Biological Scientists, All Other in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,978
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$17,972
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,201
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$79,950
Kept after tax
$61,978
Worth in national money
$70,201
State rank
40
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Oklahoma pays biological scientists, all other a middle wage of $79,950, 40 of 50 states and about 19.18% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Oklahoma. It ranks 93 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $79,950 you keep $61,978 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $70,201 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $82,830, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oklahoma's $79,950 median for biological scientists, all other places it 40 of 50 states, about 19.18% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Within Oklahoma, biological scientists, all other ranks 93 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.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $61,978 after the full tax stack, from $79,950. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $70,201 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $82,830 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Biological Scientists, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $110,670 |
| This salary | $79,950 |
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 Oklahoma | $61,978 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,075 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,234 |
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 | $75,547 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,468 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $79,950 as a midpoint for Oklahoma, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,940 and the ninetieth is $110,670 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $61,978 take-home in Oklahoma comes from $79,950. 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 93 of 492.
- Two cautions on $70,201, the adjusted value of that $79,950 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. 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 93 of 492 locally.
- The Oklahoma median of $79,950 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,940 to $110,670. 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 $61,978, from $79,950, assumes a single Oklahoma 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 93 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 50 for it.
- This $70,201 adjusted figure, worked from $79,950, 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 93 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 93 of 492 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 $82,830, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $49,940, the highest tenth $110,670, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Oklahoma sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $70,201 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Oklahoma then takes its own share, leaving $61,978.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Oklahoma is $82,830. 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 ($49,940) and the ninetieth ($110,670) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $70,201 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 $61,978 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.