How much does a physicist make?
a year · about $83 an hour
A typical physicist in the United States makes $172,250 a year, about $83 an hour, about 3.4× a typical US worker (median, May 2025, US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
What do they do?
A physicist may set up a laser or other instrument, run an experiment, then use a computer to analyze measurements. They compare results with teammates and write a paper or explain their findings at a meeting.
Did you know? To find tau neutrinos, physicists sifted six million particle signatures down to 1,000 candidates—and analyzing the data took three years.
Is that a lot?
Compared with jobs you knowIf 100 people had this job
Most earn between $82,110 and $274,110How do you become one?
In the U.S., earn a physics bachelor’s, then usually a Ph.D. for research or university jobs; some federal entry jobs require only a bachelor’s. In graduate school, physicists can focus on a specialty such as cosmology.
School needed: Graduate degree or long training
Good for people who like figuring things out and building and doing
Why does pay differ?
In the U.S., experience and specialty can matter: senior physicists may do harder, more independent work, and specialized jobs can be in different industries. Employer type and location matter too; pay differs across healthcare, research, government, university jobs, and states.
Where does it pay most?
Highest in California ($207,490), lowest in Michigan ($94,520).
See every state
Top 5 and bottom 3 states, typical (median) yearly pay.
Jobs like this
Data table and sources
| Lower earner (10th from bottom) | Typical person (median) | Higher earner (10th from top) | People in this job |
|---|---|---|---|
| $82,110 | $172,250 | $274,110 | about 20,000 |
| State | Typical person (median) | People in this job |
|---|---|---|
| California | $207,490 | about 6,000 |
| Texas | $184,040 | about 580 |
| New York | $181,970 | about 1,000 |
| Maryland | $174,390 | about 1,000 |
| New Mexico | $165,340 | about 580 |
Official definition: Conduct research into physical phenomena, develop theories on the basis of observation and experiments, and devise methods to apply physical laws and theories. Excludes “Biochemists and Biophysicists” (19-1021).
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 (bls.gov); descriptions and related jobs from O*NET 31.0. Figures as of May 2025, full-time yearly pay (hourly × 2,080 hours). bls.gov/oes · O*NET OnLine
Pages used for the text
- www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/physicists-and-astronomers.htm
- www.onetonline.org/link/details/19-2012.00
- www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2015/article/wage-differences.htm
- www.aps.org/apsnews/2011/07/fermilab-direct-evidence-tau-neutrino
Data: US BLS OEWS, May 2025 · 1 USD = 150 JPY