Salary Disparities within Occupational Therapist Profession

Salaries for Occupational Therapist range depends on the setting they work in and also on the state they are working in. Their work mainly consists of working with the patients in day to day activities helping them to regarin their normal performance The therapist plans the program as per the needs of the patient and also makes progress evaluations.

Occupational therapists have a variety of choices in terms of their workplaces. They have the option to work in hospitals, schools, daycare centres and also in nursing homes. As per the employment data of US Department of Labor there are more than 97,000 occupational therapists working in the country and drawing a salary. Nearly Half of them work in hospitals and health care establishments. Around 16,000 are employed in nursing facilities and health care at home, and the remaining work in schools and day care centers.

Most of the Occupational therapist salaries are annual. However, some of the get paid hourly. If thats the case, then the average hourly salary is $35.99. Based on this average, 10% of the lowest earning therapists earn about $21.80 per hour, and the top 10% earn above $48.30. After looking at the hourly wage scenario, lets have a quick look at the annual salary. Average annual salary for Occupation therapists comes out to around $70,000. Lower Annual Bracket of Occupational therapists would be getting $45,000 while the therapists in the top slot would be receiving more than $100,000 annually.

Now let’s see how the areas affect the Occupational Therapist Salary. According to US Government Bureau of Labor Statistics there are five states which offer the highest salaries for these professionals. California, Nevada and New Jersey have an average salary of $80,000 whil Professional in Maryland and Texas offer just below $80,000.

While the averae annual salaries in these states are quite close, looking deeper into specific metropolitan areas increases the difference between the annual salaries. In California, the San Francisco, Redwood City and San Mateo areas have salaries of $94,580, whereas areas like Thousand Oaks, Oxnard and Ventura stand at about $89,080. In Texas, the El Paso area has the highest mean at $96,470, whereas Laredo in the same state has $90,130. In Nevada, Paradise and Las Vegas offer salaries at $89,770.

Although certain states offer more salaries than others, we see that the concentration of occupational therapists do not follow suit. According to the survet done by the Department of Labor, State of Massachusetts has the largest number of therapists. It is then followed by Maine, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

To conclude, it will be be correct to say that the working area/state has the biggest impact on the salaries received by therpaists. Within each area, the type of establishment will also affect the salary. According to statistics, the hospitals and health care establishments offer the best salaries whereas school institutions have the lowest salaries.

For therapists based in school, an average annual salary of $61k is considered to be adequate. This comes out to be an hourly rate of $29.61. This includes the primary and elementary schools. Here too, if you narrow down to certain specialty schools, the hourly rate increases to $36..20 or $75k per year. This sets at the same footing with therapists working in tertiary care centres.