Via C&EN, this news (article by Delger Erdenesanaa and Seamus Murphy):
The median salary for US chemists and chemical engineers who are members of the American Chemical Society rose by 9% to $120,000 in 2024, compared with $110,000 in 2023, according to the latest salary survey conducted by ACS. The ACS survey collected responses from 3,097 members between April 14 and June 2, 2025, regarding 2024 salaries. Chemists who responded to the survey had a median salary of $115,000 in 2024 compared with $109,000 in 2023, while chemical engineers who responded had a median salary of $155,000 in 2024 compared with nearly $144,000 in 2023.The increase in the median salary for chemists seen in survey results for 2024 compared with 2023 is in line with inflation and cost-of-living increases, according to a spokesperson with the ACS research department.That isn't always the case. Adjusted for inflation, the median salaries of doctorate and bachelor’s degree holders were about 6% and 9% higher, respectively, in 2024 compared with 1985. The median salary of master’s degree holders was about 1.9% lower in 2024 compared with 1985, when adjusting for inflation.Most respondents work in academia or industry, and most have a doctoral degree. The median salaries from this survey were higher than the median salaries of $84,150 for chemists and $121,860 for chemical engineers reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2024.ACS publishes C&EN, but C&EN remains editorially independent of ACS. C&EN does not play a role in designing the survey questions or conducting the survey. C&EN requested specific data from the ACS salary survey team, who analyzed the raw data.Of the respondents who disclosed their demographic details, men continue to receive higher salaries than women and nonbinary people. Asian and White respondents had higher salaries than people of other races. Averaged across the whole dataset, median salaries were highest in New England and on the West Coast.
This data is pretty straightforward, and I would encourage you all to read it (especially if you haven't seen this data set before.) It's pretty much the same as years before, but I need to look at it more thoroughly some more. Nevertheless, read the whole thing.
"median salaries of $84,150 for chemists and $121,860 for chemical engineers"
ReplyDeleteSigh. When I was choosing a college major, engineers drove trains as far as I knew. I never really understood what that word meant until I was in grad school. I feel like I never got to make an informed decision of whether science or engineering was right for me.
I was surprised to learn that a young friend is taking an introductory engineering course in high school. I hope this idea catches on.