City of San Jose / Biologist
Role across City of San Jose
Biologist
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
2 people hold the Biologist role across 1 department in City of San Jose, with a median total compensation of $156,894.
- Employees
- 2
- Median pay
- $156,894
- Departments
- 1
- Cross-jurisdiction
- —
Compared with the local labor market
Biologist pay vs. the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area
Across all employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area, the median wage for Biological Scientists, All Other — about 610 people — is $133,790. City of San Jose pays a median base salary of $130,514 for this role, 2% below that figure — about the 47th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where City of San Jose sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Biological Scientists, All Other across every employer in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of San Jose’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Biological Scientists, All Other — about 55,850 people — is $98,920. City of San Jose’s median base salary is 32% above that national figure, about the 76th 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 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at City of San Jose is $156,894, 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 jurisdictions
Biologist pay in other jurisdictions
Where Biologists are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Biologist roles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.