AIP study says salaries healthy for physicists in industry

Physicists working in industry continued to enjoy rising salaries last year, according to the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Statistical Research Center. Surveying individuals belonging to AIP's 10 member societies, the report finds the median industry salary of

society-member PhD respondents to be $90,200, 7% higher than the comparable statistic reported in the last survey just two years ago and part of a 17% salary increase recorded from 1996 to 2000.

Among PhD respondents in industry, the highest median salary--$98,000--was in the Pacific states. Industry respondents with master's degrees had a median salary of $79,500, while those with bachelor's degrees averaged $71,000.