Mean Salary

• According to the BLS, physicists earned a mean hourly wage of $53.86, or $112,000 annually, as of May 2011. Physicists in the management, scientific and technical consulting sector, where acoustic engineers are most likely to find employment, earn $64.00 per hour, or a mean annual salary of $133,120.
  
  

Median Salary

• The median hourly wage for physicists is $51.14, or $106,370 per year, according to the BLS. The fact that the median salary for physicists is lower than the mean salary suggests that the highest earners in the profession are paid significantly more than their colleagues, thus increasing the mean average salary.
  
  

Salary Ranges

• Physicists in the 10th percentile earned a median hourly wage of $28.30, or $58,850 annually, according to the BLS. At the other end of the salary spectrum, physicists in the 90th percentile earned $80.00 or more per hour, or at least $166,400 per year, as of May 2011.
  
  

Salary by State

• Minnesota is the highest-paying state for physicists, with an average hourly wage of $73.29, or $152,450 per year, according to the BLS. Nevada is a close second, paying physicists $151,590 annually. Other high-paying states include Kansas, Indiana and Florida, all of which pay more than $66.00 per hour, or $137,000 per year, on average.
  
  

Salary by Cities

• The St. Louis metropolitan area is the highest-paying urban environment for physicists, paying an average of $85.84 per hour, or $178,550 annually, according to the BLS. The Indianapolis metropolitan area is the only other region where physicists earn an average salary of at least $170,000 per year. Meanwhile, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metropolitan area in Florida pay physicists an average of more than $152,000 annually. Milwaukee, Kansas City, the Nassau-Suffolk metropolitan division in New York, and Chicago each pay physicists at least $132,000 per year, on average.