Soil and Plant Scientists in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,891
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$13,279
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,662
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$65,170
Kept after tax
$51,891
Worth in national money
$53,662
State rank
38
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for soil and plant scientists is on the low side in Georgia. The middle earner gets $65,170. That is 38 of 46 states, and about 17.35% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Georgia, this sits in the middle: 185 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $65,170 you keep $51,891 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,662 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $77,100, since top earners drag the number up.
- For soil and plant scientists, Georgia sits in the lower band at $65,170, ranking 38 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 17.35%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Soil and plant scientists ranks 185 of 492 occupations in Georgia 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.
- Retained pay in Georgia is $51,891 after the full tax stack, from $65,170. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,662 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $77,100 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Soil and Plant Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,040 |
| This salary | $65,170 |
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 Georgia | $51,891 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,544 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,467 |
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 | $61,868 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,984 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 soil and plant scientists in Georgia earn under $65,170 and half over. The published range runs $46,630 at the tenth percentile to $123,040 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $51,891 take-home in Georgia comes from $65,170. 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 185 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Georgia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,662, the adjusted value of that $65,170 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 185 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for soil and plant scientists in Georgia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,630 to $123,040; 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 $51,891, from $65,170, assumes a single Georgia 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 185 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Georgia, so $53,662 — the adjusted value of that $65,170 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 185 of 492 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 $77,100 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 $46,630, the highest tenth $123,040, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Georgia is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $53,662 in national terms.
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 Georgia's own levy, $51,891 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 46 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 Georgia is $77,100. 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 ($46,630) and the ninetieth ($123,040) 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?
Georgia'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 $53,662 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 $51,891 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.