Chemical Technicians salary

SOC 19-4031 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$60,390

per year, nationally

Middle half

$48,530–$75,900

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

57,540

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.7%

6,700 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.

$41,740$92,040

10th: $41,740
25th: $48,530
Median: $60,390
75th: $75,900
90th: $92,040

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Associate's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training

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

Where chemical 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	Louisiana	$85,850	88.2	960	1.34×
2	Alaska	$79,380	102.4	100	0.82×
3	Delaware	$78,620	99.8	540	3.02×
4	South Carolina	$75,020	93.7	2,080	2.43×
5	Missouri	$68,550	90.8	720	0.66×
6	Massachusetts	$67,570	105.8	1,780	1.32×
7	Arizona	$65,860	100.7	390	0.32×
8	Vermont	$65,560	98.0	150	1.37×
9	Hawaii	$63,910	110.0	40	0.18×
10	Colorado	$63,770	103.1	1,180	1.11×
11	Nebraska	$62,640	90.1	280	0.74×
12	Texas	$62,580	97.1	6,090	1.17×
13	Minnesota	$62,400	98.6	870	0.80×
14	Washington	$62,100	107.0	730	0.55×
15	Illinois	$61,890	100.0	1,320	0.58×
16	Rhode Island	$61,680	102.3	190	1.02×
17	Kansas	$61,560	90.1	370	0.70×
18	Nevada	$61,520	100.0	1,050	1.82×
19	New York	$60,900	107.9	2,200	0.61×
20	Kentucky	$60,830	90.2	700	0.94×
21	Oklahoma	$60,020	87.8	610	0.96×
22	Ohio	$59,750	92.8	3,120	1.52×
23	California	$59,510	110.7	6,800	1.01×
24	Wisconsin	$59,440	94.1	1,090	1.00×
25	Pennsylvania	$59,420	97.6	2,710	1.21×
26	Indiana	$59,290	93.3	1,990	1.68×
27	North Carolina	$59,030	94.3	2,660	1.46×
28	West Virginia	$58,750	89.5	230	0.89×
29	New Jersey	$58,580	108.8	2,730	1.72×
30	Michigan	$58,180	96.2	2,220	1.36×
31	Alabama	$58,150	88.8	1,190	1.53×
32	Georgia	$58,120	96.3	850	0.47×
33	Iowa	$58,090	87.8	440	0.77×
34	Oregon	$57,960	103.4	340	0.46×
35	North Dakota	$57,760	89.0	150	0.93×
36	Connecticut	$57,310	103.6	510	0.81×
37	District of Columbia	$56,530	109.9	30	0.12×
38	Wyoming	$56,320	92.7	230	2.21×
39	New Mexico	$55,120	92.2	250	0.76×
40	Tennessee	$54,840	91.9	1,470	1.21×
41	Mississippi	$54,580	87.0	480	1.13×
42	Idaho	$54,560	95.5	170	0.52×
43	Florida	$54,050	103.4	1,840	0.50×
44	Montana	$52,890	94.6	240	1.29×
45	Virginia	$51,850	101.1	1,370	0.90×
46	Maryland	$49,280	105.0	590	0.58×
47	Maine	$49,280	97.0	100	0.43×
48	Utah	$49,030	98.9	580	0.90×
49	South Dakota	$49,030	88.6	90	0.54×
50	New Hampshire	$48,940	104.2	220	0.88×
51	Arkansas	$45,230	86.9	500	1.04×

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

Best paying metro areas for chemical 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	Baton Rouge, LA	$92,120	90.8	410	2.72×
2	Lake Charles, LA	$88,780	85.9	150	3.91×
3	Evansville, IN	$85,230	91.5	220	4.48×
4	Midland, MI	$82,780	91.9	50	3.86×
5	Shreveport-Bossier City, LA	$80,410	84.8	50	0.90×
6	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$80,390	92.6	250	1.51×
7	Duluth, MN-WI	$80,190	88.8	60	1.29×
8	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$79,290	90.0	350	5.72×
9	Bay City, MI	$78,120	91.9	80	6.52×
10	Niles, MI	$77,840	92.4	40	2.01×
11	Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC	$77,220	91.9	90	1.03×
12	Bellingham, WA	$73,380	103.3	60	1.81×
13	St. Louis, MO-IL	$73,290	95.1	370	0.74×
14	Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV	$73,090	94.2	60	1.40×
15	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$71,470	115.6	1,040	1.18×
16	Winston-Salem, NC	$68,630	92.0	90	0.85×
17	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$67,850	108.3	1,240	1.24×
18	Columbia, MO	$67,760	89.4	50	1.25×
19	Sheboygan, WI	$67,430	94.0	120	5.39×
20	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$67,140	110.4	470	1.11×
21	Boulder, CO	$66,960	105.2	150	2.09×
22	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$66,940	102.6	1,370	1.28×
23	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$66,330	95.0	120	1.53×
24	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$66,200	101.1	100	1.56×
25	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$65,960	100.3	110	1.16×
26	Longview, TX	$65,760	89.5	40	0.91×
27	Tallahassee, FL	$65,430	93.9	40	0.59×
28	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$65,420	100.4	50	1.03×
29	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$65,320	101.6	30	0.54×
30	Kalamazoo-Portage, MI	$65,250	94.8	300	6.73×
31	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$65,060	100.9	100	2.25×
32	Syracuse, NY	$65,060	95.7	120	1.05×
33	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$65,050	98.6	2,620	2.15×
34	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$65,050	100.2	300	0.70×
35	Decatur, AL	$64,840	87.2	140	6.18×
36	Tulsa, OK	$64,780	89.2	150	0.91×
37	Columbia, SC	$64,740	93.7	250	1.73×
38	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$64,740	100.0	260	1.88×
39	Bowling Green, KY	$64,620	90.2	40	1.35×
40	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$64,500	97.6	370	2.91×

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 chemical 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
Biological Technicians$57,510
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