Biological Technicians salary

SOC 19-4021 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$57,510

per year, nationally

Middle half

$48,130–$71,520

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

69,620

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.5%

9,100 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.

$40,330$84,940

10th: $40,330
25th: $48,130
Median: $57,510
75th: $71,520
90th: $84,940

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 biological technicians 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	$71,440	110.7	9,210	1.13×
2	New Jersey	$66,040	108.8	1,290	0.67×
3	District of Columbia	$64,770	109.9	210	0.66×
4	Connecticut	$62,360	103.6	650	0.85×
5	Massachusetts	$62,070	105.8	8,430	5.18×
6	North Carolina	$61,720	94.3	2,460	1.11×
7	New York	$61,210	107.9	5,050	1.16×
8	Washington	$60,800	107.0	3,210	2.02×
9	Maine	$60,160	97.0	510	1.78×
10	Colorado	$59,400	103.1	1,990	1.55×
11	Indiana	$58,790	93.3	1,020	0.71×
12	Delaware	$58,550	99.8	180	0.82×
13	Mississippi	$56,930	87.0	330	0.64×
14	Alaska	$56,470	102.4	410	2.82×
15	Illinois	$55,790	100.0	790	0.29×
16	New Hampshire	$55,540	104.2	240	0.78×
17	North Dakota	$55,330	89.0	250	1.28×
18	Pennsylvania	$54,950	97.6	2,820	1.04×
19	Virginia	$53,360	101.1	1,820	0.99×
20	Arizona	$53,290	100.7	830	0.57×
21	South Carolina	$53,040	93.7	550	0.53×
22	Utah	$52,960	98.9	710	0.91×
23	Maryland	$52,900	105.0	3,470	2.80×
24	Georgia	$52,420	96.3	860	0.39×
25	Oregon	$52,190	103.4	1,590	1.81×
26	Wisconsin	$51,750	94.1	1,800	1.37×
27	Nevada	$51,680	100.0	280	0.40×
28	Kansas	$51,630	90.1	480	0.74×
29	West Virginia	$51,440	89.5	100	0.33×
30	Vermont	$51,190	98.0	220	1.62×
31	Ohio	$51,080	92.8	2,240	0.90×
32	Michigan	$51,070	96.2	1,160	0.59×
33	Tennessee	$50,840	91.9	1,240	0.85×
34	Missouri	$50,640	90.8	620	0.47×
35	Texas	$50,130	97.1	2,730	0.43×
36	Montana	$49,920	94.6	430	1.88×
37	New Mexico	$49,570	92.2	140	0.35×
38	Alabama	$49,220	88.8	270	0.28×
39	Kentucky	$48,910	90.2	260	0.29×
40	Hawaii	$48,770	110.0	830	2.96×
41	Florida	$48,700	103.4	3,170	0.71×
42	Nebraska	$48,220	90.1	600	1.32×
43	Minnesota	$48,130	98.6	1,400	1.06×
44	Iowa	$48,050	87.8	800	1.15×
45	Oklahoma	$47,850	87.8	360	0.47×
46	Louisiana	$47,310	88.2	190	0.22×
47	Arkansas	$46,930	86.9	420	0.71×
48	Wyoming	$46,480	92.7	190	1.53×
49	Rhode Island	$45,530	102.3	140	0.63×
50	Idaho	$42,130	95.5	450	1.16×
51	South Dakota	$41,300	88.6	230	1.10×

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 biological technicians wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for biological technicians

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	$95,220	115.6	2,690	2.53×
2	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$77,170	103.2	180	1.71×
3	Tyler, TX	$77,020	92.2	50	0.90×
4	Boulder, CO	$75,390	105.2	110	1.25×
5	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$72,940	110.4	790	1.55×
6	Peoria, IL	$72,120	91.2	50	0.65×
7	Worcester, MA	$69,730	102.5	740	4.71×
8	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$67,060	111.9	1,770	2.57×
9	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$66,610	113.6	1,830	0.65×
10	Charlottesville, VA	$66,590	99.1	280	5.50×
11	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$66,240	109.9	50	1.23×
12	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$66,110	108.8	70	0.77×
13	Richmond, VA	$65,210	97.9	500	1.69×
14	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$65,140	105.8	1,470	2.04×
15	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$64,600	100.4	40	0.74×
16	Bloomington, IN	$64,570	95.1	30	1.00×
17	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$64,410	106.7	710	1.48×
18	Athens-Clarke County, GA	$64,360	93.3	60	1.44×
19	Champaign-Urbana, IL	$64,270	92.7	80	1.72×
20	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$64,200	98.2	350	1.04×
21	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$63,770	111.1	2,020	2.16×
22	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$63,510	108.9	1,630	1.16×
23	Syracuse, NY	$63,060	95.7	170	1.27×
24	Wilmington, NC	$62,960	96.4	70	0.83×
25	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$62,780	112.6	3,270	0.77×
26	Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN	$62,630	93.4	130	2.89×
27	Port St. Lucie, FL	$62,070	100.2	80	1.00×
28	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$62,060	97.3	140	0.23×
29	State College, PA	$62,000	96.8	130	4.22×
30	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$61,990	106.9	40	0.24×
31	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$61,640	101.0	60	0.34×
32	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$61,610	108.3	7,320	6.05×
33	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$61,280	103.3	570	0.54×
34	Barnstable Town, MA	$61,150	98.4	110	2.71×
35	Ithaca, NY	$60,900	103.3	80	3.91×
36	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$60,630	102.6	1,950	1.50×
37	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$60,580	99.6	840	4.19×
38	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$60,470	106.4	130	0.17×
39	Vallejo, CA	$60,360	108.5	50	0.82×
40	Anchorage, AK	$60,240	105.4	110	1.37×

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 biological technicians wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other$62,280
Chemical Technicians$60,390
Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health$55,090
Social Science Research Assistants$61,990
Forest and Conservation Technicians$54,560
Forensic Science Technicians$72,060
Agricultural Technicians$49,630
Food Science Technicians$52,130