Biological Scientists, All Other in Alaska

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$84,013
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$22,857
21.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$82,597
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$106,870
Kept after tax
$84,013
Worth in national money
$82,597
State rank
7
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Alaska pays biological scientists, all other a middle wage of $106,870, ranking 7 of 50 states and sitting about 8.04% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Alaska. It ranks 54 out of 430 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $106,870, tax leaves $84,013, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $82,597 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $105,820.
- Alaska's median for biological scientists, all other is $106,870, about 8.04% above the national figure and 7 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Alaska, biological scientists, all other ranks 54 of 430 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Alaska sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for biological scientists, all other — median $106,870 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $84,013 retained, $82,597 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $105,820 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Biological Scientists, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $71,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $106,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,270 |
| This salary | $106,870 |
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 Alaska | $84,013 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $84,013 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,859 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $106,870 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,330 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of biological scientists, all other in Alaska earn under $106,870 and half over. The published range runs $71,390 at the tenth percentile to $130,270 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $84,013 take-home in Alaska comes from $106,870. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 54 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $82,597 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 54.
- Figures are distribution medians for biological scientists, all other in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $71,390 to $130,270; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $84,013, from $106,870, assumes a single Alaska filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 54 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $82,597, worked from $106,870, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Alaska address, on work sitting at 54 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $71,390 at the bottom tenth to $130,270 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $82,597 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $84,013 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($71,390 to $130,270) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $82,597 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $84,013 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.