Biological Scientists, All Other in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$82,232
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$31,298
27.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,043
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$113,530
Kept after tax
$82,232
Worth in national money
$73,043
State rank
2
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for biological scientists, all other. The middle earner takes $113,530, which ranks 2 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 14.77% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in California. It ranks 97 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $113,530, tax leaves $82,232 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $73,043 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $123,840, since top earners drag the number up.
- California ranks 2 of 50 states publishing a median for biological scientists, all other, at $113,530 — about 14.77% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within California, biological scientists, all other ranks 97 of 492 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.
- After tax, $82,232 remains from the California median of $113,530 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $73,043 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $123,840 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Biological Scientists, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $69,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $113,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $189,710 |
| This salary | $113,530 |
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 California | $82,232 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $88,698 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$18,234 |
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 | $104,338 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$25,187 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $113,530 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $69,770 and the ninetieth is $189,710 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $82,232 take-home in California comes from $113,530. 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 97 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $73,043, the adjusted value of that $113,530 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 97 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $113,530 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $69,770 to $189,710. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $82,232, from $113,530, assumes a single California 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 97 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $73,043 — the adjusted value of that $113,530 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 97 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $123,840, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $69,770, the highest tenth $189,710, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. California costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $73,043 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; California then takes its own share, leaving $82,232.
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.
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 California is $123,840. 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 ($69,770) and the ninetieth ($189,710) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $73,043 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $82,232 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.