Compared with the local labor market
Environmental Specialist 1 pay vs. Minnesota
Across all employers in Minnesota, the median wage for Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health — about 2,260 people — is $88,000. Pollution Control Agency pays a median base salary of $79,644 for this role, 9% below that figure — about the 42nd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Pollution Control Agency sits in the local pay range
$35,510
$61,570
$88,000
$105,850
$133,570
Pollution Control Agency median · $79,644
The bar is the range of annual wages for Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health across every employer in Minnesota, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Pollution Control Agency’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health — about 89,250 people — is $82,220. Pollution Control Agency’s median base salary is 3% below that national figure, about the 46th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$52,520
$64,490
$82,220
$107,970
$140,010
Pollution Control Agency median · $79,644
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 Minnesota range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 319 of 356 people in this role paid at least $25,000in 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 Pollution Control Agency is $76,687, 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.