Number 248 (Story #4), November 10, 1995 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein ARE PHYSICISTS IN IT FOR THE MONEY? A new study, "1994 Salaries: Society Membership Survey," released by the American Institute of Physics shows that the median annual salary for a full-time physicist in the U.S. is $60,000. Among the different employment sectors, physicists (actually, some of the society members surveyed were non-physicists, such as engineers) in a medical/hospital setting make the most, $77,000 and those at four-year colleges the least, $45,000. Geographically, the Pacific states pay the most, $66,000, and the West North Central states the least, $50,000. Adjusting for the cost of living, Houston has the highest physicist salaries among selected cities and San Diego and Boston the lowest. Comparing the salaries of male and female physics PhDs is complicated by the fact that median female age is invariably lower. Factoring in the lower earning power that comes with fewer years of experience, females still earn less than their male counterparts in all categories. The adjusted male/female salaries (in thousands of dollars) in selected job areas are as follows: 78.1/68.4 for those working in industry; 67.6/59.4 in government; 67.9/61.5 for full professors (9-10 month salaries), 48.5/46.2 for associate professors, and 42.6/42.0 for assistant professors. (Contact Raymond Chu, 301-209-3069.)