Foresters salary

SOC 19-1032 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$76,400

per year, nationally

Middle half

$62,710–$91,640

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

10,430

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+1.2%

1,100 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.

$50,790$109,700

10th: $50,790
25th: $62,710
Median: $76,400
75th: $91,640
90th: $109,700

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 foresters 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	California	$107,120	110.7	820	0.67×
2	Massachusetts	$89,650	105.8	130	0.54×
3	Alaska	$87,210	102.4	80	3.85×
4	South Carolina	$86,780	93.7	250	1.61×
5	Maryland	$86,100	105.0	120	0.63×
6	Connecticut	$84,820	103.6	60	0.53×
7	Iowa	$83,000	87.8	50	0.51×
8	Illinois	$82,160	100.0	220	0.55×
9	Oregon	$81,450	103.4	670	5.06×
10	Vermont	$80,750	98.0	80	4.09×
11	Texas	$80,370	97.1	210	0.22×
12	Alabama	$79,530	88.8	240	1.70×
13	Washington	$78,460	107.0	950	4.00×
14	Pennsylvania	$78,280	97.6	310	0.77×
15	North Carolina	$77,870	94.3	—	—
16	Georgia	$76,970	96.3	370	1.11×
17	Minnesota	$76,490	98.6	390	1.97×
18	Colorado	$76,400	103.1	210	1.07×
19	Michigan	$75,920	96.2	340	1.15×
20	Utah	$75,210	98.9	40	0.35×
21	District of Columbia	$74,710	109.9	—	—
22	New York	$73,710	107.9	280	0.43×
23	Ohio	$73,320	92.8	160	0.44×
24	Tennessee	$71,990	91.9	120	0.56×
25	Virginia	$71,990	101.1	340	1.24×
26	Mississippi	$71,280	87.0	110	1.41×
27	New Mexico	$69,240	92.2	50	0.85×
28	Arkansas	$69,240	86.9	130	1.49×
29	Wyoming	$68,180	92.7	60	3.09×
30	Kansas	$67,540	90.1	40	0.42×
31	Arizona	$67,200	100.7	70	0.32×
32	Montana	$67,200	94.6	240	6.95×
33	Maine	$66,480	97.0	70	1.71×
34	Wisconsin	$66,010	94.1	570	2.89×
35	New Hampshire	$65,170	104.2	110	2.46×
36	Idaho	$65,170	95.5	280	4.92×
37	South Dakota	$64,460	88.6	120	3.89×
38	Florida	$64,130	103.4	380	0.57×
39	Missouri	$63,220	90.8	120	0.61×
40	West Virginia	$62,550	89.5	100	2.15×
41	Indiana	$61,110	93.3	160	0.76×
42	Kentucky	$56,460	90.2	120	0.87×
43	Nevada	$51,070	100.0	—	—
44	Oklahoma	$50,990	87.8	120	1.06×

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 foresters wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for foresters

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	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$112,560	115.6	70	0.46×
2	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$107,750	106.7	110	1.49×
3	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$107,690	113.6	110	0.25×
4	Fresno, CA	$102,540	102.2	30	1.09×
5	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$93,340	111.9	40	0.35×
6	Columbia, SC	$89,990	93.7	50	1.99×
7	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$89,780	105.4	180	2.18×
8	Salem, OR	$89,220	103.6	110	8.31×
9	Birmingham, AL	$87,050	91.6	40	1.01×
10	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$86,310	111.1	240	1.74×
11	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$86,070	108.3	90	0.49×
12	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$86,060	102.7	50	1.25×
13	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$85,610	103.6	130	0.43×
14	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$83,720	98.6	70	0.30×
15	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$82,310	103.1	40	0.14×
16	Corvallis, OR	$81,450	104.0	40	16.71×
17	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$80,600	104.8	100	0.74×
18	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$79,980	101.6	60	5.69×
19	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$78,800	97.3	40	0.49×
20	Longview-Kelso, WA	$78,460	97.5	30	12.67×
21	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$76,600	100.3	80	4.53×
22	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$76,600	103.7	110	13.03×
23	Medford, OR	$76,400	101.4	40	6.13×
24	Duluth, MN-WI	$76,400	88.8	90	10.36×
25	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$76,330	96.9	50	0.90×
26	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$75,810	98.1	30	0.38×
27	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$74,710	108.9	280	1.32×
28	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$74,710	102.4	50	14.45×
29	St. Louis, MO-IL	$73,950	95.1	30	0.34×
30	Columbus, OH	$71,340	95.5	40	0.51×
31	Jacksonville, FL	$71,040	99.5	50	0.99×
32	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$70,340	101.4	40	0.45×
33	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$69,820	96.3	40	0.50×
34	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$69,620	112.6	90	0.14×
35	Madison, WI	$69,620	97.3	50	1.76×
36	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$69,010	105.8	60	0.56×
37	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$67,750	95.0	40	2.70×
38	Tallahassee, FL	$66,470	93.9	30	2.64×
39	Richmond, VA	$66,430	97.9	70	1.49×
40	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$66,110	101.1	50	4.01×

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 foresters 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
Food Scientists and Technologists$88,720