Atmospheric and Space Scientists in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,597
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$20,273
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,460
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$85,870
Kept after tax
$65,597
Worth in national money
$70,460
State rank
33
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin is among the lower-paying states for atmospheric and space scientists. The middle earner takes $85,870, ranking 33 of 47 states — about 13.32% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Wisconsin reports, atmospheric and space scientists comes in at 89 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $85,870 you keep $65,597 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $70,460 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $94,270, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin ranks 33 of 47 for atmospheric and space scientists, with a median of $85,870 — about 13.32% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Atmospheric and space scientists ranks 89 of 491 occupations by median in Wisconsin, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $65,597 after the full tax stack, from $85,870. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $70,460 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $94,270 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Atmospheric and Space Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $135,670 |
| This salary | $85,870 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Wisconsin | $65,597 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,240 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$792 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $80,692 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,094 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $85,870. The published range is $61,110 up to $135,670, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wisconsin's $65,597, worked from $85,870. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 89 of 491.
- Two cautions on $70,460, the adjusted value of that $85,870 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 89 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for atmospheric and space scientists in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,110 to $135,670. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Wisconsin take-home of $65,597, on $85,870 for work ranking 89 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 89 of 491 in the state.
- This $70,460 adjusted figure, worked from $85,870, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 89 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 89 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $94,270, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $61,110 at the bottom tenth to $135,670 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $70,460.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Wisconsin's own levy, $65,597 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Wisconsin is $94,270. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($61,110) and the ninetieth ($135,670) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $70,460 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $65,597 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.