Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,709
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$17,591
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,585
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$77,300
Kept after tax
$59,709
Worth in national money
$57,585
State rank
21
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Connecticut pays zoologists and wildlife biologists around $77,300 at the midpoint, 21 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Connecticut, this sits in the middle: 185 of 482 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $77,300 the take-home is $59,709. But Connecticut costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $57,585 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $84,390, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For zoologists and wildlife biologists the Connecticut median is $77,300, ranking 21 of 47 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.
- Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 185 of 482 occupations in Connecticut 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 after federal, FICA and Connecticut income tax is $59,709 for zoologists and wildlife biologists, from $77,300. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $57,585. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $84,390 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $118,110 |
| This salary | $77,300 |
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 Connecticut | $59,709 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,211 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,463 |
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 | $72,323 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,309 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,300 as a midpoint for Connecticut, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,440 and the ninetieth is $118,110 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $59,709 take-home in Connecticut comes from $77,300. 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 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Connecticut, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,585, the adjusted value of that $77,300 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 482 in the state.
- The Connecticut median of $77,300 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,440 to $118,110. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $59,709, from $77,300, assumes a single Connecticut 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 482 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Connecticut, so $57,585 — the adjusted value of that $77,300 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 482 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 $84,390, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $50,440, the highest tenth $118,110, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $57,585 of national purchasing power.
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; Connecticut then takes its own share, leaving $59,709.
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 47 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 Connecticut is $84,390. 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 ($50,440) and the ninetieth ($118,110) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $57,585 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $59,709 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.