Data Scientists in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,001
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$27,679
25.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$84,859
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
$106,680
Kept after tax
$79,001
Worth in national money
$84,859
State rank
21
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin sits in the middle of the pack for data scientists. The median is $106,680, ranking 21 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Wisconsin this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, data scientists ranks 42 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $106,680 you keep $79,001, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $84,859 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $116,600, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wisconsin occupies the middle band for data scientists: a median of $106,680, ranking 21 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Ranked against every occupation Wisconsin publishes a median for, data scientists sits 42 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for data scientists on $106,680 is $79,001. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $84,859 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $116,600 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Data Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $76,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $106,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $168,810 |
| This salary | $106,680 |
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 | $79,001 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,879 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,459 |
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 | $99,746 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,015 |
| 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 data scientists in Wisconsin earn under $106,680 and half over. The published range runs $76,300 at the tenth percentile to $168,810 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 Wisconsin's $79,001, worked from $106,680. 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 42 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $84,859, the adjusted value of that $106,680 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 42 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for data scientists in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $76,300 to $168,810; 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 Wisconsin take-home of $79,001, on $106,680 for work ranking 42 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 42 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $84,859 — the adjusted value of that $106,680 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 42 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 $116,600 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 $76,300 and the top tenth $168,810 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $84,859 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin's own levy, $79,001 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $116,600. 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 ($76,300) and the ninetieth ($168,810) 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 $84,859 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 $79,001 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.
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.