Chemists in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,997
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$17,733
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,520
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
$78,730
Kept after tax
$60,997
Worth in national money
$65,520
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin is among the lower-paying states for chemists. The middle earner takes $78,730, ranking 43 of 51 states — about 13.71% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 129 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $78,730 you keep $60,997 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $65,520 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $82,560, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin ranks 43 of 51 for chemists, with a median of $78,730 — about 13.71% 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.
- Chemists ranks 129 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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 in Wisconsin is $60,997 after the full tax stack, from $78,730. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $65,520 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $82,560 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Chemists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,450 |
| This salary | $78,730 |
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 | $60,997 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,217 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$563 |
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 | $74,154 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$778 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Wisconsin earn under $78,730 and half over. The published range runs $52,020 at the tenth percentile to $109,450 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $60,997, from $78,730, 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 129 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $65,520 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 129.
- Figures are distribution medians for chemists in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $52,020 to $109,450; 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 Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $60,997 from $78,730. 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 129 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $65,520, worked from $78,730, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 129 of 491 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 $82,560 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 $52,020, the highest tenth $109,450, 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 Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $65,520 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; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $60,997.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Wisconsin is $82,560. 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 ($52,020) and the ninetieth ($109,450) 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 $65,520 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 $60,997 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.
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.