Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,355
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$21,485
24.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,309
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$86,840
Kept after tax
$65,355
Worth in national money
$67,309
State rank
27
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Maine pays this job around $86,840 at the midpoint, 27 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Maine this is well-paid work. Of 484 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 88 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $86,840, tax leaves $65,355, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $67,309 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $91,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- For geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers the Maine median is $86,840, ranking 27 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Ranked against every occupation Maine publishes a median for, geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers sits 88 of 484 — 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.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers — median $86,840 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $65,355 retained, $67,309 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $91,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $73,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,530 |
| This salary | $86,840 |
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 Maine | $65,355 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,922 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,646 |
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 | $80,348 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,417 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $86,840. The published range is $73,380 up to $131,530, 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 Maine's $65,355, worked from $86,840. 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 88 of 484.
- Two cautions on $67,309, the adjusted value of that $86,840 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. 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 88 of 484 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $73,380 to $131,530. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Maine take-home of $65,355, on $86,840 for work ranking 88 of 484 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 88 of 484 in the state.
- This $67,309 adjusted figure, worked from $86,840, 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 88 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 88 of 484 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 $91,660, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $73,380 at the bottom tenth to $131,530 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $67,309 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $65,355.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Maine is $91,660. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($73,380 to $131,530) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $67,309 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 $65,355 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.