Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$72,553
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$22,707
23.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,070
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$95,260
Kept after tax
$72,553
Worth in national money
$77,070
State rank
16
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. North Carolina's middle earner gets $95,260, putting the state 16 of 50 — about 6.53% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations North Carolina reports, this job comes in at 74 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $95,260 you keep $72,553, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $77,070 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $100,170, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers, North Carolina sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $95,260, ranking 16 of 50 and running about 6.53% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers ranks 74 of 489 occupations by median in North Carolina, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers on $95,260 is $72,553. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $77,070 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 $100,170 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 | $63,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $95,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $143,240 |
| This salary | $95,260 |
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 North Carolina | $72,553 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $75,845 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$980 |
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 | $90,580 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,354 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers in North Carolina earn under $95,260 and half over. The published range runs $63,060 at the tenth percentile to $143,240 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $72,553 take-home in North Carolina comes from $95,260. 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 74 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $77,070, the adjusted value of that $95,260 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 74 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $63,060 to $143,240; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $72,553, from $95,260, assumes a single North Carolina 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 74 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 16 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $77,070 — the adjusted value of that $95,260 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 74 of 489 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 $100,170 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $63,060, the highest tenth $143,240, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $77,070.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and North Carolina's own levy, $72,553 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 North Carolina is $100,170. 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 ($63,060) and the ninetieth ($143,240) 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?
North Carolina'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 $77,070 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 $72,553 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.