Food Scientists and Technologists salary

SOC 19-1012 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$88,720

per year, nationally

Middle half

$68,810–$116,650

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

13,060

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+6.5%

1,200 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$52,920$145,280

10th: $52,920
25th: $68,810
Median: $88,720
75th: $116,650
90th: $145,280

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where food scientists and technologists earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	South Carolina	$108,660	93.7	90	0.46×
2	Missouri	$105,930	90.8	390	1.59×
3	New Jersey	$104,340	108.8	630	1.76×
4	Massachusetts	$103,580	105.8	420	1.38×
5	Florida	$101,160	103.4	170	0.20×
6	Colorado	$99,580	103.1	320	1.31×
7	Minnesota	$99,280	98.6	670	2.70×
8	Kentucky	$98,710	90.2	170	1.04×
9	Alabama	$97,480	88.8	60	0.31×
10	Washington	$94,990	107.0	250	0.85×
11	Illinois	$94,340	100.0	780	1.53×
12	New York	$94,070	107.9	660	0.81×
13	California	$93,950	110.7	2,210	1.44×
14	Virginia	$93,590	101.1	70	0.21×
15	Maryland	$93,330	105.0	270	1.18×
16	Texas	$90,610	97.1	840	0.71×
17	Arizona	$90,450	100.7	—	—
18	Maine	$89,480	97.0	30	0.58×
19	Rhode Island	$87,970	102.3	40	1.03×
20	Georgia	$86,050	96.3	560	1.38×
21	Kansas	$85,130	90.1	380	3.19×
22	Oklahoma	$84,750	87.8	50	0.32×
23	Arkansas	$84,330	86.9	310	2.82×
24	Pennsylvania	$83,380	97.6	400	0.79×
25	Wisconsin	$83,020	94.1	410	1.67×
26	Iowa	$82,010	87.8	380	2.87×
27	Tennessee	$81,760	91.9	70	0.25×
28	Oregon	$81,660	103.4	270	1.64×
29	Nevada	$80,580	100.0	50	0.37×
30	North Carolina	$79,840	94.3	230	0.56×
31	New Mexico	$79,130	92.2	30	0.44×
32	Idaho	$77,440	95.5	140	1.98×
33	Michigan	$76,940	96.2	430	1.15×
34	Ohio	$76,780	92.8	270	0.59×
35	Utah	$73,280	98.9	120	0.81×
36	Nebraska	$72,230	90.1	230	2.64×
37	South Dakota	$71,330	88.6	90	2.30×
38	Indiana	$69,350	93.3	300	1.12×
39	Montana	$52,230	94.6	30	0.72×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where food scientists and technologists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for food scientists and technologists

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$113,350	108.9	130	0.48×
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$110,810	110.4	50	0.55×
3	St. Louis, MO-IL	$108,200	95.1	270	2.44×
4	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$107,970	100.1	320	1.31×
5	Ann Arbor, MI	$105,420	100.9	40	2.34×
6	Kansas City, MO-KS	$105,350	92.5	180	1.91×
7	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$104,200	112.6	730	0.92×
8	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$103,580	108.3	370	1.64×
9	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR	$103,300	91.4	190	8.13×
10	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$101,760	104.8	440	2.65×
11	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$100,390	103.6	610	1.62×
12	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$100,000	111.1	120	0.67×
13	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$99,900	105.8	220	1.62×
14	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$99,530	95.8	110	2.35×
15	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$98,930	115.6	380	1.89×
16	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	$98,220	94.7	60	0.68×
17	Merced, CA	$96,430	98.3	40	5.57×
18	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$96,210	102.6	230	0.93×
19	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$95,030	98.1	60	0.54×
20	Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR	$94,770	89.4	50	1.70×
21	Fresno, CA	$93,750	102.2	110	2.80×
22	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$93,670	103.1	410	1.19×
23	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$93,330	104.5	150	1.33×
24	Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA	$92,690	98.7	40	1.27×
25	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$91,060	113.6	550	1.04×
26	Omaha, NE-IA	$90,770	91.9	60	1.54×
27	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$90,210	95.4	130	1.35×
28	Salinas, CA	$90,080	109.0	30	2.20×
29	Rochester, NY	$90,040	97.0	60	1.38×
30	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$90,040	105.1	60	2.52×
31	Visalia, CA	$89,050	99.8	60	4.38×
32	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$88,210	98.6	100	0.38×
33	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$88,010	106.7	110	1.25×
34	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$87,270	97.3	40	0.35×
35	Lancaster, PA	$86,320	98.3	40	1.73×
36	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$86,230	96.9	90	1.27×
37	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$86,150	101.8	70	1.14×
38	Salem, OR	$85,960	103.6	30	2.03×
39	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$85,930	111.9	80	0.59×
40	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$85,610	107.8	90	5.09×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where food scientists and technologists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists$103,410
Biological Scientists, All Other$98,920
Biochemists and Biophysicists$127,410
Conservation Scientists$73,010
Microbiologists$87,990
Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists$76,780
Soil and Plant Scientists$78,850
Epidemiologists$87,220

Food Scientists and Technologists salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where food scientists and technologists earn the most

Best paying metro areas for food scientists and technologists

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