City of Buffalo / Water Filtration Plant / Associate Chemist
Job-title file
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
1 employees hold this title in Water Filtration Plant. Median total compensation for the role is $72,065, above the department median of $59,438.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, the median wage for Chemists — about 320 people — is $84,510. Water Filtration Plant pays a median base salary of $51,456 for this role, 39% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Chemists across every employer in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Water Filtration Plant’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Chemists — about 82,770 people — is $91,240. Water Filtration Plant’s median base salary is 44% below that national figure, below the 10th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Water Filtration Plant is $72,065, 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.
Record list
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Associate Chemist/Water Filtration Plant
Source-specific fields
Nalyja Wolfe holds the role of Associate Chemist at Water Filtration Plant within Public Safety. In 2026, their total compensation was $72,065.