Astronomers Salary and Pay
How much do Astronomers make?
Median pay for Astronomers is $132,170 a year ($63.54); the mean is $134,430. The occupation employed 1,560 people in May 2024, and its middle band runs from $94,990 to $177,690.
Astronomers salary data without the self-reported noise: BLS surveyed the employers, and this page prints the ladder, the states, and the metros exactly as the survey published them.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Gross pay only, before taxes and benefits. The picker starts at this occupation's median ($132,170); the custom box accepts any annual figure, which is how you price an offer letter against the ladder below.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $70,730 | $34.00 |
| 25th percentile | $94,990 | $45.67 |
| Median (50th) | $132,170 | $63.54 |
| 75th percentile | $177,690 | $85.43 |
| 90th percentile | $191,880 | $92.25 |
Percentiles answer the question a single average cannot: where would a given Astronomers offer sit among all 1,560 workers doing this job? The survey top-codes at $239,200+ and withholds unreliable cells, shown as n/p in the table.
Employment and concentration
BLS counted 1,560 Astronomers jobs in May 2024, which is 0.00% of all U.S. employment in the survey. Work is most concentrated in Hawaii, where the location quotient is 21.95, meaning the occupation holds 21.95 times its national share of local jobs. Maryland employs the most people outright, 570 of them, and the three largest state employers together account for 56.4% of the national total.
Read the ladder as a career path in numbers: $94,990 at the 25th percentile, $132,170 at the middle, $177,690 at the 75th. The full 10-to-90 range runs $121,150, a ratio of 2.7 to 1. Where a specific job offer lands on that range says more about the role's level than the occupation's headline median does.
Pay by state
Every state with a publishable estimate is in this table, 6 of them, sorted by jobs. The pay leader by median is Massachusetts at $189,430; the jobs leader is Maryland:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | 570 | 0.2 | 20.54 | $153,000 | $157,980 |
| California | 170 | 0.0 | 0.94 | $141,660 | $142,060 |
| Hawaii | 140 | 0.2 | 21.95 | $98,800 | $103,000 |
| Arizona | 90 | 0.0 | 2.87 | $131,990 | $125,480 |
| Massachusetts | 70 | 0.0 | 1.79 | $156,870 | $189,430 |
| Washington | 40 | 0.0 | 1.06 | $117,600 | $103,980 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Astronomers stands number 809 by employment and number 53 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 57% more than its group median, and it supplies 0.1% of the group's 1,446,780 jobs. In 3 of the 6 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $132,170, 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
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV is the largest metro employer with 440 jobs, 28.2% of the national total. Two rankings follow across the 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 440 | $152,320 | $157,980 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 60 | $156,330 | $189,430 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 40 | $114,530 | $83,460 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
The median annual wage of $132,170 works out to $11,014 a month before taxes, $5,083 per biweekly paycheck, and $2,542 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($94,990) to the 75th ($177,690) is worth $82,700 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. Run the median through the paycheck calculator for a take-home estimate in your state, compare an offer against your current pay with the salary calculator, and check whether a raise actually beats prices with the raise vs inflation calculator.
To place a real offer: a salary of $145,387 would sit between the median ($132,170) and the 75th percentile ($177,690), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $94,990, is $37,180 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
Sibling occupations in Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations: Soil and Plant Scientists, Economists, Food Scientists and Technologists, Agricultural Technicians, Food Science Technicians, Epidemiologists. Medians there are computed identically, so the comparison is apples to apples; the full set lives on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Astronomers make?
The median annual wage is $132,170 and the mean is $134,430 in the BLS OEWS May 2024 estimates. The middle half of workers earn between $94,990 and $177,690 a year.
Which state pays Astronomers the most?
By median annual wage, Massachusetts leads the state table at $189,430, based on 70 jobs in that state. By mean wage and by headcount the leaders can differ, so the state table on this page shows all three measures side by side.
How many Astronomers are there in the United States?
BLS counted 1,560 wage and salary workers in this occupation in May 2024, 0.00% of all U.S. employment in the survey. The largest state employer is Maryland with 570 jobs.
What do the OEWS percentiles mean for Astronomers?
They mark points in this occupation's pay distribution. One worker in ten earns $70,730 or less and one in ten earns $191,880 or more; the median, $132,170, is the wage of the worker exactly in the middle of the 1,560 counted jobs.