The Salary of a Biological Physiologist
From mayflies that live for a day, to baobab trees which exist over centuries, all living organisms undergo a life cycle, the process by which an entity is born, develops and dies. It is this life cycle that physiologists study. They may specialize in a single species or a group of plants or animals, and analyze how they interact with their environments. Salary levels for the role are comparable with those of biological scientists working in other fields.
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Average Salary
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For the purposes of its national survey of employment trends carried out in May 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classified physiologists alongside other biological scientists, such as ecologists. It reported that the mean annual salary across the occupational group was $71,310, which is the same as $34.28 an hour. Those in the top 10 percent of earners received wages in excess of $102,300 per year, while their counterparts in the bottom 10 percent earned less than $38,780.
Salary by Industry
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The federal executive branch employs the largest numbers of biological scientists such as physiologists, according to the bureau’s figures. It put the mean annual salary within this sector of the industry at $73,530. At state government level, the rate was $64,530. Positions within scientific research and development services paid a yearly mean of $77,050, while those in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and medicine were reported at $74,670. Physiologists working in academia – colleges, universities and professional schools earned a mean of $59,200.
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Salary by Location
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The bureau listed Maryland as the most lucrative state for a biological scientist such as physiologists to work in, with an annual mean of $93,330. Main and Virginia were close behind with similar pay rates -- $86,680 and $84,450, respectively – while New Jersey and Connecticut completed the top five with respective means of $78,550 and $78,250. Washington and Texas had comparable pay rates, with respective means of $67,540 and $67,350, while Montana was among the locations with the lowest rates, a yearly wage of just $58,920.
Outlook
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment opportunities for biological scientists of all kinds, including physiologists, will increase by approximately 21 percent over the period from 2008 to 2018. This is a faster growth rate than is expected of the nation as a whole across all jobs, put at between 7 and 13 percent through 2018. The continued development of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries will cause primary spurts for this growth, and should mean that wage levels for biological physiologists remain competitive.
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