Occupational Therapy Salary in the USA

Occupational therapy is an important part of the rehabilitation field. The occupational therapy professionals are licensed practitioners; they provide occupational therapy intervention to the client. If you are new to the term occupational therapy, please read the below mentioned article.

What is Occupational Therapy? And what does an OT do?

Occupational therapy Job Outlook? and Future perspective?

Ok, now we can assume that you know something about our profession. If you are interested or want to learn more about the salary part of OT, Just read out the complete article.

In this article, we will try our best to answer some common questions regarding occupational therapy salary. “Occupational therapy salary in the USA”, “What is the average starting salary for an occupational therapist?”, “Do occupational therapists get paid well?” and “Are occupational therapists in high demand?” These are some common queries search by the people in Google search.

Occupational Therapy Salary in the USA-

Like every profession, the salary part depends on many factors like demand, designation, education, experience, location, etc. Similarly, An Occupational therapist salary does vary according to the various factors. The entry-level salary (just graduated) is less compared to the experienced one. Even some state (such as Nevada) has very high demand where entry-level pay is more than the experienced OT from another state (such as Kentucky).

In this article, we will focus on the entry-level salary; it will be helpful for the students who want to join Occupational therapy as a career.

What is the average starting salary for an occupational therapist? Or How much do Occupational Therapists Make?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean hourly wages of OTs in May 2017 was $40.69 while the mean annual income was $84,640. The best-paid 10 percent in the profession made $120,440, while the lowest-paid 10 percent made $54,560.

Industry (Practice area) wise pay profile for the Occupational therapist:

Here is the list of top 5 Practice areas with the published employment and wages for the occupational therapists are provided. Home health care services topped the list of the highest paying practice area by offering mean wage $43.70 per hour and $90,890 per annum. Elementary and Secondary Schools were 5th in this list and offered $36.13 per hour and $75,140 per annum.

Rank(highest pay)	Industry (practice area)	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage
1	Home Health Care Services	12,250	$43.70	$90,890
2	Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities)	$12,060	$43.61	$90,700
3	Offices of Other Health Practitioners	$33,800	$41.91	$87,170
4	General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	$27,520	$40.74	$84,750
5	Elementary and Secondary Schools	$13,840	$36.13	$75,140

Top 5 paying practice areas for the Occupational therapist:

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services topped the list of the highest paying practice area by offering mean wage $45.81 per hour and $95,280 per annum. Skilled Nursing Facilities were 5th in this list and offered $43.61 per hour and $90,700 per annum.

Rank (highest Pay)	Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage
1	Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services	110	$45.81	$95,280
2	Other Schools and Instruction	(8)	$45.66	$94,970
3	Management of Companies and Enterprises	420	$45.32	$94,270
4	Home Health Care Services	$12,250	$43.70	$90,890
5	Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities)	$12,060	$43.61	$90,700

Salaries of Occupational therapists in different States of the USA-

Here is the list of all states with current employment, hourly men wage and an annual mean wage of occupational therapists.

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage
Alabama	1200	$39.13	$81390
Alaska	270	$39.81	$82810
Arizona	1800	$41.60	$86530
Arkansas	1090	$38.09	$79220
California	10620	$43.21	$89870
Colorado	2770	$42.45	$88290
Connecticut	1990	$43.63	$90760
Delaware	460	$40.60	$84450
District of Columbia	340	$44.77	$93110
Florida	6600	$40.51	$84260
Georgia	2840	$38.46	$79990
Hawaii	290	$38.74	$80580
Idaho	430	$39.82	$82820
Illinois	5210	$39.56	$82290
Indiana	2890	$38.22	$79490
Iowa	1010	$37.46	$77910
Kansas	1330	$37.02	$77000
Kentucky	1340	$37.87	$78760
Louisiana	1790	$40.40	$84020
Maine	1000	$32.83	$68300
Maryland	3300	$41.16	$85620
Massachusetts	5130	$42.01	$87380
Michigan	4780	$38.51	$80110
Minnesota	2820	$35.42	$73680
Mississippi	960	$39.13	$81400
Missouri	2380	$37.24	$77460
Montana	340	$37.05	$77070
Nebraska	890	$36.43	$75780
Nevada	730	$49.65	$103280
New Hampshire	1060	$38.95	$81010
New Jersey	5240	$45.24	$94100
New Mexico	690	$39.09	$81310
New York	9080	$41.95	$87260
North Carolina	3330	$39.95	$83100
North Dakota	430	$32.66	$67930
Ohio	4670	$41.10	$85480
Oklahoma	920	$39.98	$83150
Oregon	1260	$43.30	$90060
Pennsylvania	7310	$38.40	$79860
Puerto Rico	230	$19.22	$39980
Rhode Island	380	$37.29	$77570
South Carolina	1280	$37.79	$78610
South Dakota	410	$32.21	$66990
Tennessee	2100	$39.88	$82940
Texas	10170	$45.45	$94530
Utah	880	$40.21	$83650
Vermont	290	$37.33	$77650
Virginia	3000	$43.62	$90720
Washington	2800	$38.74	$80590
West Virginia	610	$40.91	$85090
Wisconsin	3250	$33.97	$70670
Wyoming	290	$38.64	$80380

Top 5 paying States for the Occupational therapist:

Rank	State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage
1	Nevada	730	$49.65	$103,280
2	Texas	10,170	$45.45	$94,530
3	New Jersey	5,240	$45.24	$94,100
4	District of Columbia	340	$44.77	$93,110
5	Connecticut	1,990	$43.63	$90,760

Nevada topped the list of the highest paying states by offering mean wage $49.65 per hour and $103,280 per annum. Connecticut was 5th in this list and offered $43.63 per hour and $90,760 per annum.

Top 10 paying metropolitan city areas for the occupational therapist:

Rank	Metropolitan area	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage
1	Peabody-Salem-Beverly, MA NECTA Division	130	$54.34	$113,030
2	Longview, TX	40	$54.08	$112,480
3	Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV	530	$53.01	$110,250
4	Colorado Springs, CO	370	$52.95	$110,130
5	Lubbock, TX	140	$52.40	$109,000
6	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	50	$52.21	$108,610
7	Tyler, TX	110	$50.32	$104,660
8	Waco, TX	100	$50.20	$104,410
9	Vallejo-Fairfield, CA	90	$50.04	$104,080
10	Hammond, LA	50	$49.93	$103,860

Peabody-Salem-Beverly, MA topped the list of the highest paying metropolitan cities by offering mean wage $54.34 per hour and $113,030 per annum. Hammond, LA was 10th in this list and offered $49.92 per hour and $103,860 per annum.

Top 5 paying non metropolitan city areas for the occupational therapist:

Rank	Nonmetropolitan area	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage
1	Big Thicket Region of Texas	80	$51.89	$107,930
2	West Tennessee	120	$48.18	$100,220
3	Northeast Florida	40	$46.44	$96,600
4	Central Louisiana	80	$46.32	$96,340
5	Northeast Oklahoma	40	$45.95	$95,570

Big Thicket Region of Texas topped the list of the highest paying nonmetropolitan cities by offering mean wage $51.89 per hour and $107,930 per annum. Northeast Oklahoma was 5th in this list and offered $45.95 per hour and $95,570 per annum.

Are occupational therapists in high demand?

According to the reports of BLS, the job opportunities for occupational therapists are supposed to grow by 24% from 2016 to 2026. Thus, a bright future is looking ahead for the students pursuing their occupational therapy degree.

The BLS projects 27,700 new jobs to open in the occupational therapy field by 2026. The profession is expected to grow by 21 percent, compared with 16 percent growth in health diagnosing and treating practitioner jobs overall.

Do occupational therapists get paid well?

Occupational therapists earned an average annual wage of $83,200 in May 2017. They have a comparable salary to physical therapists, who brought home an average of $86,850 in 2017. However, they make more than occupational therapy assistants ($59,470) and registered nurses ($73,000).

According to the BLS, the median wage for workers in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $857 per week or $44,564 per year for a 40-hour workweek. However, salaries can vary significantly based on both occupation and location. 

The demand and salary of occupational therapists are better than the general worker and comparable with the related occupation in the USA.