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Pay · 19-2011

Astronomers earn $128,820 a year at the midpoint

A small field — roughly 2,120 people nationwide — with a midpoint of $128,820. Pay runs from about $78,010 at the low end to $195,190 at the top, per the 2025 federal survey.

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$128,820median a year · United States
$61.94an hour $132,920average 2,120people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$99,92025th $128,820median $166,00075th
$78,01010th percentile $195,19090th percentile
$99,920a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$132,620best-paying state · Maryland
$102,000lowest-paying state · Hawaii
+3%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

Astronomer earnings, from starting pay to the top 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

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When they ask “What are your salary expectations?”

An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

Astronomer pay rate, from hourly to yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$128,835a year

Astronomer wages in each state

Across 5 states the median ranges by 1.30 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Maryland $132,620 $83,200 $83,200 — $214,450 980
Arizona $129,020 $75,600 $75,600 — $177,020 100
Virginia $128,930 $94,710 $94,710 — $175,560 —
California $123,540 $76,020 $76,020 — $195,190 110
Hawaii $102,000 $71,590 $71,590 — $139,720 100

Neighbouring work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Astronomers$128,820
Physicists$172,250+$43,430 Physical Scientists, All Other$122,570−$6,250 Materials Scientists$117,790−$11,030 Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers$101,920−$26,900 Hydrologists$96,600−$32,220

Examples

Resumes written for this kind of work.

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A resume for astronomers

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  • Analyzed research data to determine its significance, using computers.
  • Presented research findings at scientific conferences and in papers written for scientific journals.
  • Studied celestial phenomena, using a variety of ground-based and space-borne telescopes and scientific instruments.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Number 47 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 94% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 45 Actuaries $130,000
  2. 46 Information Security Analysts $129,180
  3. 47 Astronomers $128,820
  4. 48 Law Teachers, Postsecondary $128,500
  5. 49 Biochemists and Biophysicists $127,410

Questions people often ask

What is an astronomer’s yearly income?

An astronomer makes a median of $128,820 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $99,920 and $166,000.

What is an astronomer’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $61.94 an hour; the average is $132,920 a year.

What is the starting pay for an astronomer?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $99,920 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $78,010.

Which state pays astronomers the most?

Maryland, with a median of $132,620 a year.

How many people work as astronomers?

About 2,120 in the United States — number 47 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays roughly the same

Median pay within $1,280 of what astronomers earn — $128,820 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations