Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,554
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$21,356
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,517
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$84,910
Kept after tax
$63,554
Worth in national money
$58,517
State rank
8
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for zoologists and wildlife biologists is strong here. Hawaii's middle earner gets $84,910, putting the state 8 of 47 — about 10.59% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Hawaii, this sits in the middle: 114 of 437 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $84,910, tax leaves $63,554 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $58,517 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $92,250, since top earners drag the number up.
- For zoologists and wildlife biologists, Hawaii sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $84,910, ranking 8 of 47 and running about 10.59% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 114 of 437 occupations in Hawaii 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.
- After tax, $63,554 remains from the Hawaii median of $84,910 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $58,517 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $92,250 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 | $65,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $125,630 |
| This salary | $84,910 |
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 Hawaii | $63,554 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,564 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,041 |
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 | $77,789 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,632 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 zoologists and wildlife biologists in Hawaii earn under $84,910 and half over. The published range runs $65,650 at the tenth percentile to $125,630 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Hawaii's $63,554, worked from $84,910. 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 114 of 437.
- One number stands for prices across all of Hawaii, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $58,517, the adjusted value of that $84,910 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 114 of 437 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for zoologists and wildlife biologists in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $65,650 to $125,630; 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.
- The Hawaii take-home of $63,554, on $84,910 for work ranking 114 of 437 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 114 of 437 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Hawaii, so $58,517 — the adjusted value of that $84,910 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 114 of 437 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 $92,250 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $65,650 at the bottom tenth to $125,630 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $58,517 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Hawaii adds its own income tax on top — which is why $63,554 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Hawaii is $92,250. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($65,650 to $125,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $58,517 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 $63,554 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.