beta
Write my resume

Pay · 19-2042

Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers earn $101,920 a year at the midpoint

Pay in this work stretches a long way: the lowest tenth earn about $59,330, the highest tenth about $200,230, and the middle sits at $101,920.

Write my resume for this job →

$101,920median a year · United States
$49.00an hour $116,150average 23,470people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$75,11025th $101,920median $139,38075th
$59,33010th percentile $200,23090th percentile
$75,110a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$145,220best-paying state · Texas
$61,810lowest-paying state · Connecticut
+42%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 $145,220 in Texas and $61,810 in Connecticut — a gap of $83,410 a year.

Geoscientist earnings, from starting pay to the highest 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.

Experience
Name this figure
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 →

Ranked 110 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 86% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 108 Power Plant Operators $102,040
  2. 109 Special Effects Artists and Animators $102,030
  3. 110 Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers $101,920
  4. 111 Management Analysts $101,860
  5. 112 Forestry and Conservation Science Teachers, Postsecondary $101,420

Resumes for geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers

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

ESRI ArcGIS softwareGeographic information system GIS systemsAutodesk AutoCADESRI ArcInfoESRI ArcViewPythonMicrosoft PowerPointGeographic information system GIS software
  • Located and reviewed research articles or environmental, historical, or technical reports.
  • Communicated geological findings by writing research papers, participating in conferences, or teaching geological science at universities.
  • Planned or conducted geological, geochemical, or geophysical field studies or surveys, sample collection, or drilling and testing programs used to collect data for research or application.

Write my resume →

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.

Geoscientist pay rate, hourly and yearly

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

$101,920a year

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.

Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers$101,920
Physicists$172,250+$70,330 Physical Scientists, All Other$122,570+$20,650 Materials Scientists$117,790+$15,870 Hydrologists$96,600−$5,320

Geoscientist wages in each state

Across 50 states the median ranges by 2.35 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Texas $145,220 $60,100 $60,100 — $287,180 4,900
Rhode Island $121,010 $80,570 $80,570 — $143,980 —
Oklahoma $119,990 $43,040 $43,040 — $197,980 770
Colorado $114,410 $70,410 $70,410 — $210,090 1,480
Mississippi $112,400 $70,970 $70,970 — $161,890 250
Maryland $110,510 $63,250 $63,250 — $185,220 390
Massachusetts $108,210 $80,370 $80,370 — $227,230 420
Alaska $107,410 $66,330 $66,330 — $176,940 430
California $106,500 $45,540 $45,540 — $171,270 3,350
Hawaii $106,270 $83,050 $83,050 — $137,720 110
Washington $105,020 $75,890 $75,890 — $171,690 840
New Hampshire $101,150 $63,290 $63,290 — $157,850 —
Nevada $99,890 $71,240 $71,240 — $154,960 520
Oregon $98,110 $66,490 $66,490 — $140,400 380
Illinois $96,950 $65,290 $65,290 — $177,670 410
North Carolina $95,260 $63,060 $63,060 — $143,240 570
Florida $95,140 $55,440 $55,440 — $164,070 660
Delaware $93,640 $66,710 $66,710 — $108,840 110
Louisiana $91,560 $51,990 $51,990 — $158,660 440
Idaho $91,170 $67,200 $67,200 — $174,800 130
Utah $89,990 $68,850 $68,850 — $132,750 300
Alabama $88,610 $49,110 $49,110 — $136,990 110
New Mexico $88,530 $66,390 $66,390 — $126,260 160
New Jersey $88,500 $63,460 $63,460 — $141,090 300
Virginia $88,390 $62,990 $62,990 — $183,040 300
Vermont $87,070 $30,800 $30,800 — $136,200 —
Maine $86,840 $73,380 $73,380 — $131,530 70
New York $86,410 $64,990 $64,990 — $139,760 600
South Carolina $86,070 $47,550 $47,550 — $141,480 230
Nebraska $85,550 $59,990 $59,990 — $117,120 110
Arizona $85,190 $57,450 $57,450 — $131,100 550
Pennsylvania $84,180 $61,250 $61,250 — $129,000 910
North Dakota $84,070 $62,300 $62,300 — $132,080 100
Missouri $83,390 $57,260 $57,260 — $130,320 260
Ohio $81,220 $55,990 $55,990 — $130,690 410
Michigan $80,990 $62,160 $62,160 — $119,960 320
Minnesota $80,540 $52,710 $52,710 — $157,300 240
Kansas $80,080 $56,680 $56,680 — $136,390 190
Wisconsin $78,610 $58,790 $58,790 — $132,830 110
Tennessee $77,870 $56,230 $56,230 — $118,110 230
Kentucky $77,510 $44,130 $44,130 — $115,920 170
West Virginia $76,060 $52,770 $52,770 — $120,250 90
Montana $75,520 $54,450 $54,450 — $121,100 210
Wyoming $74,910 $55,130 $55,130 — $116,650 220
Iowa $74,460 $61,730 $61,730 — $95,540 40
Georgia $73,920 $58,500 $58,500 — $123,550 340
South Dakota $71,150 $61,290 $61,290 — $78,560 80
Indiana $68,240 $45,620 $45,620 — $127,100 270
Arkansas $67,880 $49,700 $49,700 — $125,780 70
Connecticut $61,810 $60,620 $60,620 — $83,440 —

Examples

Resumes written for this line of work.

Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.

All templates →

Questions people ask most

What is a geoscientist’s yearly income?

A geoscientist makes a median of $101,920 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $75,110 and $139,380.

What is a geoscientist’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $49.00 an hour; the average is $116,150 a year.

What is the starting pay for a geoscientist?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $75,110 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $59,330.

Which state pays geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers the most?

Texas, with a median of $145,220 a year.

How many people work as geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers?

About 23,470 in the United States — number 110 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays about the same

Median pay within $120 of what geoscientists, except hydrologists and geographers earn — $101,920 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations