Animal Scientists Salary and Pay
How much do Animal Scientists make?
In May 2024 the middle Animal Scientists worker earned $79,120 a year, the average was $104,970, and the survey counted 2,470 jobs. The 25th percentile is $59,610 and the 75th is $128,450.
One page for the whole Animal Scientists pay distribution: national ladder first, then all 16 state rows and the metro rankings, every figure from BLS OEWS May 2024.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Conversions use 12 months, 26 biweekly periods, 52 weeks, and 2,080 hours. No level in this occupation's ladder reaches the BLS top code, so every figure the converter shows is a published estimate rather than a floor.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $48,440 | $23.29 |
| 25th percentile | $59,610 | $28.66 |
| Median (50th) | $79,120 | $38.04 |
| 75th percentile | $128,450 | $61.75 |
| 90th percentile | $235,750 | $113.34 |
The five rows are five different workers in the same occupation, from the 10th percentile ($48,440) to the 90th ($235,750). BLS suppresses cells that fail its reliability rules (n/p here) and caps the highest wages at $239,200+ a year or $115.00+ an hour; in this ladder that top code appears at the very top rows only.
Employment and concentration
BLS counted 2,470 Animal Scientists jobs in May 2024, which is 0.00% of all U.S. employment in the survey. Work is most concentrated in Nebraska, where the location quotient is 11.49, meaning the occupation holds 11.49 times its national share of local jobs. Wisconsin employs the most people outright, 230 of them, and the three largest state employers together account for 25.1% of the national total.
Pay inside the occupation is wide: $187,310 separates the ends of its ladder. The 90th percentile ($235,750) is 4.9 times the 10th percentile ($48,440), a gap of $187,310 a year. The mean of $104,970 sitting above the median of $79,120 tells you the top end pulls the average up: most workers cluster below the mean, and the high tail is thin.
Pay by state
Sorted by employment, the table below puts Wisconsin first at 230 jobs; sorted by median pay instead, Minnesota would lead at $138,030. Both orderings are printed in one table:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | 230 | 0.1 | 4.85 | $89,280 | $79,750 |
| Maryland | 200 | 0.1 | 4.60 | $83,800 | $73,560 |
| Nebraska | 190 | 0.2 | 11.49 | $63,560 | $51,270 |
| Illinois | 160 | 0.0 | 1.65 | $67,660 | $60,590 |
| Iowa | 130 | 0.1 | 5.25 | $109,980 | $95,680 |
| Michigan | 120 | 0.0 | 1.77 | $56,130 | $51,290 |
| Pennsylvania | 90 | 0.0 | 0.91 | $92,710 | $77,130 |
| South Dakota | 80 | 0.2 | 10.63 | $64,060 | $56,400 |
| Georgia | 60 | 0.0 | 0.74 | $110,060 | $114,560 |
| Minnesota | 60 | 0.0 | 1.30 | $130,410 | $138,030 |
| Texas | 60 | 0.0 | 0.26 | $103,600 | $84,010 |
| Florida | 40 | 0.0 | 0.26 | $77,800 | $57,810 |
| Ohio | 40 | 0.0 | 0.50 | $65,790 | $61,650 |
| Washington | 40 | 0.0 | 0.68 | $75,560 | $78,660 |
| Missouri | n/p | n/p | n/p | $112,650 | $119,110 |
| New York | n/p | n/p | n/p | $93,510 | $87,390 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Animal Scientists stands number 798 by employment and number 215 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations, the group median wage is $84,150 across 48 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 6% less than its group median, and it supplies 0.2% of the group's 1,446,780 jobs. In 7 of the 16 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $79,120, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
Madison, WI is the largest metro employer with 190 jobs, 7.7% of the national total. Two rankings follow across the 8 metros BLS publishes for this occupation: where the jobs are, then where the money is, with the pay ranking restricted to metros employing at least 500 people in this occupation to keep small samples out of the lead.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madison, WI | 190 | $91,740 | $81,330 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 150 | $87,390 | $78,800 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 80 | $76,690 | $76,560 |
| Lincoln, NE | 60 | $64,520 | $62,380 |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 50 | $73,390 | $60,290 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 40 | $72,030 | $59,900 |
| Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR | n/p | $205,040 | $218,610 |
| Omaha, NE-IA | n/p | $67,990 | $54,260 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
Budget arithmetic on the median: $6,593 a month before tax, $3,043 biweekly, $1,522 weekly. Moving from the 25th percentile ($59,610) to the 75th ($128,450) is worth $68,840 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. To turn any of these gross figures into spendable money, run them through the paycheck calculator; to weigh an offer against your current role, use the salary calculator; to test a raise against prices, the raise vs inflation calculator.
To place a real offer: a salary of $87,032 would sit between the median ($79,120) and the 75th percentile ($128,450), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $59,610, is $19,510 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
The occupations BLS groups with this one, by size: Hydrologists, Historians, Sociologists, Hydrologic Technicians, Astronomers, Geographers. Every one of the 826 published occupations is indexed on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Animal Scientists make an hour?
The median hourly wage is $38.04, and the mean hourly wage is $50.47, from the May 2024 OEWS estimates. Annual figures for Animal Scientists use the survey's 2,080-hour year where a conversion is needed, which is how the $79,120 annual median and the hourly figures reconcile.
Which state pays Animal Scientists the most?
Minnesota, with a median annual wage of $138,030 across 60 jobs. The full state table on this page ranks every publishing state by employment and shows median and mean side by side.
How big is the Animal Scientists workforce?
2,470 wage and salary workers in May 2024, 0.00% of U.S. employment in the survey. Employment concentrates most in Nebraska by location quotient (11.49).
How current is this Animal Scientists salary data?
These are the May 2024 OEWS estimates behind the $79,120 median and the 2,470 job count on this page, released by BLS on April 2, 2025 and downloaded on November 5, 2026. OEWS is an employer survey, so those figures describe wages actually paid in this occupation, not advertised ranges.