Occupation / job
Hydrologists
Median annual pay. Half earn less than this.
Hourly at a standard 2,080-hour year. We do not yet have unpaid-time or cost data for this, so this is not an adjusted figure.
The middle half. A quarter earn below this range.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 · view
What this figure cannot tell you
It covers people EMPLOYED in this occupation. Anyone who trained for it and was never hired is not in the median above, and neither is anyone doing the work self-employed. No verified count of qualified people exists for this occupation, so this page shows none rather than an estimate. Why that matters · The occupations where we could source it
Who this suits
$96,600 against a $50,020 national midpoint is 93% more, or $22.39 an hour. Almost nothing pays this much more without a long, expensive or restricted route in — read that route before reading the number again.
With 5,850 employed nationally, Hydrologists is a small occupation. Small occupations are quiet: few postings, slow turnover, and a real chance that the person you would replace is not going anywhere.
These roles suit people who want to work on physical systems at a level of rigour that industry rarely funds, and who accept the career shape that comes with that.
No verified preparation time is on file for Hydrologists. The wage survey behind every figure on this page asks employers what they pay, not what they required, so the honest answer here is that we do not know.
Who should not do this
A quarter earn below $77,210 and a quarter above $122,830: a 1.6x ratio, $45,620 between the ends. That is an ordinary working spread, which also means experience and location explain most of it and there is no shortcut through the middle.
Even at the 25th percentile Hydrologists pays $77,210, $27,190 clear of the $50,020 national midpoint. Almost the entire distribution sits above the typical American wage, which is rare and worth weighing against the entry cost.
Avoid it if you cannot follow the work geographically; the facilities are where they are.
There is no failure rate on this page because there is nothing honest to divide by. BLS counted 5,850 people employed as Hydrologists; it did not count the people who trained for it and are doing something else, and a rate built without that denominator would be a number we made up.
What the spread tells you
1.6x between $77,210 and $122,830 is the ordinary shape of an occupation where experience and region both matter and neither dominates. $96,600 is a fair expectation by mid-career, not on day one.
In cash terms the middle half of Hydrologists runs $77,210 to $122,830 — $45,620 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $96,600.
Getting to $122,830, the 75th percentile, is worth $26,230 a year more than the $96,600 midpoint and $45,620 more than the $77,210 a quarter of Hydrologists settle for.
$26,230 separates $96,600 from the $122,830 top quarter, while only $19,390 separates it from $77,210. The range leans upward, which means the middle of Hydrologists has more room above it than a symmetric reading of the median would suggest.
Converted to an hourly rate over a full-time year: $37.12 at the bottom quarter, $46.44 at the midpoint, $59.05 at the top quarter. The typical American job works out at $24.04 on the same basis.
What these figures are, and what they are not
This is payroll data: it comes from employers, about people they employ. Anyone doing the work of Hydrologists for themselves is not in it, and there is no reason to assume $96,600 describes them.
The hourly number on this page is $96,600 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Hydrologists, so it is arithmetic rather than an effective rate.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else