Well I can tell you that I have a PhD in biophysics. I make a little more than my sister, who has 5 years teaching experience, but not nearly as much as my mom who has 35 years. The starting salary (nih regulated) for a postdoc is $38,000. when you consider that teachers only work 9 months, their effective salary is 33 percent higher than their nominal wage. You can not believe that if you want to, but it's a matter of public record.
Yes the salary ceiling is higher. A scientist can make maybe $120,000 if they get a couple grants and have luck on their side. A teacher with a master's and a lot of experience in MI makes maybe $70,000. So it's comparable if you consider the time off a teacher gets. I work in neuroscience. Mainly I study stroke recovery, and brain repair mechanisms.
Neuroscience is a really interesting field! Cool. At the risk of pointlessly comparing your profession to a teacher's in aspects beyond salary, it has to be more fulfilling than teaching 8th graders. And the ceiling's higher. But I had no idea that starting salaries in a research science were that low.
Yeah. Do what you love and love what you do sums it up. I love what I do and have the occassional gripes. I can definitely empathize with neuroscience researchers. Funding has been easily as scarce as it has been lately in teaching. My school district has the same per pupil funding allowance as it did when I began teaching 15 years ago. Hopefully things will turn around with funding for science and teaching sometime soon. Teacher salaries aren't too terrible. Especially relative to the last economic downturn. There's some extra security in teaching comparatively speaking. I happen to know a few very talented neuroscience researchers too. Good people. One of those neuroscientists I know is very talented, as you'd expect a neuroscience researcher to be. He helped create this "hubski" online thing that's been cultivating and expanding a virtual venue for thoughtful sharing of information and viewpoints. The ideas driving it have integrity and universal appeal. You should check it out.