Data Scientists in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$81,995
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$25,245
23.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$81,099
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$107,240
Kept after tax
$81,995
Worth in national money
$81,099
State rank
19
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Arizona pays data scientists around $107,240 at the midpoint, 19 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Arizona this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, data scientists ranks 40 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $107,240, tax leaves $81,995, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $81,099 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $111,950, since top earners drag the number up.
- For data scientists the Arizona median is $107,240, ranking 19 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Ranked against every occupation Arizona publishes a median for, data scientists sits 40 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for data scientists — median $107,240 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $81,995 retained, $81,099 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $111,950 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Data Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $107,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $161,730 |
| This salary | $107,240 |
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 Arizona | $81,995 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $84,273 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,625 |
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 | $104,001 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,769 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 data scientists in Arizona earn under $107,240 and half over. The published range runs $65,200 at the tenth percentile to $161,730 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $81,995, worked from $107,240. 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 40 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $81,099, the adjusted value of that $107,240 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 40 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for data scientists in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $65,200 to $161,730; 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.
- The Arizona take-home of $81,995, on $107,240 for work ranking 40 of 491 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 40 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $81,099 — the adjusted value of that $107,240 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 40 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 $111,950 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $65,200 and the top tenth $161,730 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Arizona run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $81,099 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arizona's own levy, $81,995 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 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 Arizona is $111,950. 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 ($65,200) and the ninetieth ($161,730) 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?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $81,099 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 $81,995 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.