Staff scientists make $84,998 per year on average, or $40.86 per hour, in the United States. Staff scientists on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $56,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $127,000.
Location impacts how much a staff scientist can expect to make. Staff scientists make the most in California, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and New Jersey.
The darker areas on the map show where staff scientists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Avg. Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Count |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | California | $111,047 | $53.39 | 7,585 |
2 | Rhode Island | $99,591 | $47.88 | 238 |
3 | Maine | $100,158 | $48.15 | 233 |
4 | Connecticut | $109,692 | $52.74 | 533 |
5 | Massachusetts | $93,976 | $45.18 | 3,377 |
6 | New Jersey | $95,796 | $46.06 | 1,970 |
7 | Maryland | $94,417 | $45.39 | 1,466 |
8 | Delaware | $90,881 | $43.69 | 217 |
9 | Oregon | $88,871 | $42.73 | 772 |
10 | Nevada | $89,295 | $42.93 | 317 |
11 | New York | $85,522 | $41.12 | 2,922 |
12 | Washington | $85,232 | $40.98 | 1,477 |
13 | Pennsylvania | $79,365 | $38.16 | 2,621 |
14 | Arizona | $86,831 | $41.75 | 768 |
15 | New Hampshire | $80,574 | $38.74 | 277 |
16 | Tennessee | $80,220 | $38.57 | 725 |
17 | Wisconsin | $80,913 | $38.90 | 711 |
18 | Minnesota | $81,239 | $39.06 | 983 |
19 | Montana | $75,922 | $36.50 | 191 |
20 | Virginia | $76,420 | $36.74 | 1,814 |
21 | Indiana | $80,874 | $38.88 | 757 |
22 | North Carolina | $75,571 | $36.33 | 1,567 |
23 | Hawaii | $86,213 | $41.45 | 134 |
24 | Michigan | $78,998 | $37.98 | 917 |
25 | Ohio | $75,689 | $36.39 | 1,352 |
26 | Vermont | $71,942 | $34.59 | 135 |
27 | Illinois | $71,336 | $34.30 | 2,149 |
28 | Utah | $68,742 | $33.05 | 525 |
29 | Idaho | $70,874 | $34.07 | 226 |
30 | District of Columbia | $73,022 | $35.11 | 300 |
31 | Wyoming | $63,258 | $30.41 | 81 |
32 | Alaska | $68,508 | $32.94 | 99 |
33 | Arkansas | $68,701 | $33.03 | 271 |
34 | Georgia | $66,335 | $31.89 | 1,238 |
35 | Colorado | $60,888 | $29.27 | 875 |
36 | Kentucky | $63,653 | $30.60 | 361 |
37 | Texas | $56,245 | $27.04 | 2,984 |
38 | Alabama | $59,036 | $28.38 | 514 |
39 | Kansas | $56,863 | $27.34 | 369 |
40 | West Virginia | $58,795 | $28.27 | 173 |
41 | Florida | $56,534 | $27.18 | 2,006 |
42 | New Mexico | $51,625 | $24.82 | 300 |
43 | Nebraska | $55,541 | $26.70 | 259 |
44 | Oklahoma | $57,320 | $27.56 | 248 |
45 | Mississippi | $57,040 | $27.42 | 155 |
46 | Missouri | $47,973 | $23.06 | 902 |
47 | Iowa | $52,946 | $25.45 | 406 |
48 | South Dakota | $50,438 | $24.25 | 126 |
49 | Louisiana | $48,363 | $23.25 | 410 |
50 | South Carolina | $47,772 | $22.97 | 514 |
51 | North Dakota | $49,020 | $23.57 | 101 |
Rank | City | Avg. Salary | Hourly Rate |
---|---|---|---|
1 | San Francisco, CA | $122,102 | $58.70 |
2 | Baltimore, MD | $94,961 | $45.65 |
3 | Framingham, MA | $94,064 | $45.22 |
4 | Wilmington, DE | $91,602 | $44.04 |
5 | Beaverton, OR | $87,886 | $42.25 |
6 | Phoenix, AZ | $87,271 | $41.96 |
7 | Rochester, NY | $86,937 | $41.80 |
8 | Seattle, WA | $86,793 | $41.73 |
9 | Memphis, TN | $80,189 | $38.55 |
10 | Philadelphia, PA | $79,392 | $38.17 |
11 | Madison, WI | $78,491 | $37.74 |
12 | Newport News, VA | $75,634 | $36.36 |
13 | Washington, DC | $73,047 | $35.12 |
14 | Chicago, IL | $72,137 | $34.68 |
15 | Oklahoma City, OK | $57,762 | $27.77 |
Percentile | Annual Salary | Monthly Salary | Hourly Rate |
---|---|---|---|
90th Percentile | $127,000 | $10,583 | $61 |
75th Percentile | $105,000 | $8,750 | $50 |
Average | $84,998 | $7,083 | $41 |
25th Percentile | $68,000 | $5,667 | $33 |
10th Percentile | $56,000 | $4,667 | $27 |
Job Title | Annual Salary | Monthly Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
Research Fellow | $52,724 | $4,394 | $25.35 | 59,746 |
Laboratory Analyst | $44,766 | $3,731 | $21.52 | 44,074 |
Research Technician | $41,218 | $3,435 | $19.82 | 64,786 |
Quality Control Analyst | $51,248 | $4,271 | $24.64 | 85,546 |
Microbiologist | $56,411 | $4,701 | $27.12 | 11,444 |
Chemist | $58,294 | $4,858 | $28.03 | 20,221 |
Here are the five companies hiring the most now:
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Occidental Petroleum | $160,657 | $77.24 | 9 |
2 | Etsy | $157,735 | $75.83 | |
3 | $150,839 | $72.52 | ||
4 | Los Alamos National Laboratory | $148,156 | $71.23 | 94 |
5 | Sandia National Labs | $147,212 | $70.78 | 50 |
6 | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | $146,677 | $70.52 | |
7 | Broadcom | $146,280 | $70.33 | 5 |
8 | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | $145,887 | $70.14 | 24 |
9 | Kopin | $140,914 | $67.75 | |
10 | Jefferson Lab | $139,769 | $67.20 | |
11 | Visa | $136,070 | $65.42 | 174 |
12 | 10x Genomics | $129,963 | $62.48 | |
13 | ConocoPhillips | $127,662 | $61.38 | 4 |
14 | Choate, Hall & Stewart | $125,768 | $60.47 | |
15 | Luxim | $125,630 | $60.40 | |
16 | Honeywell | $124,643 | $59.92 | 29 |
17 | venn | $123,470 | $59.36 | |
18 | Ashland | $122,314 | $58.80 | 12 |
19 | Integrated DNA Technologies | $121,238 | $58.29 | 46 |
20 | Raytheon Technologies | $119,811 | $57.60 | 47 |
Here are some examples of how much a staff scientist salaries can based on different industries:
The manufacturing industry pays staff scientists an average salary of $105,272
The pharmaceutical industry pay $99,161
The lowest paying industry for staff scientists is the education industry. Staff scientists in this industry earn an average salary of $67,465
Rank | Industry | Average Salary | Hourly Rate |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Manufacturing | $105,272 | $50.61 |
2 | Pharmaceutical | $99,161 | $47.67 |
3 | Technology | $97,984 | $47.11 |
4 | Health Care | $86,569 | $41.62 |
5 | Professional | $85,519 | $41.11 |
6 | Government | $81,224 | $39.05 |
7 | Education | $67,465 | $32.44 |
Compare salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.
Year | Avg. Salary | Hourly Rate | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | $85,000 | $40.86 | +3.0% |
2021 | $82,500 | $39.65 | +4.5% |
2020 | $78,800 | $37.87 | +3.2% |
2019 | $76,200 | $36.66 | +1.9% |
2018 | $74,800 | $35.96 | -2.1% |
Company | Job | Location | Date Added | Salary |
---|---|---|---|---|
University of Pennsylvania | Staff Scientist (Radiology) | Philadelphia, PA | 05/23/2022 | $50,684 |
Oregon Health & Science University | Assistant Staff Scientist | Portland, OR | 05/18/2022 | $57,222 |
Msacl Connect | Staff Scientist-Neurology | Saint Louis, MO | 05/10/2022 | $44,700 |
University of Pittsburgh | Staff Scientist | Pittsburgh, PA | 05/10/2022 | $46,644 |
Medical University of South Carolina | Univ-Staff Scientist I | Charleston, SC | 05/10/2022 | $41,778 |
Jefferson Lab | Engineering Staff Scientist | Newport News, VA | 05/04/2022 | $83,300 |
Jefferson Lab | Engineering Staff Scientist | Newport News, VA | 05/04/2022 | $83,300 |
Peraton | Staff Scientist IV | Chantilly, VA | 05/03/2022 | $82,618 |
Perspecta | Staff Scientist IV | Chantilly, VA | 05/01/2022 | $82,618 |
Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. | Staff Scientist, Community Science | New York, NY | 05/01/2022 | $103,500 |
California pays Staff Scientists the most in the United States, with an average salary of $111,047 per year, or $53.39 per hour.
You know if you are being paid fairly as a Staff Scientist if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in Connecticut you should be paid close to $109,692 per year.
Senior Scientist gets paid the most. Senior Scientist made a median salary of $110,673. The best-paid 10 percent make $132,000, while the lowest-paid 10 percent make $92,000.
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