Hydrologists Salary and Pay
How much do Hydrologists make?
In May 2024 the middle Hydrologists worker earned $92,060 a year, the average was $98,130, and the survey counted 5,720 jobs. The 25th percentile is $73,330 and the 75th is $114,940.
What Hydrologists actually pay, from the federal wage survey: a $92,060 median, the full percentile ladder, every state's table, and the metros where the jobs and the money sit, on one page.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Hourly figures use the BLS full-time convention of 2,080 hours a year. The converter loads this occupation's own ladder, median $92,060 first; type any offer into the custom box to price it against the same year.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $60,010 | $28.85 |
| 25th percentile | $73,330 | $35.25 |
| Median (50th) | $92,060 | $44.26 |
| 75th percentile | $114,940 | $55.26 |
| 90th percentile | $139,420 | $67.03 |
The five rows are five different workers in the same occupation, from the 10th percentile ($60,010) to the 90th ($139,420). 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
The occupation employed 5,720 people in May 2024, 0.00% of every job BLS counted. California is the largest employer at 670 jobs, and the leading three states between them hold 22.6% of the workforce. Concentration peaks in Montana, whose location quotient of 8.96 says this work is 8.96 times as dense there as it is nationwide.
Read the ladder as a career path in numbers: $73,330 at the 25th percentile, $92,060 at the middle, $114,940 at the 75th. The full 10-to-90 range runs $79,410, a ratio of 2.3 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, 36 of them, sorted by jobs. The pay leader by median is Maryland at $134,410; the jobs leader is California:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 670 | 0.0 | 1.00 | $119,540 | $118,960 |
| Arizona | 320 | 0.1 | 2.67 | $82,740 | $76,420 |
| Minnesota | 300 | 0.1 | 2.76 | $91,190 | $90,500 |
| Oregon | 280 | 0.1 | 3.83 | $93,810 | $92,750 |
| Colorado | 270 | 0.1 | 2.53 | $121,920 | $116,000 |
| Washington | 270 | 0.1 | 2.02 | $102,530 | $100,000 |
| Ohio | 260 | 0.0 | 1.28 | $92,340 | $93,520 |
| Florida | 250 | 0.0 | 0.67 | $76,740 | $71,290 |
| Texas | 250 | 0.0 | 0.49 | $91,110 | $76,360 |
| Pennsylvania | 230 | 0.0 | 1.02 | $94,150 | $94,310 |
| Nevada | 180 | 0.1 | 3.10 | $117,290 | $97,430 |
| New York | 180 | 0.0 | 0.50 | $90,960 | $84,320 |
| Idaho | 170 | 0.2 | 5.31 | $79,980 | $74,960 |
| Montana | 170 | 0.3 | 8.96 | $88,520 | $80,690 |
| Wisconsin | 170 | 0.1 | 1.56 | $82,530 | $76,460 |
| Massachusetts | 110 | 0.0 | 0.82 | $129,280 | $116,750 |
| New Mexico | 110 | 0.1 | 3.57 | $94,350 | $96,660 |
| South Carolina | 110 | 0.0 | 1.33 | $70,450 | $61,240 |
| Utah | 100 | 0.1 | 1.57 | $94,710 | $89,310 |
| Illinois | 90 | 0.0 | 0.41 | $91,650 | $79,790 |
| Maryland | 70 | 0.0 | 0.73 | $140,520 | $134,410 |
| New Jersey | 70 | 0.0 | 0.43 | $112,970 | $115,770 |
| Missouri | 60 | 0.0 | 0.52 | $103,680 | $109,970 |
| Indiana | 50 | 0.0 | 0.43 | $88,840 | $82,970 |
| Iowa | 50 | 0.0 | 0.81 | $91,800 | $84,880 |
| New Hampshire | 50 | 0.1 | 1.84 | n/p | n/p |
| Wyoming | 50 | 0.2 | 4.93 | $94,460 | $91,890 |
| Georgia | 40 | 0.0 | 0.24 | n/p | n/p |
| Virginia | 40 | 0.0 | 0.25 | $114,410 | $125,900 |
| Alabama | 30 | 0.0 | 0.42 | $90,830 | $86,750 |
| Hawaii | 30 | 0.0 | 1.32 | $96,040 | $95,000 |
| Michigan | 30 | 0.0 | 0.19 | $107,210 | $111,860 |
| North Dakota | 30 | 0.1 | 2.05 | $96,710 | $98,430 |
| Oklahoma | 30 | 0.0 | 0.53 | $94,820 | $104,330 |
| Louisiana | n/p | n/p | n/p | $103,140 | $96,180 |
| Vermont | n/p | n/p | n/p | $84,480 | $82,450 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Hydrologists stands number 748 by employment and number 159 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 9% more than its group median, and it supplies 0.4% of the group's 1,446,780 jobs. In 18 of the 34 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $92,060, 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
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI is the largest metro employer with 220 jobs, 3.8% of the national total. The first table ranks metros by employment; the second ranks them by mean pay among metros with at least 500 jobs in the occupation, because a three-person metro can top a pay table by accident.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 220 | $92,250 | $90,500 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | 180 | $85,260 | $75,100 |
| Columbus, OH | 140 | n/p | n/p |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 130 | $93,950 | $84,320 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 120 | $124,630 | $125,670 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | 120 | $113,410 | $104,270 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 110 | $94,460 | $80,800 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 110 | $117,720 | $107,440 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | 100 | $77,880 | $74,260 |
| Columbia, SC | 100 | $67,900 | $61,240 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
Budget arithmetic on the median: $7,672 a month before tax, $3,541 biweekly, $1,770 weekly. Moving from the 25th percentile ($73,330) to the 75th ($114,940) is worth $41,610 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 $101,266 would sit between the median ($92,060) and the 75th percentile ($114,940), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $73,330, is $18,730 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: Food Scientists and Technologists, Agricultural Technicians, Food Science Technicians, Epidemiologists, Geological Technicians, Except Hydrologic Technicians, Foresters. Medians there are computed identically, so the comparison is apples to apples; the full set lives on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median salary for Hydrologists?
$92,060 a year ($44.26), the middle wage among 5,720 counted workers in the BLS May 2024 estimates. The 75th percentile is $114,940 and the 90th is $139,420.
Where are Hydrologists jobs concentrated?
By headcount, California leads with 670 jobs; by concentration, Montana leads with a location quotient of 8.96, meaning the occupation is 8.96 times as dense there as nationally.
What do the top 10% of Hydrologists earn?
$139,420 a year or more. The gap between the 90th percentile and the median ($92,060) is the size of the senior and specialist premium in this occupation.
How does EveryCalc get Hydrologists pay data?
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS bulk files for May 2024 (national, state, and metropolitan), downloaded November 5, 2026. Nothing on this page is self-reported by workers or scraped from job postings.