Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,920
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$17,690
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,437
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$78,610
Kept after tax
$60,920
Worth in national money
$65,437
State rank
39
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Wisconsin. The middle earner gets $78,610. That is 39 of 50 states, and about 22.87% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 130 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $78,610 you keep $60,920, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $65,437 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $88,150, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers, Wisconsin sits in the lower band at $78,610, ranking 39 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 22.87%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers ranks 130 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers on $78,610 is $60,920. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $65,437 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 $88,150 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 | $58,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,830 |
| This salary | $78,610 |
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 Wisconsin | $60,920 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,132 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$559 |
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 | $74,044 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$773 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,610 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $58,790 and the ninetieth is $132,830 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $60,920, from $78,610, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 130 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $65,437, the adjusted value of that $78,610 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 130 of 491 locally.
- The Wisconsin median of $78,610 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $58,790 to $132,830. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $60,920 from $78,610. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 130 of 491 locally.
- This $65,437 adjusted figure, worked from $78,610, 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 130 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 130 of 491 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 $88,150 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 $58,790, the highest tenth $132,830, 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 $65,437.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $60,920 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Wisconsin is $88,150. 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 ($58,790) and the ninetieth ($132,830) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $65,437 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 $60,920 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.