 | $51,000 |
Methodology: Researcher Salary By State
To better understand researcher pay by state, Zippia has aggregated data across a multitude of channels including the BLS, FLC, and OPM. We then supplement that data with actual listed salaries from job posts. Finally, the data science team calculates a weighted average of these inputs to create an average pay for researchers by state.
We took the average annual salary data for researchers from these estimates and ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary ranking as highest average salary for researchers.
Researcher Salary By State FAQs
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What is the highest-paid state for researchers?
The highest-paid state for researchers is Connecticut with an average salary of $101,894 per year.
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What city pays researchers the most?
Newark, NJ pays researchers the most with an average salary of $100,676 per year.
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What is the worst state for researchers?
The worst state for researchers is North Dakota with an average salary of $33,004 per year.
Author
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.
