Utah / Department of Natural Resources / Wildlife Biologist II
Job-title file
Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.
83 employees hold this title in Department of Natural Resources. Median total compensation for the role is $76,495, above the department median of $12,045.
What the records show
How total compensation varies among the 83 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in Utah, the median wage for Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists — about 370 people — is $73,920. Department of Natural Resources pays a median base salary of $43,848 for this role, 41% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists across every employer in Utah, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Department of Natural Resources’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists — about 18,120 people — is $76,780. Department of Natural Resources’s median base salary is 43% 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 Utah range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 154 of 209 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 Department of Natural Resources is $70,937, 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
Wildlife Biologist II is held in 2 Utah departments. In Department of Natural Resources, the median of $76,495 ranks #1 of 2.
Median total compensation for the Wildlife Biologist II role in other Utahdepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 4 jurisdictions. In Utah, the median of $66,725 ranks #1 of 4. See Wildlife Biologist across all of Utah →
Median total compensation for comparable Wildlife Biologistroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
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Wildlife Biologist II/Department of Natural Resources
Source-specific fields
At Department of Natural Resources, Makeda Hanson serves as a Wildlife Biologist II within Comp & Excess Pool. Their 2018 pay totaled $2,841.
Wildlife Biologist II/Department of Natural Resources
Source-specific fields
Denton Nielson holds the role of Wildlife Biologist II at Department of Natural Resources within Dnr Wildlife Resources. In 2019, their total compensation was $45.
Wildlife Biologist II/Department of Natural Resources
Source-specific fields
Randall Oplinger holds the role of Wildlife Biologist II at Department of Natural Resources within Comp & Excess Pool. In 2017, their total compensation was -$0.