Soil and Plant Scientists in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,800
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$17,230
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,124
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$80,030
Kept after tax
$62,800
Worth in national money
$68,124
State rank
12
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Indiana pays soil and plant scientists a middle wage of $80,030, ranking 12 of 46 states and sitting about 1.5% above the national middle.
- Within Indiana this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, soil and plant scientists ranks 104 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Indiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $80,030 the take-home is $62,800; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $68,124 would nationally. The average comes to $92,030, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Indiana's median for soil and plant scientists is $80,030, about 1.5% above the national figure and 12 of 46 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation Indiana publishes a median for, soil and plant scientists sits 104 of 493 — 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.
- Post-tax income for soil and plant scientists in Indiana, on $80,030, is $62,800 — equivalent to $68,124 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $92,030 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Soil and Plant Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $154,990 |
| This salary | $80,030 |
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 Indiana | $62,800 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,131 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,100 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $76,716 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,519 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $80,030. The published range is $57,000 up to $154,990, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $62,800 take-home in Indiana comes from $80,030. 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 104 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $68,124, the adjusted value of that $80,030 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 104 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for soil and plant scientists in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $57,000 to $154,990. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $62,800, from $80,030, assumes a single Indiana 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 104 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $68,124 — the adjusted value of that $80,030 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 104 of 493 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 $92,030, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $57,000 and the top tenth $154,990 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $68,124.
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; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $62,800.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 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 Indiana is $92,030. 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 ($57,000) and the ninetieth ($154,990) 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?
Indiana'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 $68,124 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 $62,800 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.