Soil and Plant Scientists in Ohio

A sunlit research desk with a laptop, reference books, an abacus and a magnifying glass.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$46,989

after federal, FICA and Ohio tax

Tax takes

$9,831

17.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$51,179

Ohio costs less than average

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

$56,820

Kept after tax

$46,989

Worth in national money

$51,179

State rank

45

of 46 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for soil and plant scientists is on the low side in Ohio. The middle earner gets $56,820. That is 45 of 46 states, and about 27.94% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Ordinary, locally speaking. Soil and plant scientists ranks 262 among 494 occupations Ohio publishes pay for.
  • Here is where Ohio does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $56,820 you keep $46,989, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $51,179 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $65,870, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • For soil and plant scientists, Ohio sits in the lower band at $56,820, ranking 45 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 27.94%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Position 262 of 494 in Ohio places soil and plant scientists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
  • After federal, FICA and Ohio income tax, retained pay for soil and plant scientists on $56,820 is $46,989. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $51,179 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 $65,870 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

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

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$39,150
Half earn under$56,820
Top tenth earn over$103,400
This salary$56,820

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

Compare with
+$846take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Ohio$46,989
Take-home in Texas$47,835
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,954

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

Moving to
$0$59,183
$59,183in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$55,767
Raise you would need+$2,363
Prices in Texas97 vs 92

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $56,820 as a midpoint for Ohio, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,150 and the ninetieth is $103,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Ohio's $46,989, worked from $56,820. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 262 of 494.
  • Two cautions on $51,179, the adjusted value of that $56,820 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Ohio. 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 262 of 494 locally.
  • The Ohio median of $56,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,150 to $103,400. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • The Ohio take-home of $46,989, on $56,820 for work ranking 262 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 262 of 494 in the state.
  • This $51,179 adjusted figure, worked from $56,820, 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 262 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 262 of 494 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 $65,870 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?

Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,150 and the top tenth $103,400 — 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 $51,179.

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 Ohio's own levy, $46,989 remains.

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 Ohio is $65,870. 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 ($39,150) and the ninetieth ($103,400) 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?

Ohio'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 $51,179 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 $46,989 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.