Postdoctoral Scholar Salary

Q: How much does a Postdoctoral Scholar make?

Postdoctoral scholars make $52,113 per year on average, or $25.05 per hour, in the United States. Postdoctoral scholars on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $37,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $71,000. Location impacts how much a postdoctoral scholar can expect to make. Postdoctoral scholars make the most in New Jersey, California, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Tennessee.

Updated July 11, 2022

Average Postdoctoral Scholar Salary

$52,113 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

$25.05 hourly

Entry level Salary

$37,000 yearly

$37,000

10 %

$52,113

Median

$71,000

90 %

How much does a Postdoctoral Scholar make?

Postdoctoral scholars make $52,113 per year on average, or $25.05 per hour, in the United States. Postdoctoral scholars on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $37,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $71,000.

Location impacts how much a postdoctoral scholar can expect to make. Postdoctoral scholars make the most in New Jersey, California, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Tennessee.

Highest Paying States For Postdoctoral Scholars

The darker areas on the map show where postdoctoral scholars earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Postdoctoral Scholar average salary by State

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Count
1	New Jersey	$68,159	$32.77	873
2	California	$67,665	$32.53	2,949
3	Delaware	$61,992	$29.80	97
4	Rhode Island	$62,473	$30.04	61
5	Connecticut	$62,966	$30.27	200
6	Tennessee	$62,650	$30.12	247
7	Minnesota	$60,787	$29.22	322
8	Maine	$57,980	$27.88	71
9	Pennsylvania	$56,059	$26.95	775
10	New York	$58,087	$27.93	1,191
11	Indiana	$58,215	$27.99	259
12	Maryland	$57,168	$27.48	630
13	Massachusetts	$53,187	$25.57	1,792
14	Arizona	$60,200	$28.94	125
15	Illinois	$54,982	$26.43	547
16	Wisconsin	$51,932	$24.97	293
17	Montana	$53,475	$25.71	51
18	Colorado	$54,095	$26.01	266
19	Oklahoma	$56,202	$27.02	52
20	Hawaii	$64,263	$30.90	22
21	North Carolina	$49,849	$23.97	547
22	Wyoming	$51,568	$24.79	25
23	Nevada	$56,250	$27.04	42
24	Michigan	$51,052	$24.54	289
25	District of Columbia	$51,041	$24.54	125
26	Washington	$47,666	$22.92	690
27	Arkansas	$50,897	$24.47	63
28	Oregon	$48,331	$23.24	355
29	Missouri	$46,363	$22.29	408
30	New Hampshire	$47,635	$22.90	85
31	Ohio	$48,129	$23.14	376
32	New Mexico	$46,313	$22.27	102
33	Virginia	$50,249	$24.16	392
34	Nebraska	$46,062	$22.15	99
35	Kansas	$46,071	$22.15	89
36	South Dakota	$45,451	$21.85	31
37	Kentucky	$46,834	$22.52	95
38	Idaho	$44,939	$21.61	64
39	Iowa	$42,857	$20.60	149
40	West Virginia	$42,306	$20.34	48
41	Vermont	$41,460	$19.93	37
42	Texas	$43,279	$20.81	756
43	Alaska	$39,631	$19.05	27
44	North Dakota	$37,561	$18.06	39
45	Florida	$43,560	$20.94	362
46	Alabama	$41,823	$20.11	81
47	Louisiana	$40,035	$19.25	87
48	Mississippi	$40,292	$19.37	50
49	Utah	$38,222	$18.38	110
50	South Carolina	$38,411	$18.47	95
51	Georgia	$36,601	$17.60	252

Highest Paying Cities For Postdoctoral Scholars

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Santa Cruz, CA	$71,082	$34.17
2	Tempe, AZ	$60,183	$28.93
3	New York, NY	$58,680	$28.21
4	Reno, NV	$58,401	$28.08
5	Chicago, IL	$55,113	$26.50
6	Pittsburgh, PA	$54,538	$26.22
7	Boulder, CO	$53,840	$25.88
8	Boston, MA	$53,086	$25.52
9	Greenville, NC	$51,120	$24.58
10	Eugene, OR	$49,937	$24.01
11	Cleveland, OH	$48,973	$23.54
12	Seattle, WA	$47,823	$22.99
13	Albuquerque, NM	$46,356	$22.29
14	Tampa, FL	$43,903	$21.11
15	Iowa City, IA	$43,131	$20.74

Postdoctoral Scholar Salary Details

What is a Postdoctoral Scholar's Salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$71,000	$5,917	$34
75th Percentile	$61,000	$5,083	$29
Average	$52,113	$4,343	$25
25th Percentile	$44,000	$3,667	$21
10th Percentile	$37,000	$3,083	$18

Average Salary By Related Titles

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Research Chemist	$78,999	$6,583	$37.98	53,769
Research And Development Chemist	$73,381	$6,115	$35.28	100,225
Quality Control Analyst	$51,248	$4,271	$24.64	85,546
Quality Control Chemist	$56,317	$4,693	$27.08	90,467
Chemist	$58,294	$4,858	$28.03	20,221
Graduate Research Student	$36,586	$3,049	$17.59	58,921

Here are the five companies hiring the most now:

Which Companies Pay Postdoctoral Scholars The Most?

The highest paying companies for postdoctoral scholars are Microsoft and Google according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, companies like Amd and Los Alamos National Laboratory report highly competitive wages for postdoctoral scholars.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	Microsoft	$145,471	$69.94	36
2	Google	$141,794	$68.17	136
3	Amd	$94,217	$45.30
4	Los Alamos National Laboratory	$81,109	$38.99	100
5	Oak Ridge National Laboratory	$80,732	$38.81
6	Sandia National Labs	$80,151	$38.53	75
7	Argonne National Laboratory	$77,043	$37.04	57
8	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	$71,013	$34.14
9	Stanford University	$70,503	$33.90	32
10	Bayer	$67,771	$32.58	18
11	The University of Chicago	$64,438	$30.98
12	Novartis	$63,913	$30.73	56
13	Western Digital	$63,464	$30.51	2
14	UC Santa Barbara	$63,116	$30.34	3
15	Univ Of Colorado-Colorado Spgs	$61,985	$29.80	141
16	Nationwide Children's Hospital	$61,671	$29.65	54
17	University of California, Berkeley	$61,132	$29.39	23
18	Sephora	$60,994	$29.32	1
19	Miriam Hospital	$60,529	$29.10	9
20	Arizona State University	$60,364	$29.02	4

Postdoctoral Scholar Salary Trends

The salary for a postdoctoral scholar can vary depending on the years of experience that a person has, from entry level to senior level. Data on how experience level affects total compensation is provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as part of their National Compensation Survey, which is based on factors such as knowledge, complexity, contacts, and environment.

Average Postdoctoral Scholar Salary Over Time

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

Postdoctoral Scholar Salary By Year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2022	$52,100	$25.05	+3.0%
2021	$50,600	$24.31	+4.5%
2020	$48,300	$23.22	+3.2%
2019	$46,700	$22.48	+1.9%
2018	$45,900	$22.05	-2.1%

Recently Added Postdoctoral Scholar Salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
Accu-Mold	Accumold Scholar	Ankeny, IA	05/31/2022	$31,305
University of Kentucky	Post Doctoral Scholar	Lexington, KY	05/29/2022	$50,000
University of Pennsylvania	Measey Surgical Scholar (Surgery Dept.)	Philadelphia, PA	05/23/2022	$35,568
Northern Arizona University	Postdoctoral Scholar-Ethics & Leadership	Flagstaff, AZ	05/12/2022	$41,084
Uc San Diego	Postdoctoral Scholars	San Diego, CA	05/09/2022	$53,760
BMW Group	2022 BMW Fast Track Scholars	Spartanburg, SC	05/09/2022	$37,566
Johns Hopkins University	Johns Hopkins Neuroscience Scholar	Baltimore, MD	05/08/2022	$31,305
University of Nevada, Reno	Postdoctoral Scholar, Nres	Reno, NV	05/08/2022	$53,000
Teaneck School District	Hawthorne Scholars Summer Program 2022	Teaneck, NJ	05/07/2022	$104,350
California Museum-Photography	Postdoctoral Position In The Interfacial Science Laboratory	Riverside, CA	05/07/2022	$54,540

Postdoctoral Scholar Salaries FAQs

What state pays Postdoctoral Scholars the most?

New Jersey pays Postdoctoral Scholars the most in the United States, with an average salary of $68,159 per year, or $32.77 per hour.

How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a Postdoctoral Scholar?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a Postdoctoral Scholar 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 $67,665 per year.

What type of Postdoctoral Scholar gets paid the most?

Research Scientist gets paid the most. Research Scientist made a median salary of $84,125. The best-paid 10 percent make $107,000, while the lowest-paid 10 percent make $65,000.

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

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