Occupational Therapists salary

SOC 29-1122 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$100,330

per year, nationally

Middle half

$82,510–$116,670

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

162,450

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+13.8%

10,200 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$71,690$131,950

10th: $71,690
25th: $82,510
Median: $100,330
75th: $116,670
90th: $131,950

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Master's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where occupational therapists earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	California	$124,510	110.7	13,810	0.73×
2	Oregon	$112,310	103.4	1,170	0.57×
3	Nevada	$110,520	100.0	1,080	0.67×
4	District of Columbia	$109,170	109.9	540	0.74×
5	Washington	$107,670	107.0	3,340	0.90×
6	Maryland	$106,980	105.0	2,390	0.83×
7	Colorado	$106,720	103.1	3,390	1.13×
8	Arkansas	$106,360	86.9	2,160	1.59×
9	Texas	$106,140	97.1	13,400	0.91×
10	Oklahoma	$104,300	87.8	1,180	0.66×
11	Georgia	$104,010	96.3	3,650	0.72×
12	Alaska	$103,680	102.4	410	1.20×
13	Arizona	$103,660	100.7	2,680	0.79×
14	New Jersey	$103,410	108.8	6,290	1.41×
15	Hawaii	$102,870	110.0	390	0.60×
16	Connecticut	$102,440	103.6	3,150	1.77×
17	Delaware	$102,130	99.8	490	0.96×
18	South Carolina	$101,130	93.7	1,840	0.76×
19	Massachusetts	$100,930	105.8	6,510	1.71×
20	Virginia	$100,710	101.1	4,150	0.97×
21	Rhode Island	$100,040	102.3	770	1.47×
22	Illinois	$99,700	100.0	7,710	1.21×
23	Ohio	$99,390	92.8	6,760	1.17×
24	Florida	$99,360	103.4	10,650	1.03×
25	New Mexico	$99,170	92.2	1,030	1.14×
26	Kansas	$99,170	90.1	1,560	1.04×
27	Louisiana	$98,490	88.2	2,060	1.02×
28	Pennsylvania	$98,440	97.6	6,560	1.04×
29	Idaho	$97,760	95.5	840	0.93×
30	Tennessee	$97,700	91.9	2,490	0.73×
31	Kentucky	$97,650	90.2	2,190	1.05×
32	Missouri	$97,290	90.8	3,400	1.11×
33	Utah	$97,150	98.9	1,030	0.57×
34	Indiana	$97,020	93.3	3,830	1.14×
35	New York	$96,390	107.9	11,690	1.15×
36	West Virginia	$96,190	89.5	700	0.96×
37	Mississippi	$94,930	87.0	1,340	1.10×
38	Alabama	$94,050	88.8	1,500	0.68×
39	Nebraska	$93,740	90.1	1,500	1.40×
40	Vermont	$93,340	98.0	320	1.02×
41	Minnesota	$93,050	98.6	3,670	1.19×
42	North Carolina	$92,940	94.3	4,490	0.87×
43	Wisconsin	$92,390	94.1	3,710	1.21×
44	Michigan	$89,910	96.2	5,120	1.11×
45	Iowa	$89,910	87.8	1,290	0.79×
46	Montana	$88,990	94.6	420	0.79×
47	Wyoming	$86,170	92.7	350	1.20×
48	South Dakota	$85,050	88.6	490	1.02×
49	Maine	$84,310	97.0	1,120	1.68×
50	New Hampshire	$83,900	104.2	1,240	1.74×
51	North Dakota	$83,200	89.0	570	1.26×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where occupational therapists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for occupational therapists

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$136,870	110.4	840	0.71×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$136,770	115.6	1,560	0.63×
3	Vallejo, CA	$135,000	108.5	100	0.65×
4	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$130,420	109.9	100	0.98×
5	Chico, CA	$129,260	101.2	70	0.82×
6	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$128,010	107.8	130	0.62×
7	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$125,890	108.8	170	0.82×
8	Napa, CA	$124,490	112.6	40	0.44×
9	Boulder, CO	$123,490	105.2	260	1.31×
10	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$123,200	100.9	170	0.47×
11	Salinas, CA	$123,180	109.0	110	0.57×
12	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$122,990	105.1	230	0.76×
13	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$122,780	106.7	810	0.72×
14	Visalia, CA	$122,690	99.8	140	0.79×
15	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$122,050	98.1	1,600	1.18×
16	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$122,040	113.6	4,950	0.76×
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$121,680	111.9	1,620	1.01×
18	Modesto, CA	$121,110	104.1	170	0.83×
19	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$120,570	110.5	300	0.89×
20	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$119,530	106.4	1,110	0.62×
21	Merced, CA	$117,970	98.3	30	0.38×
22	Fresno, CA	$116,690	102.2	320	0.64×
23	Bend, OR	$114,870	103.6	100	0.86×
24	Longview, TX	$112,760	89.5	130	1.09×
25	Santa Fe, NM	$112,240	98.8	50	0.84×
26	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$112,100	105.4	730	0.58×
27	Dalton, GA	$111,580	89.8	30	0.44×
28	Spartanburg, SC	$111,540	91.1	210	1.22×
29	Yakima, WA	$111,400	95.5	40	0.43×
30	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$110,520	100.2	860	0.72×
31	Redding, CA	$110,230	100.7	70	0.87×
32	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$110,170	108.6	100	0.77×
33	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$109,860	111.1	2,020	0.93×
34	Salem, OR	$109,700	103.6	140	0.72×
35	Odessa, TX	$109,220	93.9	40	0.47×
36	Reno, NV	$109,090	101.0	170	0.60×
37	Las Cruces, NM	$108,630	90.2	130	1.51×
38	Tulsa, OK	$108,350	89.2	370	0.78×
39	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$107,980	101.6	120	0.73×
40	Gettysburg, PA	$107,880	95.4	30	1.04×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where occupational therapists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.