How Much Can Pharmacy Technicians Earn? What is the Pharmacy Technician Salary?

A rather unusual finding has emerged from recent surveys undertaken by various online sites and think-tanks. It is unusual, given the economic climate in which the surveys were done. It turned out that even in the face of an economic downturn, and even when it has become harder with the rising costs of living, more employees actually put greater importance on job satisfaction, or having a personal sense of motivation to do their jobs, much more than the value they put on their paycheck or any perks or bonuses that they may receive.

This is not to say, however, that employees these days no longer care about how much they earn. One’s take home pay is always a big factor when considering a career path or simply looking for a job.

Fortunately, pharmacy technicians are able to enjoy the best of both worlds. Not only can they be able to experience the kind of job satisfaction that comes from having a meaningful and socially integrated job, they are also able to earn competitively.

However, it’s always good to note that as is the case with other industries, there are a host of other factors to consider when determining pay scales for any job in the medical, health, and wellness industries. The salary of a pharmacy technician also has to deal with such factors, the primary ones of which are:

relevant education or schoolingrelevant experiencegeographical and/or work-environment considerations

Having relevant education and experience as requirements for determining how much the salary of a pharmacy technician should be, is a no-brainer. This is because other jobs in other industries also have the same requirements. But what about geography? Why does it matter in determining pharmacy technician salaries?

Here are the reasons:

Costs of living and other factors related to the local economy such as politics and governance, institutional frameworks, and socio-constructs unavoidably play a big role in pharmacy technician salaries. For example, in California or New York, where the cost of living is higher than that of states such as Arkansas or Kentucky, a pharmacy technician salary also has to be higher because market forces demand it to be so. In states where alternative medicine and its practices (such as lessening usage of commercially manufactured medicine in preference of herbals and “natural cures”) have a huge societal or community presence and impact, pharmaceuticals may take a backseat. When this happens, there will be, of course, less demand for pharmacy technicians.

Those who are already employed as such, may find that their salaries are lower than those received by their colleagues in other states that are not heavily preferential towards lessening the use of pharmaceuticals or manufactured drugs/medicines or methods of treatment.Again, these are market forces at work. 

The stability of the economy in any given geographic location can also determine how much a pharmacy technician salary should be. If a local government within a state is cash-strapped, then naturally, a hospital pharmacy technician salary in the public sector will be relatively lower.

 To illustrate better, we can refer to a site such as Pharmacy Technician HQ which gives specific examples of geography-bound salary differences. In one of the given examples on that site, it mentions how a high-cost of living state compares with one that has a lower cost of living, as far as pharmacy technician pay is concerned, to wit:

“The average salary for this position in California is $35,450, while in Alabama they can on average only earn $23,380. This is a difference of more than $10,000.”

 The same site also mentions how work environments affect pharmacy technician pay. It was mentioned how:

“…hospital pharmacies in general pay the best. Hospital pharmacy on average pays between $8.80 per hour and $16.73 per hour. A retail pharmacy on the other hand averages $8.43 per hour up to $16.60 per hour.” 

 Further comparative information may be gleaned from the US Department of Labor, which gives the following figures related to the occupation of a pharmacy technician, as of May 2012:

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Compare these with statistics released by the same government agency for the year 2010:

Quick Facts: Pharmacy Technicians$28,400 per year
$13.65 per hourHigh school diploma or equivalentWork Experience in a Related OccupationModerate-term on-the-job training32% (Much faster than average)

A live search could also be done online in answer to the question of how much do pharmacy techs make? For example, on the site Indeed.com, the following comparative results were arrived at, simply by modifying search parameters.

Average Salary of Pharmacy Technician Jobs (all results are in USD, and are valid as of November 6, 2013):

The comparative table above shows that “average Pharmacy Technician salaries for job postings in Washington, DC are 49% higher than average Pharmacy Technician salaries for job postings in Utah.”

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Compare these further with more statistics provided by Healthcare Salary World, and you’ll have a better understanding of how much do pharmacy techs make:

States with Highest Employment Level

Federal Executive Branch: $40,650

California (30,540 jobs): $39,150

Outpatient Care Centers: $38,750

Offices of Physicians: $37,040

Florida (23,490 jobs): $28,410

Madera-Chowchilla, CA: $44,210Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools: $36,960

New York (16,260 jobs): $31,010

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services : $36,630Illinois (15,740 jobs): $29,950

Finally, when evaluating pay scales, keep in mind the importance of work environments as a factor.  For example, compare the following salaries that can be earned by both non-certified and non-certified pharmacy technicians holding down a job in different work environments:

Practice Area                          Non-Certified             Certified

Hospital Technicians              $12 to $16 /hr            $13 to $19 /hr

In the example given, it is clear that a hospital pharmacy technician salary is higher than that of a retail pharmacy technician, and having a certification sweetens up the pot even more.