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Pay · 19-1042

Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists earn $103,410 a year at the midpoint

From about $64,800 at the low end to $177,780 at the top, with $103,410 in the middle — the 2025 survey, published as reported.

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$103,410median a year · United States
$49.72an hour $116,840average 172,340people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$79,84025th $103,410median $139,38075th
$64,80010th percentile $177,78090th percentile
$79,840a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$136,990best-paying state · California
$54,040lowest-paying state · Mississippi
+32%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.”

State matters a lotThe same job pays $136,990 in California and $54,040 in Mississippi — a gap of $82,950 a year.

Medical scientist earnings, from starting pay to the best-paid 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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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 →

Number 100 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 87% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 98 Mechanical Engineers $104,110
  2. 99 Web and Digital Interface Designers $104,000
  3. 100 Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists $103,410
  4. 101 Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary $103,170
  5. 102 Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay $103,020

Resumes for medical scientists, except epidemiologists

Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.

RMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareSASPythonMicrosoft PowerPointStatistical softwareThe MathWorks MATLAB
  • Followed strict safety procedures when handling toxic materials to avoid contamination.
  • Evaluated effects of drugs, gases, pesticides, parasites, and microorganisms at various levels.
  • Planned and directed studies to investigate human or animal disease, preventive methods, and treatments for disease.

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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.

Examples

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Medical scientist wages by state

The 38 states where the most people do this work, of 46 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.53 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
California $136,990 $81,320 $81,320 — $180,060 29,830
New Jersey $129,280 $77,540 $77,540 — $216,650 6,120
Massachusetts $128,210 $77,790 $77,790 — $208,490 17,100
Connecticut $116,990 $68,160 $68,160 — $187,310 2,410
Arizona $116,820 $70,430 $70,430 — $154,550 2,190
Oregon $111,030 $69,720 $69,720 — $205,870 1,030
Maryland $106,000 $71,150 $71,150 — $172,520 6,760
Washington $105,680 $69,500 $69,500 — $173,140 6,150
Rhode Island $103,370 $66,370 $66,370 — $218,940 670
North Carolina $102,980 $63,800 $63,800 — $171,170 5,730
Tennessee $102,720 $63,500 $63,500 — $155,100 4,020
Missouri $102,540 $64,160 $64,160 — $173,480 3,650
Montana $101,950 $63,820 $63,820 — $139,770 320
District of Columbia $101,940 $66,100 $66,100 — $195,190 670
Delaware $100,190 $65,520 $65,520 — $214,040 270
Pennsylvania $99,190 $61,490 $61,490 — $214,690 12,630
Nevada $98,560 $77,990 $77,990 — $125,100 530
Florida $94,940 $64,630 $64,630 — $208,090 6,490
Virginia $93,620 $65,540 $65,540 — $186,810 4,560
Georgia $92,450 $61,640 $61,640 — $208,000 1,910
Minnesota $89,950 $65,140 $65,140 — $141,070 6,760
New York $87,760 $67,490 $67,490 — $177,510 7,690
Kansas $84,490 $62,190 $62,190 — $219,100 1,070
Michigan $84,310 $63,590 $63,590 — $144,530 2,370
Ohio $83,910 $60,080 $60,080 — $173,450 4,840
Iowa $83,850 $59,580 $59,580 — $142,140 1,060
Idaho $83,010 $59,680 $59,680 — $288,280 380
Utah $82,940 $65,310 $65,310 — $139,050 1,560
West Virginia $82,690 $61,950 $61,950 — $173,900 330
Wisconsin $82,530 $62,850 $62,850 — $128,680 2,970
Illinois $82,330 $59,550 $59,550 — $143,890 4,700
Indiana $81,110 $63,510 $63,510 — $151,510 2,010
Nebraska $80,970 $52,330 $52,330 — $111,020 620
Texas $80,470 $63,870 $63,870 — $144,060 11,920
Kentucky $77,580 $55,320 $55,320 — $162,590 670
Oklahoma $76,480 $60,670 $60,670 — $140,020 920
New Mexico $67,100 $40,660 $40,660 — $104,710 340
Mississippi $54,040 $41,360 $41,360 — $84,350 440

No estimate is published for 1 states: the survey withholds a figure when too few employers report it. Nothing has been filled in for them.

Adjacent work, and what it pays

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

Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists$103,410
Life Scientists, All Other$93,750−$9,660 Food Scientists and Technologists$88,720−$14,690 Microbiologists$87,990−$15,420 Soil and Plant Scientists$78,850−$24,560 Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists$76,780−$26,630 Foresters$76,400−$27,010

Medical scientist 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.

$103,418a year

Questions people often ask

What is a medical scientist’s yearly income?

A medical scientist makes a median of $103,410 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $79,840 and $139,380.

What is a medical scientist’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $49.72 an hour; the average is $116,840 a year.

What is the starting pay for a medical scientist?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $79,840 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $64,800.

Which state pays medical scientists, except epidemiologists the most?

California, with a median of $136,990 a year.

How many people work as medical scientists, except epidemiologists?

About 172,340 in the United States — number 100 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays roughly the same

Median pay within $670 of what medical scientists, except epidemiologists earn — $103,410 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations