Assistant Research Scientist Salary

Q: How much does an Assistant Research Scientist make?

Assistant research scientists make $58,486 per year on average, or $28.12 per hour, in the United States. Assistant research scientists on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $42,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $80,000. Location impacts how much an assistant research scientist can expect to make. Assistant research scientists make the most in California, Oregon, Delaware, Illinois, and Alaska.

Updated July 11, 2022

Average Assistant Research Scientist Salary

$58,486 yearly
To create our salary estimates, Zippia starts with data published in publicly available sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (FLC) Show More

$28.12 hourly

Entry level Salary

$42,000 yearly

$42,000

10 %

$58,486

Median

$80,000

90 %

How much does an Assistant Research Scientist make?

Assistant research scientists make $58,486 per year on average, or $28.12 per hour, in the United States. Assistant research scientists on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $42,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $80,000.

Location impacts how much an assistant research scientist can expect to make. Assistant research scientists make the most in California, Oregon, Delaware, Illinois, and Alaska.

Highest Paying States For Assistant Research Scientists

The darker areas on the map show where assistant research scientists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Assistant Research Scientist average salary by State

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Count
1	Oregon	$74,310	$35.73	813
2	Delaware	$70,746	$34.01	214
3	District of Columbia	$81,930	$39.39	250
4	Illinois	$69,504	$33.42	1,612
5	California	$78,680	$37.83	3,655
6	Alaska	$69,489	$33.41	143
7	Maryland	$67,884	$32.64	1,493
8	New Jersey	$67,988	$32.69	1,422
9	West Virginia	$67,387	$32.40	160
10	Nevada	$68,969	$33.16	165
11	North Carolina	$64,665	$31.09	1,292
12	Georgia	$67,412	$32.41	929
13	New Mexico	$62,622	$30.11	299
14	Kentucky	$67,684	$32.54	262
15	Rhode Island	$63,181	$30.38	197
16	Ohio	$64,510	$31.01	1,021
17	Louisiana	$66,080	$31.77	239
18	Idaho	$64,517	$31.02	190
19	Washington	$62,882	$30.23	1,188
20	Massachusetts	$62,412	$30.01	2,714
21	Utah	$59,910	$28.80	436
22	Colorado	$60,453	$29.06	1,027
23	Wyoming	$58,757	$28.25	91
24	Mississippi	$62,553	$30.07	144
25	Virginia	$59,974	$28.83	1,665
26	Missouri	$60,759	$29.21	713
27	Pennsylvania	$57,663	$27.72	1,854
28	Minnesota	$60,561	$29.12	832
29	Arizona	$61,083	$29.37	684
30	Indiana	$61,269	$29.46	490
31	South Carolina	$61,486	$29.56	342
32	Florida	$62,047	$29.83	1,650
33	Connecticut	$57,160	$27.48	529
34	New Hampshire	$56,423	$27.13	273
35	Tennessee	$56,571	$27.20	638
36	Michigan	$56,778	$27.30	874
37	South Dakota	$51,818	$24.91	174
38	New York	$53,951	$25.94	2,653
39	Arkansas	$57,717	$27.75	181
40	Wisconsin	$55,046	$26.46	677
41	Nebraska	$55,512	$26.69	264
42	Montana	$54,466	$26.19	149
43	Hawaii	$55,153	$26.52	113
44	Vermont	$39,376	$18.93	143
45	North Dakota	$49,647	$23.87	116
46	Iowa	$51,383	$24.70	306
47	Texas	$48,122	$23.14	2,244
48	Kansas	$49,630	$23.86	273
49	Maine	$47,102	$22.65	160
50	Alabama	$49,719	$23.90	273
51	Oklahoma	$46,891	$22.54	249

Highest Paying Cities For Assistant Research Scientists

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	San Francisco, CA	$82,523	$39.67
2	Chicago, IL	$69,633	$33.48
3	New Brunswick, NJ	$68,300	$32.84
4	College Park, MD	$68,233	$32.80
5	Atlanta, GA	$67,558	$32.48
6	Gainesville, FL	$63,884	$30.71
7	Albuquerque, NM	$62,534	$30.06
8	Boston, MA	$62,211	$29.91
9	Bloomington, IN	$61,526	$29.58
10	Tempe, AZ	$61,085	$29.37
11	Richmond, VA	$60,182	$28.93
12	Laramie, WY	$59,036	$28.38
13	West Haven, CT	$57,631	$27.71
14	Ann Arbor, MI	$57,556	$27.67
15	Madison, WI	$55,568	$26.72

Assistant Research Scientist Salary Details

What is an Assistant Research Scientist's Salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$80,000	$6,667	$38
75th Percentile	$69,000	$5,750	$33
Average	$58,486	$4,874	$28
25th Percentile	$49,000	$4,083	$24
10th Percentile	$42,000	$3,500	$20

Average Salary By Related Titles

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Research Fellow	$52,724	$4,394	$25.35	59,746
Scientist	$94,940	$7,912	$45.64	62,467
Research Internship	$34,445	$2,870	$16.56	95,123
Staff Scientist	$84,998	$7,083	$40.86	121,054
Graduate Research Student	$36,586	$3,049	$17.59	58,921
Research Scientist	$84,125	$7,010	$40.44	93,013

Here are the five companies hiring the most now:

Which Companies Pay Assistant Research Scientists The Most?

The highest paying companies for assistant research scientists are University of California, Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, companies like UW-Milwaukee and Johnson & Johnson report highly competitive wages for assistant research scientists.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	University of California, Berkeley	$78,939	$37.95	586
2	UC Santa Barbara	$78,265	$37.63	12
3	UW-Milwaukee	$74,076	$35.61	6
4	Johnson & Johnson	$73,902	$35.53	504
5	University of California	$73,505	$35.34
6	University of Illinois Springfield	$73,416	$35.30	1
7	Arizona State University	$73,041	$35.12	12
8	University of Michigan	$68,522	$32.94	190
9	Yale University	$66,144	$31.80	93
10	University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science	$66,092	$31.77	157
11	University	$65,582	$31.53	33
12	University of Wisconsin System	$65,570	$31.52	44
13	Michigan Technological University	$64,562	$31.04	17
14	BD	$64,328	$30.93	61
15	My Florida Regional Mls	$64,051	$30.79	31
16	University of Rhode Island	$63,900	$30.72	2
17	APi Group	$63,052	$30.31
18	Texas A&m University At Galveston	$62,316	$29.96
19	The Research Corporation of the University of Hawai'i	$61,777	$29.70
20	The University of Alabama	$61,368	$29.50

Assistant Research Scientist Salary Trends

Average Assistant Research Scientist Salary Over Time

Compare salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Assistant Research Scientist Salary By Year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2022	$58,500	$28.12	+3.5%
2021	$56,500	$27.15	+1.8%
2020	$55,400	$26.65	+1.4%
2019	$54,700	$26.28	+6.1%
2018	$51,300	$24.68	+1.6%

Recently Added Assistant Research Scientist Salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
University of Florida	Research Assistant Scientist (Neuroscience)	Gainesville, FL	05/18/2022	$53,000
New York State Civil Service	Assistant Research Scientist/Research Scientist 1 or Research Scientist 2 (Biostatistics)or (Health	Albany, NY	05/18/2022	$49,202
International Association for Great Lakes Research	Assistant Research Scientist: Large River Ecology	Havana, IL	05/18/2022	$47,500
Miami University	Assistant Research Scientist	Oxford, OH	04/19/2022	$80,000
Health Research, Inc.	Assistant Research Scientist (Nysphc Fellowship Program)	Albany, NY	04/12/2022	$47,885
Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station	Assistant Research Scientist	College Station, TX	03/23/2022	$62,000
University of Michigan	Assistant Research Scientist/Leo Adjunct Lecturer	Ann Arbor, MI	03/23/2022	$103,500
The University of Georgia	Assistant Research Scientist	Athens, GA	03/22/2022	$57,600
University of California, San Francisco	Assistant Researcher	San Francisco, CA	03/18/2022	$80,800
University of California, San Francisco	Assistant Researcher	San Francisco, CA	03/16/2022	$80,800

Assistant Research Scientist Salaries FAQs

What state pays Assistant Research Scientists the most?

California pays Assistant Research Scientists the most in the United States, with an average salary of $81,930 per year, or $39.39 per hour.

How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as an Assistant Research Scientist?

You know if you are being paid fairly as an Assistant Research Scientist if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in California you should be paid close to $78,680 per year.

What type of Assistant Research Scientist gets paid the most?

Scientist gets paid the most. Scientist made a median salary of $94,940. The best-paid 10 percent make $114,000, while the lowest-paid 10 percent make $78,000.

Have more questions? See all answers to common life, physical, and social science questions.

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