Natural Sciences Managers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$93,166
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$35,724
27.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$100,074
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
$128,890
Kept after tax
$93,166
Worth in national money
$100,074
State rank
30
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays natural sciences managers around $128,890 at the midpoint, 30 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Wisconsin reports, natural sciences managers comes in at 20 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $128,890 you keep $93,166, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $100,074 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $144,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For natural sciences managers the Wisconsin median is $128,890, ranking 30 of 48 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.
- Natural sciences managers ranks 20 of 491 occupations by median in Wisconsin, 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 Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for natural sciences managers on $128,890 is $93,166. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $100,074 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 $144,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Natural Sciences Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $89,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $128,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $213,290 |
| This salary | $128,890 |
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 | $93,166 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $99,362 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,177 |
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 | $119,880 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,095 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 natural sciences managers in Wisconsin earn under $128,890 and half over. The published range runs $89,580 at the tenth percentile to $213,290 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $93,166 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $128,890. 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 20 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $100,074, the adjusted value of that $128,890 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 20 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for natural sciences managers in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $89,580 to $213,290; 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 $93,166, from $128,890, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 20 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $100,074 — the adjusted value of that $128,890 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 20 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 $144,440 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $89,580 at the bottom tenth to $213,290 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $100,074 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin's own levy, $93,166 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 48 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 Wisconsin is $144,440. 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 ($89,580) and the ninetieth ($213,290) 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 $100,074 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 $93,166 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.