Better than picking up sticks...

More info from the Income in the Life Sciences survey. I find this stuff kind of interesting.

By employment status, the median incomes of life scientists were as follows:
Self-employed full-time (35+ hours/wk) $87,000
Employed full-time (permanent) $82,000
Employed full-time (contract/temporary) $50,300
Post-doctoral or other fellowship $40,000

By general type of organization, life scientists had the following median incomes:
Publicly-held organizations (not a start-up) $92,000
Start-up organizations (whether privately- or publicly held) $83,500
Governmental organizations $73,000
Privately-held firms $71,000
Nonprofit organizations $70,000

Income of life scientists varies more widely by specific industry or service of the organization. The five highest-paying areas are:
Health Practitioners Office $155,000
Law Firm $110,000
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing $110,0000
Chemical Manufacturing $102,200
Consultant (independent) $98,250

The five lowest-paying types of employer are:
Independent Testing Laboratory $45,000
Hospital (state) $50,000
Secondary School $52,000
Hospital (for-profit) $52,500
Hospital (university) $53,000

Median incomes in the 35 remaining types of employer range from $57,189 to $95,700.
Although the correlation is not strong, there is a tendency for life scientists to make more in larger organizations and less in smaller ones.

On the other hand, there is an almost-perfect correlation between total years of professional experience and income of life scientists, ranging from $35,584 for those with under one year of experience to $110,000 for those with 30 years of experience or more.

Income in the life sciences varies even more widely by level of education. In descending order, the income of holders of the highest-paying (single) doctorates are:
Medical Doctorate $149,000
Pharmaceutical Doctorate $119,000
Dental Doctorate $102,270
Veterinary Medicine Doctorate $101,900
Juris Doctor $95,500
Non-Science/Non-Engineering Doctorate $85,000
Science/Engineering Doctorate $80,000

Interestingly enough, the holders of medical, veterinary medicine, and pharmaceutical doctorates plus another doctorate made less than if they did not have a second doctorate (the exception is those who hold two science/engineering doctorates). As shown in the complete report, this is explainable as they tend to have less experience since their highest-level degree.

Income is lowest for those life scientists with the following levels of education:
Some college but no degree $45,450
A.A./A.S. degree $48,250
Bachelor-level non-science/engineering degree $50,643
Bachelor-level science/engineering degree $55,050
Two B.A./B.S. degrees $56,500
Masters-level science/engineering degree $59,450
Masters-level non-science/engineering degree $65,000
Two Masters-level degrees $80,000