Chemists in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,077
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$21,073
25.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,077
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$84,150
Kept after tax
$63,077
Worth in national money
$58,077
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Hawaii is 31 of 51 states for chemists, with a middle wage of $84,150. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Hawaii, this sits in the middle: 117 of 437 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $84,150 the take-home is $63,077. But Hawaii costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $58,077 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $90,030, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Hawaii ranks 31 of 51 for chemists at $84,150. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Chemists ranks 117 of 437 occupations in Hawaii by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Hawaii income tax is $63,077 for chemists, from $84,150. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $58,077. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $90,030 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chemists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,070 |
| This salary | $84,150 |
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 Hawaii | $63,077 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,030 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,930 |
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 | $77,111 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,479 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 chemists in Hawaii earn under $84,150 and half over. The published range runs $63,080 at the tenth percentile to $126,070 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Hawaii the take-home figure of $63,077, from $84,150, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 117 of 437 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $58,077 uses one figure for the whole of Hawaii. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 437 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 117.
- Figures are distribution medians for chemists in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $63,080 to $126,070; 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.
- Take-home for Hawaii is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,077 from $84,150. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 117 of 437 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $58,077, worked from $84,150, 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 Hawaii address, on work sitting at 117 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $90,030 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $63,080, the highest tenth $126,070, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $58,077 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Hawaii adds its own income tax on top — which is why $63,077 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Hawaii is $90,030. 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 ($63,080) and the ninetieth ($126,070) 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?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $58,077 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 $63,077 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.