Athletic Trainers salary

SOC 29-9091 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$62,520

per year, nationally

Middle half

$55,130–$74,630

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

30,500

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+11.1%

2,400 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.

$48,180$88,760

10th: $48,180
25th: $55,130
Median: $62,520
75th: $74,630
90th: $88,760

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 athletic trainers 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	$78,490	110.7	1,760	0.49×
2	Hawaii	$76,320	110.0	200	1.60×
3	New Jersey	$76,210	108.8	890	1.06×
4	District of Columbia	$74,450	109.9	100	0.76×
5	New Mexico	$72,440	92.2	150	0.89×
6	Massachusetts	$70,010	105.8	630	0.88×
7	Connecticut	$69,960	103.6	290	0.86×
8	New York	$66,230	107.9	1,370	0.72×
9	Utah	$65,980	98.9	340	0.99×
10	Minnesota	$65,390	98.6	820	1.42×
11	Illinois	$64,750	100.0	850	0.71×
12	Georgia	$64,590	96.3	860	0.90×
13	Colorado	$64,580	103.1	380	0.67×
14	Texas	$64,150	97.1	3,130	1.13×
15	Maryland	$63,970	105.0	320	0.60×
16	Rhode Island	$63,750	102.3	—	—
17	Washington	$63,750	107.0	240	0.35×
18	Wyoming	$63,190	92.7	60	1.03×
19	Vermont	$62,910	98.0	140	2.29×
20	Indiana	$62,780	93.3	1,040	1.66×
21	Louisiana	$62,760	88.2	810	2.13×
22	Maine	$61,970	97.0	180	1.47×
23	Virginia	$61,860	101.1	830	1.03×
24	Wisconsin	$61,820	94.1	620	1.07×
25	Arizona	$61,710	100.7	590	0.93×
26	Ohio	$61,420	92.8	2,100	1.93×
27	Florida	$61,350	103.4	1,430	0.73×
28	Oklahoma	$61,320	87.8	360	1.08×
29	Pennsylvania	$61,060	97.6	1,870	1.58×
30	Nebraska	$61,020	90.1	270	1.36×
31	North Dakota	$60,900	89.0	110	1.29×
32	Kentucky	$60,680	90.2	720	1.83×
33	Idaho	$60,410	95.5	170	1.04×
34	New Hampshire	$60,200	104.2	210	1.54×
35	Montana	$60,090	94.6	50	0.51×
36	Tennessee	$59,850	91.9	580	0.90×
37	Nevada	$59,820	100.0	180	0.60×
38	Delaware	$59,650	99.8	50	0.50×
39	Michigan	$59,280	96.2	870	1.01×
40	South Carolina	$59,240	93.7	530	1.17×
41	Kansas	$59,140	90.1	390	1.37×
42	Missouri	$58,660	90.8	510	0.89×
43	South Dakota	$58,620	88.6	150	1.66×
44	Mississippi	$58,180	87.0	200	0.89×
45	Oregon	$57,790	103.4	280	0.73×
46	Arkansas	$57,240	86.9	240	0.93×
47	North Carolina	$56,540	94.3	990	1.02×
48	Iowa	$55,430	87.8	570	1.86×
49	West Virginia	$50,510	89.5	110	0.84×
50	Alabama	$46,940	88.8	840	2.02×

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 athletic trainers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for athletic trainers

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	$89,630	110.4	120	0.54×
2	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	$82,480	85.9	90	1.63×
3	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$79,950	106.4	240	0.70×
4	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$78,910	103.2	50	0.97×
5	Corpus Christi, TX	$78,580	92.7	50	1.40×
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$77,840	115.6	250	0.54×
7	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$77,580	106.7	60	0.30×
8	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$76,890	113.6	560	0.45×
9	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$76,500	112.6	1,330	0.71×
10	Urban Honolulu, HI	$75,540	111.0	160	1.77×
11	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$75,390	108.9	390	0.64×
12	Fresno, CA	$74,650	102.2	50	0.50×
13	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$73,770	111.9	200	0.68×
14	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$72,800	99.8	30	1.02×
15	Madison, WI	$72,780	97.3	130	1.59×
16	Albuquerque, NM	$72,440	95.5	90	1.07×
17	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$72,360	102.7	40	0.37×
18	El Paso, TX	$72,250	89.9	90	1.40×
19	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$72,150	98.6	480	0.74×
20	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$71,880	108.3	490	0.93×
21	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$71,660	90.0	30	0.98×
22	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$71,140	106.9	100	1.21×
23	Corvallis, OR	$70,120	104.0	40	4.85×
24	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$69,980	111.1	130	0.31×
25	Shreveport-Bossier City, LA	$68,410	84.8	—	—
26	York-Hanover, PA	$68,150	96.0	50	1.30×
27	Lubbock, TX	$68,060	91.3	40	1.18×
28	New Haven, CT	$67,630	104.6	70	1.35×
29	Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN	$67,210	93.4	30	1.59×
30	Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	$66,490	86.0	60	1.80×
31	Charlottesville, VA	$66,390	99.1	60	2.48×
32	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$66,140	100.1	360	0.64×
33	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$65,980	100.9	130	0.78×
34	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$65,830	104.8	490	1.29×
35	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	$65,800	94.7	240	1.07×
36	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$65,780	103.6	650	0.73×
37	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$65,620	95.0	40	0.94×
38	Fargo, ND-MN	$65,440	90.9	50	1.86×
39	Champaign-Urbana, IL	$65,400	92.7	40	1.96×
40	Ogden, UT	$65,160	100.3	50	0.94×

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 athletic trainers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars$68,020
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other$65,790
Surgical Assistants$66,800
Genetic Counselors$100,040