According to data from the BLS (the Bureau of Labor Statistics) for the fiscal year 2014, the average pharmacist salary clocked in at $120,950 per year. This means that in 2014, the average pharmacist was being paid $58.15 per year and $1,920 per week.
Pharmacists are, therefore, earning a better wage than many US professions. Also unlike in most employment areas, the pharmacist salary varies less when comparing the lower-paid 10 point percentile to the highest paid 10%. Concretely, the least paid were making between 25 and 30% lower than the average wage, equaling to an annual pharmacist salary osf $89,320 and an hourly wage of $42.94. On the other end of the spectrum, the highest paid pharmacists were making $150,550 per year and $72.38 per hour. In order to achieve a higher pay, many pharmacists get trained as pharmacist technicians. To find out what this job implies, check out our article here.
On a down note, the job of a pharmacist is one of the worst in the US in terms of wage inequality, even though inequality would have no practical reason to be present (i.e. no risk of injury or death and no requirements of manual labor). Of the weekly average pharmacist salary mentioned at the beginning, women (with 108 thousand employed) were making $1,811, whilst men (98 thousand employed) were making $2,117. Still, a small portion of this difference might be explained by the areas of employment:
Industry | Hourly mean wage | Annual mean wage |
Scientific Research and Development Services | $62.40 | $129,790 |
Warehousing and Storage | $61.60 | $128,130 |
Offices of Physicians | $61.32 | $127,550 |
Other General Merchandise Stores | $61.22 | $127,350 |
Outpatient Care Centers | $60.57 | $125,980 |
Average Pharmacist Salary by Location
The pharmacist salary may vary by location on account of the placement of the best pharmacy schools (find out what they are). Still, most states offer decent prospects for the future for most aspiring pharmacists after they complete the long road to a degree (how long does it actually take? the answer, right here). Wages vary also depending on the positioning of pharmacy store chains. A Walgreens pharmacist salary may differ from a CVS pharmacist salary or a clinical pharmacist salary.
Next, we’re going to show you the exact States where the pharmacists salary is highest:
State | Hourly mean wage | Annual mean wage |
Alaska | $65.54 | $136,320 |
California | $63.54 | $132,160 |
Maine | $62.07 | $129,100 |
New Hampshire | $59.88 | $124,540 |
Wisconsin | $59.28 | $123,290 |
However, while these levels of the average pharmacist salary are really high, they can be misleading. A pharmacist in Alaska may have a pretty hard time getting a job, since the population is so low and spread-out, and the overall employment levels are particularly low. So, for the sake of convenience, here are the States with the highest level of employment:
State | Employment | Hourly mean wage | Annual mean wage |
California | 28,300 | $63.54 | $132,160 |
Texas | 21,010 | $57.15 | $118,870 |
Florida | 20,180 | $54.99 | $114,380 |
New York | 18,870 | $57.16 | $118,900 |
Pennsylvania | 12,410 | $53.06 | $110,360 |
Average Pharmacist Salary Change over Time
Unfortunately, the pharmacist salary doesn’t seem to change that much for the better over time. A pharmacist looking to up his salary should strive to improve his or her skills in various fields. Here are the top two factors for increasing the salary of a pharmacist:
- Promotion or advancement in the career path. A good performing pharmacist may be promoted to a retail pharmacist, a retail staff pharmacist, a pharmacist-in-charge, or a hospital or clinical pharmacist. All of these offer further opportunities for advancement as well as higher pay.
- Experience and the development of skills. The pharmacist salary will definitely increase given the pharmacists advances to an experienced one, with the ability to perform immunization treatments, oncology, retail pharmacy, or hospital care.
This concludes our guide to the average pharmacist salary. Any questions? Feel free to ask us more about this in the comments!
Image source: dayspringpharmacy.com.
Leave a Reply