Physics Salaries Rise

Despite the slump in the economy, the salaries of PhD physicists in the US grew significantly faster than inflation from 2000 to 2002, according to the American Institute of Physics, which biennially polls physicists and other scientists who belong to its 10 member societies.

In 2002, the median salary for PhD survey respondents was $87 000, up 11.5% from 2000. Those working in hospitals and medical services had the highest median salary, $108 000, followed by $104 000 for physicists at federally funded R&D centers. Remaining at the low end of the income spectrum were physicists employed at four-year colleges. Those physicists earned a median nine-month salary of $55 000—up 10% from two years earlier.

Academic physicists who earned their PhD up to five years before the survey and were not in postdoctoral positions reported median salaries for 9- to 10-month university contracts that were 17% higher than people in similar positions two years earlier.

Broken down by geographical region, the highest median salary for PhD physicists across all sectors of employment was $96 000, in the Pacific region—Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington. The lowest median salary was $70 000, in the West North Central states—Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota—where the highest proportion of PhD physicists in the country, 70%, work in academe.

More than a third of the survey respondents added about $11 000 to their annual pay through consulting, summer research and teaching, and other sources of supplemental income. Unemployment among PhD physics society members increased slightly from 2000 to 2002, but at 1.2%, it remained lower than 1.6%, the nationwide unemployment rate for PhDs across all fields.

Additional salary and employment information may be purchased online at http://store.aip.org/salaries/ . Twelve tables break down salary data by employment sector and years of experience. The tables may be purchased individually ($4 apiece for members of AIP member societies and $5 for nonmembers) or as a set ($20 for members and $25 for nonmembers).