Salaries for Geoscience-related Occupations Increase by 1.1% between 2009 and 2010

Date updated: 2011-09-07
Data Brief 2011-009
Written and compiled by Leila Gonzales for AGI, September 2011

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Despite the lagging U.S. economy, salaries for aggregated geoscience-related occupations increased by 1.1 percent between 2009 and 2010. Aggregated salaries for all life, physical and social science occupations decreased by 0.9 percent while salaries for all U.S. occupations only increased by 0.2 percent between 2009 and 2010. (Note, all salaries were normalized to 2010 dollars).

In 2010, the top salaries for geoscience-related occupations were for natural science managers ($129,320), petroleum engineers ($127,970), and engineering managers ($125,900), and geoscientists ($93,380). Mean annual salaries for environmental scientists ($67,810) were $1,420 greater than national average for other science occupations.

Mean annual salaries of geoscience professions (1999-2010). Source: AGI Geoscience Workforce Program, data derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.

Mean annual salaries for the majoirty of geoscience-related occupations increased more rapidly than for other science occupations between 2001 and 2010, except for environmental engineers. Additionally, salary growth between 2009 and 2010 increased for the all geoscience occupations except for environmental scientists and geoscientists (-1.3%), and natural science managers (-0.2%). (Note, all salaries were normalized to 2010 dollars).

Percent change in mean annual salaries for gesocience professions. Source: AGI Geoscience Workforce Program, data derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.

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