Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,446
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$14,904
21.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,646
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$70,350
Kept after tax
$55,446
Worth in national money
$60,646
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Idaho pays this job a middle wage of $70,350, 41 of 51 states and about 14.44% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 139 among 476 occupations Idaho publishes pay for.
- Here is where Idaho does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $70,350 you keep $55,446, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $60,646 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $76,760, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Idaho's $70,350 median for environmental scientists and specialists, including health places it 41 of 51 states, about 14.44% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 139 of 476 in Idaho places environmental scientists and specialists, including health in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Idaho income tax, retained pay for environmental scientists and specialists, including health on $70,350 is $55,446. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $60,646 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 $76,760 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $53,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $108,100 |
| This salary | $70,350 |
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 Idaho | $55,446 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,321 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$630 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $66,292 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$870 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Idaho earn less than $70,350. The published range is $53,360 up to $108,100, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Idaho's $55,446, worked from $70,350. 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 139 of 476.
- Two cautions on $60,646, the adjusted value of that $70,350 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Idaho. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 139 of 476 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for environmental scientists and specialists, including health in Idaho the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $53,360 to $108,100. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Idaho take-home of $55,446, on $70,350 for work ranking 139 of 476 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 139 of 476 in the state.
- This $60,646 adjusted figure, worked from $70,350, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 139 of 476 in the state. The occupation ranks 139 of 476 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $76,760, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $53,360 and the top tenth $108,100 — 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 Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $60,646 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Idaho adds its own income tax on top — which is why $55,446 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 Idaho is $76,760. 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 ($53,360) and the ninetieth ($108,100) 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?
Idaho'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 $60,646 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 $55,446 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.