Food Science Technicians · SOC 19-4013

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Food Science Technicianss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for food science technicians. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 72 metro areas

Food Science Technicians: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Columbus, OH	$86,300	40	0.0
2	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$84,320	60	0.1
3	Jacksonville, FL	$83,030	50	0.1
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$79,850	420	0.2
5	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$73,030	60	0.1
6	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$72,950	40	0.0
7	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$66,630	250	0.1
8	St. Louis, MO-IL	$66,230	100	0.1
9	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$64,620	200	0.2
10	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$64,480	80	0.1
11	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$63,160	130	0.0
12	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$61,870	80	0.1
13	Napa, CA	$61,430	140	1.8
14	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$61,410	200	0.1
15	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$60,980	310	0.1
16	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$60,320	80	0.2
17	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$60,020	580	0.1
18	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$59,650	40	0.0
19	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$59,580	70	0.1
20	Reno, NV	$59,440	40	0.1
21	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$58,850	60	0.1
22	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$58,640	110	0.6
23	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$58,290	160	0.1
24	Vallejo, CA	$57,630	70	0.5
25	Modesto, CA	$56,220	180	0.9

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Food Science Technicians overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.