Wildlife Biologists and Zoologists

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2006 the median annual income for wildlife biologists and zoologists--biologists specializing in the study of animals--was $53,300. The lowest-paid biologists in this group earned less than $32,800, while the highest-paid earned more than $84,580. Job growth from 2006 through 2016 for wildlife biologists and zoologists was expected to be 9 percent, about the same as average job growth for all U.S. occupations.
  
  

Microbiologists

• Median annual incomes for microbiologists, biologists who study microscopic organisms, were $57,980 in 2006. The lowest-paid microbiologists earned less than $35,460, while the highest paid earned more than $108,270. From 2006 through 2016, the number of jobs available to microbiologists was expected to grow 11 percent.
  
  

Biochemists and Biophysicists

• Biochemists and biophysicists, who study the intersection of biology with chemistry or physics, are among the higher-paid biological scientists, with annual earnings averaging $76,320 in 2006. The highest paid among this group earned more than $129,510, and the lowest paid earned less than $40,820. Job growth from 2006 through 2016 was expected to be robust for biochemists and biophysicists, at 16 percent.
  
  

Other Biological Scientists' Salaries

• In 2007, the federal government paid physiologists $100,745, geneticists $91,470 and general biological scientists $72,146. Physiologists study processes such as growth and reproduction in living organisms, and geneticists study hereditary information and processes. Ecologists, biological scientists who investigate interactions between living organisms and their environments, working for the federal government in 2007 earned $76,511. Biologists specializing in the study of plants--botanists--employed by the federal government earned $67,218.
  
  

Other Biological Scientists' Job Outlook

• Job growth among these other groups of biological scientists is not expected to be as great as for wildlife biologists, zoologists, microbiologists, biochemists and biophysicists. Between 2006 and 2016, the number of jobs for other biological scientists is expected to rise by only 4 percent.