Forensic Scientist Salary (August 2024)

Quoted Expert

Patricia Rankin

Average forensic scientist salary

$71,351

$34.3 hourly rate

Entry-level forensic scientist salary

$45,000 yearly salary

Updated June 25, 2024

How much does a forensic scientist make?

The average forensic scientist salary in the United States is $71,351. Forensic scientist salaries typically range between $45,000 and $112,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for forensic scientists is $34.3 per hour.

Forensic scientist salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Forensic scientists earn the highest average salary in Alaska.

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Forensic scientist salary by:

State
City
Company
Industry
Trends

Where can a Forensic Scientist earn more?

Compare salary by location

104k

84k

64k

44k

24k

Nebraska$92,039

Oklahoma City, OK$53,560

Forensic Scientist salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, Indeed, SalaryExpert, Comparably and Payscale, the average salary for a forensic scientist typically falls between $57,072 and $109,980.

zippia

$71,351yearly

indeed[1]

$66,555yearly

comparably[2]

$71,591yearly

Salary.com[3]

$109,980yearly

payscale[4]

$57,072yearly

SalaryExpert[5]

$81,592yearly

Average forensic scientist salary by state

The average forensic scientist salary in Alaska, California, and Utah are the highest in the U.S. The lowest average forensic scientist salary states are North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Georgia.

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Highest paying states for forensic scientists

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Alaska	$107,427	$51.65
2	North Dakota	$93,411	$44.91
3	Utah	$95,125	$45.73
4	Delaware	$84,437	$40.59
5	Missouri	$93,108	$44.76
6	Rhode Island	$84,152	$40.46
7	Connecticut	$84,806	$40.77
8	Maryland	$83,622	$40.20
9	Nebraska	$92,251	$44.35
10	Mississippi	$92,744	$44.59
11	New Hampshire	$81,629	$39.24
12	Maine	$81,602	$39.23
13	Vermont	$79,396	$38.17
14	West Virginia	$81,730	$39.29
15	Ohio	$81,506	$39.19
16	California	$96,156	$46.23
17	South Dakota	$73,015	$35.10
18	Nevada	$80,884	$38.89
19	New Jersey	$78,176	$37.58
20	Pennsylvania	$75,069	$36.09
21	Illinois	$76,390	$36.73
22	New Mexico	$72,533	$34.87
23	Kentucky	$77,448	$37.23
24	Massachusetts	$83,021	$39.91
25	Montana	$72,428	$34.82
26	South Carolina	$74,029	$35.59
27	Minnesota	$73,189	$35.19
28	District of Columbia	$83,199	$40.00
29	Wyoming	$66,733	$32.08
30	Washington	$79,695	$38.31
31	Virginia	$68,145	$32.76
32	Colorado	$74,138	$35.64
33	Louisiana	$73,384	$35.28
34	New York	$68,400	$32.88
35	Oregon	$69,903	$33.61
36	Wisconsin	$65,360	$31.42
37	Arizona	$68,826	$33.09
38	Hawaii	$61,284	$29.46
39	Iowa	$67,916	$32.65
40	North Carolina	$53,766	$25.85
41	Idaho	$61,392	$29.52
42	Indiana	$64,603	$31.06
43	Texas	$63,126	$30.35
44	Alabama	$62,747	$30.17
45	Michigan	$60,834	$29.25
46	Tennessee	$53,864	$25.90
47	Kansas	$50,487	$24.27
48	Georgia	$53,100	$25.53
49	Arkansas	$52,386	$25.19
50	Florida	$49,050	$23.58
51	Oklahoma	$53,170	$25.56

Top forensic scientist jobs near you

Highest paying cities for forensic scientists

The highest-paying cities for forensic scientists are Lincoln, NE, Bridgeport, CT, and Dover, DE.

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Lincoln, NE	$92,039	$44.25
2	Bridgeport, CT	$85,112	$40.92
3	Dover, DE	$84,342	$40.55
4	Baltimore, MD	$83,817	$40.30
5	Washington, DC	$83,256	$40.03
6	Vancouver, WA	$80,717	$38.81
7	Henderson, NV	$79,881	$38.40
8	Henderson, KY	$75,599	$36.35
9	Norristown, PA	$75,452	$36.27
10	Aurora, CO	$74,065	$35.61
11	Saint Paul, MN	$73,308	$35.24
12	Glendale, AZ	$68,996	$33.17
13	New Windsor, NY	$68,276	$32.83
14	Richmond, VA	$68,134	$32.76
15	Madison, WI	$64,920	$31.21
16	Indianapolis, IN	$64,444	$30.98
17	San Marcos, TX	$62,809	$30.20
18	Meridian, ID	$61,991	$29.80
19	Durham, NC	$54,798	$26.35
20	Oklahoma City, OK	$53,560	$25.75

Forensic Scientist salary details

A forensic scientist's salary ranges from $45,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $112,000 at the 90th percentile.

Forensic Scientist Salary (August 2024) - Zippia (2)

What is a forensic scientist's salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$112,000	$9,333	$54
75th Percentile	$90,000	$7,500	$43
Average	$71,351	$5,946	$34
25th Percentile	$56,000	$4,667	$27
10th Percentile	$45,000	$3,750	$22

Highest paying forensic scientist jobs

The highest paying types of forensic scientists are medical science liaison, senior scientist, and scientist.

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Research Fellow	$53,823	$4,485	$25.88	59,746
Laboratory Analyst	$44,024	$3,669	$21.17	44,074
Research Chemist	$75,843	$6,320	$36.46	53,769
Chemist	$64,961	$5,413	$31.23	20,221
Microbiologist	$54,620	$4,552	$26.26	11,444
Fingerprint Technician	$39,867	$3,322	$19.17	23,737

Top companies hiring forensic scientists now:

Quest Diagnostics Jobs (95)
BAE Systems Jobs (17)
PSEA Jobs (6)
Minnesota State Fair Jobs (5)
University of Wisconsin System Jobs (3)

Which companies pay forensic scientists the most?

Forensic scientist salaries at Alere and Abbott are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average forensic scientist salary at companies like Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics are highly competitive.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Alere	$99,228	$47.71
2	Abbott	$93,960	$45.17
3	Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc.	$86,830	$41.75
4	Quest Diagnostics	$83,140	$39.97
5	RTI International Metals	$80,603	$38.75
6	Pacific Architects and Engineers	$74,715	$35.92
7	Arapahoe County	$67,671	$32.53
8	Technical Associates	$66,342	$31.90
9	Anoka County	$65,250	$31.37
10	City of Scottsdale	$64,693	$31.10
11	Washington State University	$64,416	$30.97
12	SOS International	$63,750	$30.65
13	Colorado State Express	$63,040	$30.31
14	Minnesota State Fair	$58,522	$28.14
15	University of Wisconsin System	$57,622	$27.70
16	Alaska State Library	$57,215	$27.51
17	Kelly Services	$54,743	$26.32
18	The State of Oregon	$53,882	$25.90
19	City of Mesa	$53,289	$25.62
20	New York State Restaurant Association	$53,280	$25.62

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$78,000$77,000$76,000$75,000$74,000$73,000

MaleFemale

Forensic Scientist salary by industry

The average forensic scientist salary varies across industries:

The average forensic scientist salary in the health care industry is $81,611, the highest of any industry.
The average forensic scientist salary in the finance industry is $78,715.
Forensic scientists in the government industry earn an average salary of $53,275, the lowest of any industry.

Highest paying industries for forensic scientists

Rank	Industry	Average Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Health Care	$81,611	$39.24
2	Technology	$78,715	$37.84
3	Professional	$67,573	$32.49
4	Government	$53,275	$25.61

High Paying Forensic Scientist Jobs

Forensic Scientist salary trends

The average forensic scientist salary has risen by $9,904 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average forensic scientist earned $61,447 annually, but today, they earn $71,351 a year. That works out to a 7% change in pay for forensic scientists over the last decade.

Compare forensic scientist salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average forensic scientist salary over time

Compare forensic scientist salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Forensic Scientist salary by year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2024	$71,400	$34.30	+2.4%
2023	$69,700	$33.49	+1.6%
2022	$68,600	$32.97	+0.7%
2021	$68,100	$32.75	+1.9%
2020	$66,800	$32.13	+0.8%

Recently added forensic scientist salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
County of Cuyahoga	Forensic Scientist	Cleveland, OH	07/02/2023	$62,337
State of Oregon	Forensic Scientist 1 (Forensic Scientist Entry Underfill Option)-Field Investigation and Latent PR	Springfield, OR	06/30/2023	$80,136
State of Michigan	Forensic Scientist 9-P11-FSB/FSD/Lansing Laboratory-North/Toxicology Unit	Lansing, MI	06/30/2023	$47,195
Colorado State	CBI Forensic Scientist (Biological Sciences)	Denver, CO	06/11/2023	$89,232
Indy gov	Forensic Scientist-Drug Chemistry	Indianapolis, IN	06/09/2023	$63,048
Indy gov	Forensic Scientist-Drug Chemistry	Indianapolis, IN	06/09/2023	$63,048
State of Minnesota	Forensic Scientist 1	Saint Paul, MN	06/07/2023	$56,396
State of Arkansas	Forensic Scientist	Little Rock, AR	06/07/2023	$45,010
State of Washington	Forensic Scientist 3 (In-Training) Materials Analysis	Olympia, WA	06/07/2023	$54,492
State of Arkansas	Forensic Scientist	Little Rock, AR	06/07/2023	$45,010

Forensic Scientist salary FAQs

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Research Associate
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Associate Scientist
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Medical Science Liaison
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Postdoctoral Research Associate
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Scientist
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