Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,324
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$14,046
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,352
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$68,370
Kept after tax
$54,324
Worth in national money
$58,352
State rank
34
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin is among the lower-paying states for zoologists and wildlife biologists. The middle earner takes $68,370, ranking 34 of 47 states — about 10.95% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 176 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $68,370 you keep $54,324 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $58,352 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $70,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin ranks 34 of 47 for zoologists and wildlife biologists, with a median of $68,370 — about 10.95% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 176 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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 in Wisconsin is $54,324 after the full tax stack, from $68,370. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $58,352 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $70,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $42,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,170 |
| This salary | $68,370 |
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 Wisconsin | $54,324 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,928 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$231 |
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 | $64,896 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$319 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Wisconsin earn under $68,370 and half over. The published range runs $42,950 at the tenth percentile to $91,170 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 Wisconsin's $54,324, worked from $68,370. 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 176 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $58,352, the adjusted value of that $68,370 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 176 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for zoologists and wildlife biologists in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,950 to $91,170; 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 Wisconsin take-home of $54,324, on $68,370 for work ranking 176 of 491 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 176 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $58,352 — the adjusted value of that $68,370 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 176 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $70,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $42,950 and the top tenth $91,170, so most people doing this work in Wisconsin sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $58,352 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; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $54,324.
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 Wisconsin is $70,880. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($42,950 to $91,170) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $58,352 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 $54,324 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.