Soil and Plant Scientists salary

SOC 19-1013 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$78,850

per year, nationally

Middle half

$61,660–$103,740

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

15,730

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+5.4%

1,700 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.

$48,680$138,120

10th: $48,680
25th: $61,660
Median: $78,850
75th: $103,740
90th: $138,120

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 soil and plant scientists 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	District of Columbia	$107,140	109.9	60	0.79×
2	Florida	$103,240	103.4	270	0.27×
3	Alaska	$100,320	102.4	30	0.92×
4	Iowa	$96,310	87.8	960	6.07×
5	Idaho	$95,150	95.5	540	6.19×
6	New Jersey	$91,970	108.8	130	0.30×
7	California	$91,930	110.7	1,440	0.78×
8	Oregon	$85,150	103.4	620	3.12×
9	Maryland	$85,020	105.0	200	0.70×
10	Hawaii	$84,390	110.0	60	0.99×
11	Arizona	$83,840	100.7	270	0.83×
12	Indiana	$80,030	93.3	440	1.36×
13	Washington	$79,970	107.0	520	1.43×
14	Minnesota	$79,610	98.6	750	2.50×
15	Illinois	$79,490	100.0	820	1.33×
16	South Carolina	$78,850	93.7	90	0.40×
17	Maine	$78,250	97.0	30	0.51×
18	New York	$77,800	107.9	260	0.26×
19	Nebraska	$77,500	90.1	640	6.18×
20	North Carolina	$76,330	94.3	570	1.14×
21	Missouri	$76,080	90.8	220	0.74×
22	Colorado	$75,430	103.1	460	1.57×
23	Virginia	$73,920	101.1	140	0.33×
24	Montana	$73,920	94.6	230	4.43×
25	South Dakota	$73,590	88.6	480	10.32×
26	Mississippi	$72,690	87.0	100	0.81×
27	Nevada	$71,450	100.0	90	0.56×
28	Pennsylvania	$70,550	97.6	200	0.33×
29	Massachusetts	$69,880	105.8	—	—
30	New Mexico	$69,480	92.2	90	1.01×
31	Connecticut	$67,630	103.6	200	1.17×
32	Kentucky	$67,340	90.2	140	0.67×
33	Wisconsin	$66,200	94.1	680	2.27×
34	Kansas	$65,670	90.1	380	2.64×
35	Michigan	$65,390	96.2	570	1.28×
36	North Dakota	$65,320	89.0	410	9.50×
37	Delaware	$65,310	99.8	60	1.21×
38	Georgia	$65,170	96.3	210	0.43×
39	Oklahoma	$63,910	87.8	100	0.60×
40	Alabama	$63,010	88.8	110	0.52×
41	Tennessee	$61,950	91.9	370	1.13×
42	Louisiana	$60,200	88.2	170	0.88×
43	Utah	$59,900	98.9	90	0.50×
44	Vermont	$58,220	98.0	—	—
45	Ohio	$56,820	92.8	320	0.58×
46	Wyoming	$55,680	92.7	50	1.82×

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 soil and plant scientists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for soil and plant scientists

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	Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA	$132,290	91.7	430	10.57×
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$116,660	110.4	70	0.57×
3	Salinas, CA	$115,910	109.0	30	1.71×
4	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$108,200	115.6	140	0.57×
5	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$106,410	101.4	30	0.23×
6	Napa, CA	$104,120	112.6	70	9.36×
7	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$103,740	114.2	100	0.37×
8	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$101,660	107.8	50	2.40×
9	Fresno, CA	$100,050	102.2	90	1.93×
10	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$99,110	100.1	40	3.42×
11	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$98,340	106.7	190	1.72×
12	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$96,480	110.5	—	—
13	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$95,870	108.9	230	0.73×
14	Cedar Rapids, IA	$94,980	89.0	40	2.85×
15	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$94,940	105.4	250	2.00×
16	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$94,900	106.4	70	0.38×
17	Salem, OR	$93,620	103.6	110	5.59×
18	Boise City, ID	$90,610	98.4	290	7.20×
19	New Haven, CT	$87,110	104.6	90	3.16×
20	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$86,570	97.6	70	2.02×
21	Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN	$86,380	93.4	30	3.19×
22	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$86,330	111.9	140	0.87×
23	Bismarck, ND	$86,110	91.0	40	5.03×
24	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$84,740	112.6	170	0.17×
25	Iowa City, IA	$84,360	91.5	30	3.64×
26	Idaho Falls, ID	$83,780	94.4	30	3.72×
27	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$83,390	111.1	—	—
28	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$83,370	100.3	80	0.39×
29	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$82,510	103.3	180	0.76×
30	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$82,490	100.2	40	0.34×
31	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$82,490	113.6	200	0.32×
32	Urban Honolulu, HI	$82,110	111.0	40	0.86×
33	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$81,570	108.6	30	2.56×
34	Modesto, CA	$81,570	104.1	30	1.53×
35	Corvallis, OR	$81,420	104.0	80	19.98×
36	Missoula, MT	$81,350	96.4	30	4.44×
37	Omaha, NE-IA	$81,300	91.9	120	2.31×
38	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$80,360	103.6	240	0.53×
39	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$80,030	95.7	110	0.98×
40	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$79,610	104.8	400	2.03×

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 soil and plant scientists 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
Food Scientists and Technologists$88,720
Epidemiologists$87,220