Occupational Employment and Wages, 2002

19-2012 Physicists

Conduct research into the phases of physical phenomena, develop theories and laws on the basis of observation and experiments, and devise methods to apply laws and theories to industry and other fields.

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
State profile for this occupation
Metropolitan area profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
11,480	5.0 %	$42.08	$87,530	1.6 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$24.21	$32.06	$40.88	$51.64	$62.14
Annual Wage (2)	$50,350	$66,680	$85,020	$107,410	$129,250

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment rank	Wage rank
Scientific research and development services	4,250	$44.53	$92,630	1	6
Federal government (OES designation)	3,410	$42.35	$88,090	2	8
General medical and surgical hospitals	630	$47.52	$98,840	3	4
Architectural and engineering services	340	$41.10	$85,480	4	9
State government (OES designation)	270	$26.82	$55,790	5	14

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment rank	Wage rank
Medical and diagnostic laboratories	60	$59.52	$123,810	12	1
Offices of physicians	90	$58.60	$121,880	10	2
Management and technical consulting services	140	$52.40	$108,990	8	3
General medical and surgical hospitals	630	$47.52	$98,840	3	4
Commercial and service industry machinery	(6)	$44.75	$93,070	(6)	5

State profile for this occupation: Top

States with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of State employment	Wage rank within State
District of Columbia	510	$45.42	$94,470	0.086%	12
Maryland	970	$45.08	$93,770	0.040%	16
Virginia	760	$43.01	$89,460	0.022%	20
Colorado	350	$43.03	$89,500	0.016%	18
Rhode Island	70	$43.21	$89,880	0.015%	18

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of State employment	Wage rank within State
Connecticut	150	$63.89	$132,890	0.009%	6
Massachusetts	390	$50.55	$105,150	0.012%	16
Texas	140	$49.14	$102,220	0.002%	15
District of Columbia	510	$45.42	$94,470	0.086%	12
Maryland	970	$45.08	$93,770	0.040%	16

Metropolitan area profile for this occupation: Top

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of MSA employment
Boulder-Longmont, CO PMSA	190	$46.27	$96,230	0.120%
Madison, WI MSA	280	$26.15	$54,380	0.101%
Panama City, FL MSA	60	$40.68	$84,610	0.097%
Albuquerque, NM MSA	250	$45.53	$94,690	0.073%
Las Cruces, NM MSA	40	$39.54	$82,250	0.069%

Top paying Metropolitan areas for this occupation:

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of MSA employment
Hartford, CT MSA	(6)	$89.46	$186,080	(6)
Boston, MA-NH PMSA	220	$52.74	$109,690	0.012%
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI PMSA	(6)	$50.26	$104,540	(6)
Syracuse, NY MSA	(6)	$48.31	$100,490	(6)
San Jose, CA PMSA	80	$46.74	$97,220	0.009%

About 2002 National, State, and Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

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These estimates are calculated with data collected from employers in all industry sectors in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in every State and the District of Columbia. The top five employment and wage figures are provided above. The complete list is available in the downloadable Excel files(XLS).

Percentile wage estimates show the percentage of workers in an occupation that earn less than a given wage and the percentage that earn more. The median wage is the 50th percentile wage estimate—50 percent of workers earn less than the median and 50 percent of workers earn more than the median. More about percentile wages.

(1) Data for detailed occupations does not sum to the totals because the totals include data for occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.

(2) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.

(3) The relative standard error (RSE) is a measure of the reliability of a survey statistic. The smaller the relative standard error, the more precise the estimate.

(6) Estimates not released.

All Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations

2002 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2002 Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2002 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

List of Occupations in SOC Code Number Order

List of Occupations in Alphabetical Order

Download 2002 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates in Zipped Excel files

Technical notes

 

Last Modified Date: November 26, 2003