Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,675
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$13,535
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,473
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
$66,210
Kept after tax
$52,675
Worth in national money
$54,473
State rank
38
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for zoologists and wildlife biologists is on the low side in Georgia. The middle earner gets $66,210. That is 38 of 47 states, and about 13.77% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 179 among 492 occupations Georgia publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $66,210 you keep $52,675 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,473 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $73,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- For zoologists and wildlife biologists, Georgia sits in the lower band at $66,210, ranking 38 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 13.77%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 179 of 492 in Georgia places zoologists and wildlife biologists 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.
- Retained pay in Georgia is $52,675 after the full tax stack, from $66,210. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,473 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $73,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $54,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,210 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,150 |
| This salary | $66,210 |
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 | $52,675 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,380 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,517 |
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 | $62,843 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,044 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $66,210 as a midpoint for Georgia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $54,970 and the ninetieth is $115,150 — 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 Georgia's $52,675, worked from $66,210. 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 179 of 492.
- Two cautions on $54,473, the adjusted value of that $66,210 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Georgia. 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 179 of 492 locally.
- The Georgia median of $66,210 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $54,970 to $115,150. 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 Georgia take-home of $52,675, on $66,210 for work ranking 179 of 492 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 179 of 492 in the state.
- This $54,473 adjusted figure, worked from $66,210, 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 179 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 179 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $73,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $54,970 and the top tenth $115,150 — 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 $54,473.
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, $52,675 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 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 Georgia is $73,880. 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 ($54,970) and the ninetieth ($115,150) 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 $54,473 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 $52,675 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.