[GCT]

Here's a recent article that claims the average salary of chemists with Bachelor's degrees annually is over $65,000. 

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/employment/84/pdf/8438salary.pdf


This one claims that it's ~$35.000, in fact one of the past articles I read (which also originates from the American Chemical Society) claimed that it was barely over $30,000. 

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/84/8445cov3.html

$65,000 dollars for a Bachelor degree in Chemistry?  Something's definitely amiss here, I would associate that value with the field of Chemical Engineering.  Search for careers in Chemistry through Careerbuilder.com or even with Chemjobs and the potential compensation for Chemists is not even nearly that high.

[Mitch]

One figure is for recent Bachelor degree chemists, the other is the median salary for a  Bachelor degree chemist.

[enahs]

The 35 corresponds to new chemist, the 65 corresponds to those that have been working in their field for a 'long' time.

If you read the article, it talks about how the chemistry employment field is getting better and better; it also goes into great lengths about the benefits they get. It also makes it clear that on average, over a period of time in the hard sciences, chemist get the most benefits and best pay raises.


The HTML page you linked to, is just one story from a C&EN publication a few months back. Scroll to the bottom of that page, and in the gray box you can see links to the other articles in that edition all about the chemical industry and jobs. The whole issues was about. All combined they have quite a bit of info, and it is all generally positive.

[GCT]

Still, there was a corresponding article a while back...it was actually posted by you Mitch, which discussed the median salary of a Chemist (all Chemists) as being a little over $30,000.  A search on Careerbuilder.com also agrees with this value, I wasn't able to find any propect that was over $40,000.  I recall some kind of a gold mining company, a while back, was hiring experienced chemists for a annual pay of ~62,000, but this was mainly because the work area was at a isolated region and they were having some trouble having people relocate there.

What could a Bachelor's degree level Chemist be hired for that would warrant a pay of +$60,000?  A best, he or she would be a trained instrumental technician (a specialist that fixes spectrophotometers for instance).

[enahs]

A bachelors degree in chemistry will not get you a high paying job fresh out of college, but it can lead to a decent pay job (unless you get lots of internships and work experience during your college career). The higher paying jobs with just a bachelors degree in chemistry require lots of experience (and I routinely see those in the range of near $100,000 US a year, but those tend to be more administrative positions not actual technical positions). You also have a lot of headway and opportunities to advance your career with a bachelors degree in chemistry, and get those pay raises and better jobs (it is in fact, in that respects one of the if not the best field of all the hard sciences)

However, a bachelors degree in chemical engineering you can easily start at over $60,000 (and that ACS article posted to includes chemical engineers in it). However, your career path is limited, not a tremendous room for advancement and pay raises (but still plenty, just not a lot compared to a chemistry degree/job). Also though, with just a bachelors in chemical engineering and fresh out of college with little experience most of your jobs you will find will tend to be quality control jobs in some kind of manufacturing plant. Nothing wrong with those, but not what most people get into chemistry for.

Chemical engineering is the best way to go for the quickest way to the most money straight out of college; but the jobs will be all industrial/commercial. A chemistry degree will give you more opportunity in the long run, but will be a slow start with little experience (and will typically be more challenging mentally, and be more “chemistry related”.)

[Donaldson Tan]

However, a bachelors degree in chemical engineering you can easily start at over $60,000 (and that ACS article posted to includes chemical engineers in it). However, your career path is limited, not a tremendous room for advancement and pay raises (but still plenty, just not a lot compared to a chemistry degree/job). Also though, with just a bachelors in chemical engineering and fresh out of college with little experience most of your jobs you will find will tend to be quality control jobs in some kind of manufacturing plant. Nothing wrong with those, but not what most people get into chemistry for.

My undergraduate major is chemical engineering. Fresh chemical engineering graduates don't start with US$60K (£31K) in the UK, unless they work in the petrochemical or oil and gas sector. UK pharmaceuticals pay fresh chemical engineering undergraduates US$54K (£28K). The other sectors in the chemical industry pay fresh chemical engineering graduates pay US$48K (£24K). Consultancy firms such as Accenture pay fresh chemical engineering undergraduates as much as the oil and gas sector does in the UK.

I am joining the investment banking sector after graduation. My starting pay is US$70K (£36K).

[mike]

In Austalia:

Chemistry,

Bachelor = $35 000
Masters  = $45 000
PhD       = $72 400

$1 AUS =    0.77 US
$1 AUS =    0.39 GBP

[constant thinker]

Wow for PhD that's only $56,008.64 USD (thanks google). That's low.

One thing to keep in mind though is the cost of living is probably different than it is in America, or other countries for that matter. Actually within America it differs throughout the countries. Some people commute 1-2 hours from up state New York into New York City because the cost of living is much lower up state in the rural areas, but pay is high in NYC due to the high cost of living in the city. Location, Location, Location.

[mike]

Yes no doubt the cost of living in Australia is lower.

In Adelaide: A four bedroom house in the inner suburbs with a bit of land is about $300-400k, a three bedroom about $200-$250k, only 5 years ago you could get a three bedroom house for under $100k. Petrol is about $1 a litre. Rent is about $180-250 pw for a house.

In contrast though, professors get about $120 000, managers make about $80-100k, football players make $200-500k, the VC of the Universities make about $300-500k. TA's in chemistry make about $28 per hour.

Wow for PhD that's only $56,008.64 USD (thanks google). That's low

By the way, I would be quite happy with $56k US a year..

[constant thinker]

Actually gas is more expensive. Gas (petrol) is more expensive in most, if not all, the European countries that don't produce large amounts of oil.

I think the biggest reason is taxes. I saw somewhere a figure that said in the UK about 2/3 of the cost of gas is taxes.