Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$84,393
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$23,017
21.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$82,970
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$107,410
Kept after tax
$84,393
Worth in national money
$82,970
State rank
8
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $107,410, which ranks 8 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 5.39% above the national middle.
- Within Alaska this is well-paid work. Of 430 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 53 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $107,410 the take-home is $84,393, which is worth about $82,970 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $118,750, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska ranks 8 of 50 states publishing a median for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers, at $107,410 — about 5.39% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Ranked against every occupation Alaska publishes a median for, geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers sits 53 of 430 — 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.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers on its $107,410 median: $84,393 retained after tax becomes $82,970 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $118,750 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $66,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $107,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $176,940 |
| This salary | $107,410 |
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 Alaska | $84,393 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $84,393 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,876 |
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 | $107,410 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,354 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $107,410 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $66,330 and the ninetieth is $176,940 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $84,393, worked from $107,410. 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 53 of 430.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $82,970, the adjusted value of that $107,410 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 53 of 430 in the state.
- The Alaska median of $107,410 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $66,330 to $176,940. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Alaska take-home of $84,393, on $107,410 for work ranking 53 of 430 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 53 of 430 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $82,970 — the adjusted value of that $107,410 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 53 of 430 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 $118,750 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 $66,330 and the top tenth $176,940 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $82,970 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $84,393 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Alaska is $118,750. 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 ($66,330) and the ninetieth ($176,940) 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?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $82,970 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $84,393 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.