Materials Scientists salary

SOC 19-2032 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$117,790

per year, nationally

Middle half

$89,990–$150,550

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

8,470

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+4.9%

600 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.

$66,820$197,290

10th: $66,820
25th: $89,990
Median: $117,790
75th: $150,550
90th: $197,290

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 materials 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	California	$177,030	110.7	1,030	1.04×
2	Oregon	$150,550	103.4	100	0.95×
3	Wisconsin	$137,700	94.1	70	0.47×
4	District of Columbia	$137,600	109.9	—	—
5	Massachusetts	$132,600	105.8	890	4.50×
6	Minnesota	$132,160	98.6	290	1.79×
7	New York	$131,740	107.9	530	1.00×
8	Indiana	$130,540	93.3	320	1.82×
9	Connecticut	$130,320	103.6	50	0.57×
10	Washington	$127,250	107.0	290	1.47×
11	Utah	$126,840	98.9	110	1.13×
12	Illinois	$125,850	100.0	380	1.15×
13	Virginia	$124,150	101.1	100	0.47×
14	New Hampshire	$119,990	104.2	80	2.07×
15	Colorado	$117,290	103.1	370	2.35×
16	Kansas	$115,490	90.1	40	0.55×
17	Maryland	$112,400	105.0	270	1.77×
18	Ohio	$108,830	92.8	450	1.47×
19	Michigan	$107,410	96.2	230	0.97×
20	Pennsylvania	$106,920	97.6	100	0.31×
21	North Carolina	$106,470	94.3	490	1.84×
22	New Jersey	$103,150	108.8	440	1.90×
23	Florida	$102,340	103.4	200	0.36×
24	South Carolina	$101,930	93.7	80	0.65×
25	Nevada	$97,490	100.0	100	1.15×
26	Georgia	$91,970	96.3	350	1.31×
27	Iowa	$88,320	87.8	180	2.09×
28	Texas	$72,700	97.1	300	0.39×
29	Montana	$71,810	94.6	50	1.82×
30	Tennessee	$69,010	91.9	60	0.36×

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 materials scientists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for materials scientists

The 35 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 Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$231,920	110.4	180	2.95×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$231,710	115.6	380	2.97×
3	Worcester, MA	$151,070	102.5	80	4.34×
4	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$150,550	105.4	90	1.32×
5	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$149,980	113.6	200	0.59×
6	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$137,520	111.1	50	0.47×
7	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$133,340	103.6	460	1.88×
8	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$132,650	99.6	150	6.25×
9	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$132,600	108.3	700	4.74×
10	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$132,160	104.8	270	2.58×
11	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$129,050	106.4	50	0.52×
12	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$127,490	108.9	120	0.70×
13	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$127,470	102.6	180	1.17×
14	Boulder, CO	$126,880	105.2	60	5.82×
15	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$123,070	97.6	110	6.06×
16	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$120,650	112.6	560	1.09×
17	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$117,650	103.2	60	4.47×
18	Cleveland, OH	$111,810	93.9	50	0.93×
19	Akron, OH	$109,720	93.4	70	3.78×
20	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$107,650	100.3	100	0.96×
21	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$107,500	95.4	200	3.33×
22	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$106,720	105.8	240	2.76×
23	Greensboro-High Point, NC	$106,470	92.9	60	3.08×
24	Columbus, OH	$104,430	95.5	80	1.38×
25	Rochester, NY	$102,890	97.0	40	1.42×
26	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$102,070	97.3	60	0.83×
27	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$101,120	100.9	30	0.70×
28	Reno, NV	$97,750	101.0	60	3.70×
29	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$96,050	111.9	80	0.92×
30	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$93,240	100.1	240	1.49×
31	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$92,390	104.5	130	1.77×
32	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$82,080	103.1	60	0.27×
33	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$75,360	98.6	90	0.48×
34	College Station-Bryan, TX	$63,390	91.0	60	8.65×
35	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$60,690	93.1	40	1.03×

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 materials scientists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health$82,220
Chemists$91,240
Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers$101,920
Physical Scientists, All Other$122,570
Physicists$172,250
Atmospheric and Space Scientists$99,070
Hydrologists$96,600
Astronomers$128,820