Median pay · Arizona
$130,500A year, or $63 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $102,160 | $49 |
| 25th percentile | $110,430 | $53 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $130,500 | $63 |
| 75th percentile | $197,260 | $95 |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $242,730 | $117 |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $159,730 | $77 |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in ArizonaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$130,500
- Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$62.74
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$8,133 a month at an effective rate of 25.2%.$97,594 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Arizona sit at 100.7 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$129,622
- Against the national medianThe national median is $172,250.24.2% below
- Jobs countedA concentration of 0.29 against the nation's 1.00.120
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
- Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
What lands in the bank
Tax year 2026 · InteractiveEstimated on the median salary of $130,500 in Arizona, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
What $130,500 is worth in Arizona
Prices in Arizona sit at 100.7 against a national average of 100, so $130,500 earned here buys what $129,622 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 106.8 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Arizona takes in $79,964, so this occupation's median is 1.63 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. 71% less concentrated in Arizona than in the country as a whole.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for physicists in Arizona
BLS does not publish exact figures above $239,200 a year ($115.00 an hour). At least one percentile in Arizona reaches that cap, so the top of the range is higher than the table can show.
One median paycheck here is 1.6 times the median household income in Arizona ($79,964), a figure that counts every earner in the home.
Even the lowest-paid 10% of physicists in Arizona make at least $102,160 a year.
The median in Arizona is 24.2% below the national median of $172,250.
Common questions
Physicists pay in Arizona, answered
How much do physicists make in Arizona?
The median wage for physicists in Arizona is $130,500 a year, or $62.74 an hour.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average Physicists salary in Arizona?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for physicists in Arizona is $159,730 a year. The median is $130,500.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the hourly pay for physicists in Arizona?
The median hourly wage is $62.74. At a full-time year that lines up with about $130,500 a year.
BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.
What is the starting salary for physicists in Arizona?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Arizona, the lowest-paid 10% of physicists earn under $102,160 a year and a quarter earn under $110,430 ($49.11 and $53.09 an hour).
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for physicists in Arizona?
The overall salary range for physicists in Arizona spans from $102,160 for the bottom 10% to $242,730 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $110,430 and $197,260 a year, with the overall median at $130,500.
What is the take-home pay for physicists in Arizona?
On the median wage of $130,500, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $97,594 a year, or roughly $8,133 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 25.2%.
Arizona takes $2,869 of it in state income tax.
How much does physicists make a month in Arizona?
On the median annual salary of $130,500, estimated take-home pay is roughly $8,133 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.
For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $3,754 net.
Do physicists earn more in Arizona than in the rest of the country?
No. The median in Arizona is 24.2% below the national median of $172,250.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Arizona sit at 100.7 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $130,500 a good salary in Arizona?
It is 1.63 times the median household income of $79,964. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Arizona run at 100.7 against a national average of 100, with rents at 106.8, so $130,500 here buys about what $129,622 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid physicists earn in Arizona?
The top tenth earn $242,730 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $102,160.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Arizona someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many physicists are there in Arizona?
The survey counted 120 of these jobs in Arizona for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 71% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.