Forest and Conservation Technicians salary

SOC 19-4071 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$54,560

per year, nationally

Middle half

$47,360–$68,600

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

30,410

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-3.2%

3,900 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$83,630

10th: $40,330
25th: $47,360
Median: $54,560
75th: $68,600
90th: $83,630

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Associate'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 forest and conservation 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	North Dakota	$68,600	89.0	160	1.91×
2	Alaska	$68,160	102.4	500	7.88×
3	Maryland	$64,980	105.0	130	0.25×
4	Wisconsin	$62,700	94.1	620	1.07×
5	Louisiana	$59,370	88.2	210	0.57×
6	Minnesota	$58,990	98.6	580	1.01×
7	California	$58,120	110.7	6,640	1.87×
8	New York	$58,030	107.9	190	0.10×
9	Colorado	$57,550	103.1	1,040	1.86×
10	Pennsylvania	$57,370	97.6	420	0.36×
11	Alabama	$56,720	88.8	180	0.43×
12	Arizona	$56,660	100.7	1,310	2.07×
13	Massachusetts	$56,480	105.8	—	—
14	South Carolina	$55,910	93.7	180	0.40×
15	Oregon	$55,910	103.4	2,530	6.58×
16	South Dakota	$54,770	88.6	350	3.87×
17	West Virginia	$54,600	89.5	100	0.71×
18	Nevada	$54,230	100.0	750	2.49×
19	Vermont	$54,160	98.0	50	0.89×
20	Washington	$54,160	107.0	1,160	1.67×
21	Oklahoma	$53,930	87.8	130	0.40×
22	Idaho	$53,290	95.5	2,020	12.06×
23	Arkansas	$53,290	86.9	310	1.20×
24	Wyoming	$53,290	92.7	560	10.27×
25	New Mexico	$53,000	92.2	880	5.18×
26	Illinois	$52,790	100.0	820	0.69×
27	Florida	$52,420	103.4	380	0.19×
28	Mississippi	$52,420	87.0	250	1.08×
29	Montana	$52,420	94.6	1,760	17.64×
30	Texas	$52,200	97.1	600	0.22×
31	Iowa	$52,000	87.8	380	1.25×
32	New Hampshire	$51,630	104.2	60	0.46×
33	Nebraska	$51,630	90.1	100	0.48×
34	Georgia	$50,710	96.3	230	0.24×
35	Hawaii	$50,040	110.0	140	1.14×
36	Virginia	$49,960	101.1	380	0.47×
37	Ohio	$48,840	92.8	230	0.21×
38	Indiana	$48,660	93.3	150	0.25×
39	North Carolina	$48,360	94.3	650	0.67×
40	Utah	$47,940	98.9	1,140	3.35×
41	Tennessee	$47,940	91.9	390	0.61×
42	Michigan	$45,760	96.2	560	0.65×
43	Kentucky	$43,660	90.2	240	0.62×
44	Kansas	$41,660	90.1	170	0.59×
45	Missouri	$33,920	90.8	600	1.05×

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 forest and conservation technicians wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for forest and conservation 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	$87,500	90.8	50	0.59×
2	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$74,410	107.8	90	2.17×
3	Carson City, NV	$67,040	98.1	160	24.94×
4	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$66,930	108.9	100	0.16×
5	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$65,690	103.3	150	0.31×
6	Sioux Falls, SD-MN	$65,670	90.6	30	0.89×
7	Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC	$64,940	91.9	50	1.04×
8	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$64,440	104.8	130	0.35×
9	Asheville, NC	$64,000	96.5	40	1.19×
10	Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA	$63,820	98.7	50	0.79×
11	Boulder, CO	$63,650	105.2	50	1.32×
12	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$63,300	96.9	180	1.10×
13	Alexandria, LA	$63,270	85.7	50	4.43×
14	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$63,150	106.4	590	1.76×
15	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$63,040	101.0	30	0.40×
16	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$62,400	115.6	110	0.24×
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$61,880	111.9	370	1.22×
18	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$61,820	105.8	110	0.34×
19	Tucson, AZ	$61,210	96.9	80	1.10×
20	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$61,110	113.6	590	0.48×
21	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$61,110	108.8	150	3.80×
22	Grants Pass, OR	$61,020	97.8	60	9.86×
23	Corvallis, OR	$60,980	104.0	40	5.58×
24	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$60,270	104.5	40	0.15×
25	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$60,060	112.6	30	0.02×
26	Salinas, CA	$59,920	109.0	120	3.42×
27	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$59,610	105.4	230	0.96×
28	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$59,590	110.5	90	1.34×
29	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$59,030	100.2	190	0.85×
30	Missoula, MT	$58,990	96.4	330	24.89×
31	Bend, OR	$58,990	103.6	430	20.22×
32	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$58,930	102.4	60	5.44×
33	Colorado Springs, CO	$58,590	100.7	90	1.48×
34	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$58,450	101.1	160	4.71×
35	Santa Fe, NM	$58,280	98.8	50	4.06×
36	Albuquerque, NM	$57,700	95.5	170	2.20×
37	Rapid City, SD	$57,660	89.2	120	7.97×
38	Boise City, ID	$57,660	98.4	440	5.76×
39	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$57,390	100.3	90	1.89×
40	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$57,160	110.4	50	0.21×

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 forest and conservation 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
Chemical Technicians$60,390
Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health$55,090
Social Science Research Assistants$61,990
Forensic Science Technicians$72,060
Agricultural Technicians$49,630
Food Science Technicians$52,130

Forest and Conservation Technicians salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where forest and conservation technicians earn the most

Best paying metro areas for forest and conservation technicians

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