Soil and Plant Scientists in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,650
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$10,670
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,701
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$65,320
Kept after tax
$54,650
Worth in national money
$61,701
State rank
36
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for soil and plant scientists is on the low side in North Dakota. The middle earner gets $65,320. That is 36 of 46 states, and about 17.16% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 460 occupations North Dakota reports figures for, this is number 176.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $65,320 you keep $54,650 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $61,701 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $77,170, since top earners drag the number up.
- For soil and plant scientists, North Dakota sits in the lower band at $65,320, ranking 36 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 17.16%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In North Dakota's occupational distribution, soil and plant scientists sits at 176 of 460 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $54,650 after the full tax stack, from $65,320. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,701 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $77,170 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 | $53,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $117,010 |
| This salary | $65,320 |
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 Dakota | $54,650 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,665 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,448 |
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 | $65,302 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,357 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
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 North Dakota earn under $65,320 and half over. The published range runs $53,590 at the tenth percentile to $117,010 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $54,650 take-home in North Dakota comes from $65,320. 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 176 of 460.
- Two cautions on $61,701, the adjusted value of that $65,320 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 176 of 460 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for soil and plant scientists in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $53,590 to $117,010; 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 $54,650, from $65,320, assumes a single North Dakota 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 176 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 46 for it.
- This $61,701 adjusted figure, worked from $65,320, 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 176 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 176 of 460 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 $77,170, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $53,590 at the bottom tenth to $117,010 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $61,701.
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; North Dakota then takes its own share, leaving $54,650.
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 North Dakota is $77,170. 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 ($53,590) and the ninetieth ($117,010) 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 Dakota'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 $61,701 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 $54,650 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.