Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,524
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$10,146
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,299
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$54,670
Kept after tax
$44,524
Worth in national money
$48,299
State rank
45
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for zoologists and wildlife biologists is on the low side in Indiana. The middle earner gets $54,670. That is 45 of 47 states, and about 28.8% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Indiana, this sits in the middle: 262 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Indiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $54,670 the take-home is $44,524; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $48,299 would nationally. The average comes to $58,170, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For zoologists and wildlife biologists, Indiana sits in the lower band at $54,670, ranking 45 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 28.8%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 262 of 493 occupations in Indiana 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.
- Post-tax income for zoologists and wildlife biologists in Indiana, on $54,670, is $44,524 — equivalent to $48,299 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $58,170 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,900 |
| This salary | $54,670 |
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 Indiana | $44,524 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,107 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$851 |
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 | $52,700 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,030 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 Indiana earn under $54,670 and half over. The published range runs $44,180 at the tenth percentile to $76,900 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 Indiana's $44,524, worked from $54,670. 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 493.
- Two cautions on $48,299, the adjusted value of that $54,670 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. 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 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for zoologists and wildlife biologists in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $44,180 to $76,900; 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 Indiana take-home of $44,524, on $54,670 for work ranking 262 of 493 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 493 in the state.
- This $48,299 adjusted figure, worked from $54,670, 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 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 262 of 493 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 $58,170 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 $44,180 at the bottom tenth to $76,900 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Indiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $48,299 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $44,524.
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 Indiana is $58,170. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($44,180 to $76,900) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $48,299 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 $44,524 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.