Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,672
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$16,868
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,253
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$78,540
Kept after tax
$61,672
Worth in national money
$63,253
State rank
20
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays zoologists and wildlife biologists around $78,540 at the midpoint, 20 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 126 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $78,540, tax leaves $61,672, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $63,253 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $78,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- For zoologists and wildlife biologists the Pennsylvania median is $78,540, ranking 20 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.
- Position 126 of 492 in Pennsylvania 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for zoologists and wildlife biologists — median $78,540 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $61,672 retained, $63,253 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $78,660 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 | $48,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $113,920 |
| This salary | $78,540 |
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 Pennsylvania | $61,672 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,083 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,693 |
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 | $75,113 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,720 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $78,540. The published range is $48,060 up to $113,920, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $61,672, from $78,540, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 126 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $63,253, the adjusted value of that $78,540 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 126 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for zoologists and wildlife biologists in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,060 to $113,920. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,672 from $78,540. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 126 of 492 locally.
- This $63,253 adjusted figure, worked from $78,540, 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 126 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 126 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $48,060 and the top tenth $113,920 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $63,253 in national terms.
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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $61,672 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($48,060) and the ninetieth ($113,920) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $63,253 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 $61,672 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.