Physical Therapist Guides

An Occupational Therapist is a regulated health care professional who works with individuals to improve their living and working skills thus improving their quality of life. The individuals they work with suffer from mentally, physically, developmentally or emotionally disabling conditions whether it is a temporary or permanent condition. The requirement to work as an Occupational Therapist generally means obtaining a post-baccalaureate degree from an accredited university or college.

In 2010 there were 100,300 Occupational Therapists employed in the United States with a mean annual occupational therapist salary of  $73,380 or $35.28 hourly. The middle 50% mean annual salary ranged from $60,000 to $86,930 or $28.84 to $41.79 hourly. The lowest 10% earned $48,920 ($23.52 hourly) mean annual salary or less and the top 10% Occupational Therapy salary was $102,520 ($49.29 hourly) mean annually or more.

Geographical area, industry, years of experience, education and other variables play a role in the salary an Occupational Therapist can expect. For instance, the top paying industry for this occupation is Employment Services with a mean annual salary of  $84,540, or $40.65 hourly, well above the average in this field. This is followed by Home Health Care Services, Management of Companies and Enterprises, Offices of Physicians, and Nursing Care Facilities with mean annual wages ranging from $83,920 down to $77,700 respectively.

Wages can also be determined by where you work geographically. An Occupational Therapist salary varies from state to state and as with many health care professions, California is the top paying in the United States. In California an Occupational Therapist can expect to earn a mean annual wage of  $84,320 or $40.54 hourly, again, considerably higher than the national average. Next highest paying states are District of Columbia, Nevada, New Jersey and Texas with respective annual mean salaries of  $83,550 down to $81,800 or $40.17 to $39.33 hourly.

Surprisingly California is not among the top 5 highest paying Metropolitan areas, which are all held by Kentucky and Texas the highest area being Elizabethtown KY at $93,330 annual mean wage or $44.87 hourly. This is almost $10 an hour more than the national average and more than $20 an hour more than the national average of the lowest paid 10%. So you can see how all these variables can make a big difference in the Occupational Therapy salary. The next highest paying Metropolitan area is Sherman/Denison Texas at $92,680 mean annual or $44.56 hourly. The tenth top highest paying Metropolitan area is the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater FL area at $88,120 annually or $42.37 hourly.

The non-Metropolitan area with the highest paying mean annual salary is Eastern New Mexico at $110,060 or $52.91 hourly, which is over $17,000 more annually than the next highest non-metropolitan area of Southwestern Oklahoma at $92,570 annually or $44.51 hourly. The hourly difference is over $8.00 an hour. Other high paying similar areas are in Arkansas and Virginia ranging from $89,560 down to $87,410 annually.

Remember these are all highest published employment and wages for this occupation and do not reflect the lower end pay scale employers. The lower 10% estimated average is a reflection of other employee wages in this field.

Growth potential for this occupation is highly positive and job opportunities are expected to be very good, especially working with the aging baby boomer population. This is a good paying, solid, reliable and stable career choice for those who are considering it.