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Pay · 29-1051

Pharmacists earn $140,910 a year at the midpoint

Pay is unusually even: nine in ten people earn between $99,290 and $174,230, around a midpoint of $140,910.

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$140,910median a year · United States
$67.75an hour $140,920average 321,970people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$129,38025th $140,910median $161,84075th
$99,29010th percentile $174,23090th percentile
$129,380a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$167,310best-paying state · Alaska
$128,180lowest-paying state · Rhode Island
+19%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

Among the best-paidNumber 30 of 788 occupations by median pay — in the top five per cent.
A short climbThe 25th percentile, $129,380, is within 8% of the median.

Pharmacist earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%

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Examples

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Related work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Pharmacists$140,910
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons$352,220+$211,310 Nurse anesthetists$236,590+$95,680 Nurse practitioners$132,300−$8,610 Physical therapists$102,760−$38,150 Occupational therapists$100,330−$40,580 Registered nurses$97,550−$43,360

No. 30 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 96% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 28 Political Scientists $142,080
  2. 29 Managers, All Other $141,900
  3. 30 Pharmacists $140,910
  4. 31 Computer and Information Research Scientists $140,300
  5. 32 Database Architects $139,500

Pharmacist wages across the states

The 46 states where the most people do this work, of 51 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.29 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Oregon $165,960 $126,040 $126,040 — $193,860 3,250
California $164,610 $90,560 $90,560 — $213,820 34,030
Hawaii $163,220 $127,410 $127,410 — $177,290 1,190
Washington $160,610 $126,230 $126,230 — $205,210 7,350
Minnesota $159,740 $98,150 $98,150 — $174,660 6,310
Colorado $156,030 $120,410 $120,410 — $188,430 4,560
Wisconsin $148,740 $112,020 $112,020 — $178,090 5,730
New Mexico $147,000 $103,500 $103,500 — $174,200 1,730
Arizona $146,930 $103,490 $103,490 — $171,660 6,900
South Dakota $146,790 $112,200 $112,200 — $166,340 1,280
Idaho $144,900 $102,180 $102,180 — $164,050 1,790
Indiana $144,290 $107,050 $107,050 — $169,360 6,430
Utah $144,240 $70,260 $70,260 — $172,440 2,830
Virginia $144,060 $106,800 $106,800 — $173,550 7,980
New Hampshire $143,020 $98,870 $98,870 — $170,030 1,130
New York $142,090 $92,910 $92,910 — $174,550 19,760
Montana $142,080 $98,660 $98,660 — $165,260 1,190
North Dakota $142,040 $105,490 $105,490 — $167,940 1,070
Connecticut $141,290 $106,660 $106,660 — $165,360 3,490
Maine $140,930 $101,360 $101,360 — $166,810 1,380
Nevada $140,030 $104,000 $104,000 — $168,600 2,500
Nebraska $139,330 $84,990 $84,990 — $170,090 2,450
Illinois $139,080 $98,970 $98,970 — $169,430 12,070
Maryland $138,990 $115,860 $115,860 — $169,890 5,400
Iowa $138,860 $117,450 $117,450 — $164,520 3,230
North Carolina $138,860 $101,670 $101,670 — $169,820 11,430
Texas $138,260 $95,950 $95,950 — $170,170 24,700
Massachusetts $138,170 $113,710 $113,710 — $164,500 7,230
Pennsylvania $138,160 $112,750 $112,750 — $163,570 14,090
Michigan $137,860 $101,740 $101,740 — $168,540 8,780
Kansas $137,800 $78,770 $78,770 — $169,310 3,500
New Jersey $137,620 $112,560 $112,560 — $172,110 9,420
Missouri $137,610 $107,530 $107,530 — $166,840 6,740
Georgia $137,120 $100,950 $100,950 — $170,110 10,530
Ohio $137,020 $65,470 $65,470 — $165,900 12,790
Kentucky $136,530 $84,280 $84,280 — $168,940 5,030
Arkansas $136,060 $105,560 $105,560 — $164,940 2,900
Florida $135,970 $56,000 $56,000 — $166,310 21,540
South Carolina $135,700 $82,430 $82,430 — $170,270 5,320
Oklahoma $135,140 $100,320 $100,320 — $162,070 3,610
Alabama $134,630 $90,010 $90,010 — $161,940 5,400
West Virginia $133,430 $80,900 $80,900 — $166,020 2,260
Tennessee $133,390 $88,700 $88,700 — $164,430 8,250
Mississippi $133,230 $97,260 $97,260 — $158,230 3,050
Louisiana $132,410 $100,920 $100,920 — $156,740 5,610
Rhode Island $128,180 $86,650 $86,650 — $161,090 1,510

Pharmacist pay rate, hourly to yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$140,920a year

Resumes for pharmacists

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eClinicalWorks EHR softwareMEDITECH softwareEpic SystemsPyxis MedStation softwareMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft WordMicrosoft PowerPoint
  • Reviewed prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
  • Collaborated with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, or evaluate the quality or effectiveness of drugs or drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications or characteristics.
  • Worked in hospitals or clinics or for Health Management Organizations (HMOs), dispensing prescriptions, serving as a medical team consultant, or specializing in specific drug therapy areas, such as oncology or nuclear pharmacotherapy.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Questions people often ask

What is a pharmacist’s yearly income?

A pharmacist makes a median of $140,910 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $129,380 and $161,840.

What is a pharmacist’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $67.75 an hour; the average is $140,920 a year.

What is the starting pay for a pharmacist?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $129,380 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $99,290.

Which state pays pharmacists the most?

Alaska, with a median of $167,310 a year.

How many people work as pharmacists?

About 321,970 in the United States — number 30 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Jobs that pay about the same

Median pay within $5,950 of what pharmacists earn — $140,910 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations