Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,426
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$12,614
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,902
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$64,040
Kept after tax
$51,426
Worth in national money
$56,902
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Nebraska pays this job a middle wage of $64,040, 47 of 51 states and about 22.11% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 488 occupations Nebraska reports figures for, this is number 169.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $64,040 you keep $51,426 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $56,902 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $74,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- Nebraska's $64,040 median for environmental scientists and specialists, including health places it 47 of 51 states, about 22.11% 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.
- In Nebraska's occupational distribution, environmental scientists and specialists, including health sits at 169 of 488 — 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.
- Retained pay in Nebraska is $51,426 after the full tax stack, from $64,040. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $56,902 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $74,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,190 |
| This salary | $64,040 |
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 Nebraska | $51,426 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,636 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,707 |
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 | $61,289 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,064 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $64,040 as a midpoint for Nebraska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,110 and the ninetieth is $101,190 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $51,426 take-home in Nebraska comes from $64,040. 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 488.
- Two cautions on $56,902, the adjusted value of that $64,040 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Nebraska. 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 169 of 488 locally.
- The Nebraska median of $64,040 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,110 to $101,190. 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 $51,426, from $64,040, assumes a single Nebraska 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 488 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- This $56,902 adjusted figure, worked from $64,040, 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 169 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 169 of 488 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 $74,880, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $52,110 at the bottom tenth to $101,190 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $56,902.
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; Nebraska then takes its own share, leaving $51,426.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Nebraska is $74,880. 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 ($52,110) and the ninetieth ($101,190) 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?
Nebraska'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 $56,902 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 $51,426 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.