Conservation Scientists in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,578
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$17,802
23.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,135
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$77,380
Kept after tax
$59,578
Worth in national money
$59,135
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Virginia pays conservation scientists a middle wage of $77,380, ranking 14 of 51 states and sitting about 5.99% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Virginia reports figures for, this is number 146.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $77,380, tax leaves $59,578, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $59,135 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $92,610, since top earners drag the number up.
- Virginia's median for conservation scientists is $77,380, about 5.99% above the national figure and 14 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Virginia's occupational distribution, conservation scientists sits at 146 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for conservation scientists — median $77,380 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $59,578 retained, $59,135 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $92,610 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Conservation Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $161,470 |
| This salary | $77,380 |
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 Virginia | $59,578 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,267 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,971 |
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 | $72,137 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,248 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,380 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,910 and the ninetieth is $161,470 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Virginia's $59,578, worked from $77,380. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 146 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $59,135, the adjusted value of that $77,380 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 146 of 489 in the state.
- The Virginia median of $77,380 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,910 to $161,470. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Virginia take-home of $59,578, on $77,380 for work ranking 146 of 489 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 146 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $59,135 — the adjusted value of that $77,380 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 146 of 489 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 $92,610 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $45,910 at the bottom tenth to $161,470 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $59,135 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; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $59,578.
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 Virginia is $92,610. 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 ($45,910) and the ninetieth ($161,470) 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?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $59,135 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 $59,578 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.