Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,287
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$12,413
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,721
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$64,700
Kept after tax
$52,287
Worth in national money
$56,721
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Indiana. The middle earner gets $64,700. That is 45 of 51 states, and about 21.31% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 169 among 493 occupations Indiana publishes pay for.
- Indiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $64,700 the take-home is $52,287; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $56,721 would nationally. The average comes to $78,210, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For environmental scientists and specialists, including health, Indiana sits in the lower band at $64,700, ranking 45 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 21.31%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 169 of 493 in Indiana 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.
- Post-tax income for environmental scientists and specialists, including health in Indiana, on $64,700, is $52,287 — equivalent to $56,721 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $78,210 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $124,380 |
| This salary | $64,700 |
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 Indiana | $52,287 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,166 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$979 |
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 | $62,361 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,185 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $64,700 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,830 and the ninetieth is $124,380 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $52,287 take-home in Indiana comes from $64,700. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 169 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,721 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 169.
- The Indiana median of $64,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,830 to $124,380. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $52,287, from $64,700, assumes a single Indiana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 169 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,721, worked from $64,700, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 169 of 493 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 $78,210 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 $46,830 and the top tenth $124,380 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $56,721 in national terms.
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; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $52,287.
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 Indiana is $78,210. 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 ($46,830) and the ninetieth ($124,380) 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?
Indiana'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 $56,721 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 $52,287 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.