The salary of a Chemist I in the United States varies depending on several factors, including experience, location, education level, marketing trend and company sizes.
As of April 01, 2025, the average hourly pay of Chemist I in the United States is $31. While Salary.com is seeing that Chemist I salary in the US can go up to $38 or down to $24, but most earn between $27 and $35. Salary.com shows the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of Chemist I in the United States.
| Annual Salary |
Monthly Pay |
Weekly Pay |
Hourly Wage |
|
| 75th Percentile | $35 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
| Average | $31 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
| 25th Percentile | $27 | $2 | $1 | $0 |
As of April 01, 2025, Salary.com is seeing that an entry-level Chemist I with under 1 year experience makes about $64,618. With less than 2 years of experience, a mid-level Chemist I makes around $65,454. After 2-4 years, the Chemist I pay rises to about $67,047. Those senior Chemist I with 5-8 years of experience earn roughly $67,366, and those Chemist I having 8 years or more experience is expected to earn about $67,578 on average.
| Levels | Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level Chemist I | $64,618 |
| Intermediate Level Chemist I | $65,454 |
| Senior Level Chemist I | $67,047 |
| Specialist Level Chemist I | $67,366 |
| Expert Level Chemist I | $67,578 |
| Entry Level | 1% |
| Mid Level | 0% |
| Senior Level | 3% |
| Top Level | 3% |
| Experienced | 4% |
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from state to state due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Chemist I is $71,962 in California and in Massachusetts, the average annual salary goes to $71,003. While in New Jersey, a Chemist I earns $70,716 per year.
What Am I Worth?
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from city to city due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Chemist I in San Francisco, CA is $81,481 and in New York, NY, the average annual salary goes to $75,609. While a Chemist I earns $72,764 per year in Boston, MA.
For those exploring the changing dynamics of Chemist I salaries, Salary.com offers detailed insights through our Job Trending in CA Labor Market analysis. As of April 01, 2025, our research highlights a notable shift in Chemist I compensation over the past six years. For instance, the median salary has moved from $54,738 in 2023 to about $54,710 in 2024 (for a comprehensive analysis of Chemist I salary trends, click here). It's crucial to consider several elements, including geographical location, experience level, industry demand, and economic development, as they play a significant role in influencing salary variations.
Salary.com job board provides millions of Chemist I information for you to search for. Click on search button below to see Chemist I job openings or enter a new job title here.
Here are companies hiring for Chemist I and their salaries, click below for more details.
| Core Compensation | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Base Salary | $65,242 | 69.3% | ||
| Bonus | $0 | 0.0% | ||
| Value of Benefits | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Social Security | $4,991 | 5.3% | ||
| 401K/403B | $2,740 | 2.9% | ||
| Disability | $1,305 | 1.4% | ||
| Healthcare | $8,352 | 8.9% | ||
| Pension | $3,523 | 3.7% | ||
| Time Off | $8,030 | 8.5% | ||
| Total Compensation | $94,183 | 100% | ||
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| No Diploma | 0.5% |
| High School | 0.7% |
| Associates | 1.7% |
| Bachelors | 73.1% |
| Masters | 16.4% |
| Doctorate | 7.6% |
What Am I Worth?
Evaluates the chemical and physical properties of various organic and inorganic substances. Utilizes established methods and procedures and laboratory equipment to perform analytical testing of substances. Prepares compounds, reagents and solutions. Develop and write technical reports of testing results. Requires a bachelor's degree. Typically reports to a supervisor or manager. Typically requires 0-2 years of related experience. Works on projects/matters of limited complexity in a support role. Work is closely managed.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Analysis: Analysis is the process of considering something carefully or using statistical methods in order to understand it or explain it.
Analytical Chemistry: Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods used to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separation isolates analytes. Qualitative analysis identifies analytes, while quantitative analysis determines the numerical amount or concentration. Analytical chemistry consists of classical, wet chemical methods and modern, instrumental methods. Classical qualitative methods use separations such as precipitation, extraction, and distillation. Identification may be based on differences in color, odor, melting point, boiling point, radioactivity or reactivity. Classical quantitative analysis uses mass or volume changes to quantify amount. Instrumental methods may be used to separate samples using chromatography, electrophoresis or field flow fractionation. Then qualitative and quantitative analysis can be performed, often with the same instrument and may use light interaction, heat interaction, electric fields or magnetic fields. Often the same instrument can separate, identify and quantify an analyte.
Material Science: Analyzing the properties of materials and using that information to build various products.
