Compared with the local labor market
Soil Conservation pay vs. the United States
Across all employers in the United States, the median wage for Conservation Scientists — about 25,950 people — is $73,010. Department of Agriculture pays a median base salary of $79,839 for this role, 9% above that figure — about the 59th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Department of Agriculture sits in the local pay range
$47,550
$57,700
$73,010
$91,560
$110,410
Department of Agriculture median · $79,839
The bar is the range of annual wages for Conservation Scientists across every employer in the United States, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Agriculture’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
Computed over the 4,737 of 4,767 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Department of Agriculture is $80,573, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
This role across U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense)
Soil Conservation is held in 3 U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense) departments. In Department of Agriculture, the median of $80,573 ranks #3 of 3.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Soil Conservation role in other U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense)departments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.