Pharmacy Technician Salary in 2021 (In-Depth Details)

Number of Pharmacy Technicians Currently Employed in the US

According to BLS as on May 2020 there were 415,310 pharmacy technicians working across the nation, out of which 279,806 were PTCB certified. As PTCB certified pharmacy technicians are being preferred by employers, each year more number of pharmacy technicians are getting themselves PTCB certified.

Starting Salary

When you start your career as a pharmacy technician, you can expect to earn a starting salary of $25,400. You can expect to start with a higher salary if you get your training at an accredited pharmacy technician school. Entry level pharmacy technicians are in demand in hospital and retail pharmacies. Although the starting salary of a pharmacy technician is lower than that of any other health care careers, you can use the experience you get as an entry level pharmacy technician to pursue pharmacy or an advance specialization in pharmacy technology.

Average Salary

According to U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics on an average a Pharmacy technician, makes $36,450 annually and the average wage per hour was estimated to be $17.52. While the best paid earned $47,620 the lowest earned $30,370 annually.

Hourly: A pharmacy technician earns an average hourly wage of $17.52. Most pharmacy technicians earning this wage are on part-time jobs and with not many years of experience. You may earn slightly more, working in a Mail Order Pharmacy and Long-Term Care. While working in California can get you the highest hourly wage of $22.89, working in Kentucky you will get only a meagre $14.60 paid per hour.

Monthly: As a pharmacy technician in the U.S., you can expect to earn a monthly average salary of $3,040. While the highest is at $3,970 in California, the lowest is at $2,530 in Kentucky.

Annual: At $36,450, the average annual salary a pharmacy technician earns is lower than that of other health care careers. If you are employed full-time your annual salary will be higher than a pharmacy tech who is working part-time, the reason being, benefits and allowances will add up to your annual salary, which a part-time employee may not enjoy. Working full time in the federal government or outpatient care center in San Francisco or even in the state of California, well, you could be earning the highest pharmacy technician salary, annually!

Certified Pharmacy Technician

Some states in the nation require Pharmacy technicians to be certified. Even in states that do not mandate certification, employment opportunities get better with certification. If you get yourself a PTCB certification not only will you better your job prospects, you can even expect to earn a higher salary than the national annual average. There are currently 279,806 PTCB certified pharmacy technicians active across the country. As a Certified pharmacy technician you can expect to earn an average annual salary of $45,580.

Your Salary Will Grow With Experience

In May 2020, BLS listed yearly salaries for pharmacy technicians based on the number of years of experience they possessed. This source reported that starting level pharmacy technicians made yearly earnings of $25,400. Salaries rose to $29,090 with 1-4 years of experience, $35,100 with 5-9 years of experience, $41,660 with 10-19 years of experience and $50,430 with over 20 years of experience.

Other Employee Benefits

As a pharmacy tech, you will enjoy employee benefits such as health insurance, paid leave and pension plan. However the extent of benefits you enjoy will depend upon your employer. The largest salary benefit that an average Pharmacy Technician receives is in the form of insurance benefits at 11.70% for state and government employees and 8% for pharmacy techs working in the private sector. Working for the state, you can expect to enjoy a high Savings and Retirement benefit at 12.10% as compared to a meagre 3.50 % for pharmacy technicians placed in the private sector. State and Local Government employees get 62.30% ($42,340) as Wages and another 37.8 % ($25,689) as benefits on total earnings. Working in the private sector, you can get 70.10 %( $34,860) as wages and 29.90 %( $14,869) as benefits on total earnings.

Factors That Will Affect My Salary

Apart from experience there are other factors that will play a role in deciding How much you will make as a Pharmacy Technician. Let us look at all the factors that play a role:

Place of Employment: The place of employment or geographical location can have an impact on the salary. Higher the cost of living of a place, higher the salary and vice-versa. Large metros usually pay higher pay packages as compared to non-metros as the cost of things such as rent, utilities, groceries, etc. is steeper over there. E.g. Pharmacy technician working in California earns the highest average salary $47,620 a year. The second highest average salary is in Alaska at $46,430 a year. Alabama and Kentucky rank the lowest in terms of average salary i.e. $30,980 and $30,370 and $30,040 respectively. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($56,620) and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($56,020) are the top two earning cities for a Pharmacy technician.

Job Sector: The industry you work in plays an important role in how much you earn. A pharmacy technician placed in a hospital setting commands a higher pay as compared to a retail pharmacy. The average annual wages for pharmacy technicians working at Outpatient Care Centers and hospitals were $49,690 and $47,690 respectively. Grocery Stores paid a lower average wage of $33,000.

Education: As a pharmacy technician, you can land up your first job right after high school. However the starting wages will be a meagre low. On the other hand after graduating from an ASHP accredited pharmacy technician program, you can command a much higher salary. Similarly those of you who go on to do the associate degree program have an added advantage in the ever-competitive job market, and can easily demand a higher pay package. Alternatively if you are already working, you can continue with your job and get yourself enrolled in an online accredited pharmacy technician school which will consequently give you a salary hike. Moreover getting educated will open up niche job prospects in terms of being a compounding or a nuclear pharmacy technician that pay higher.

Certification: As a certified pharmacy technician, you will be preferred by employers as certification validates your subject knowledge and skills. The requirement for certified pharmacy technicians is set to rise with the expansion of the pharmaceutical industry. A rise in demand will eventually mean higher salaries for certified pharmacy technicians. Keeping this in mind it is highly recommended you get PTCB certified.

Experience: As in any industry, increasing years of experience equals to increasing salaries. A pharmacy technician who has been working for a long period of time gains hands on experience and skill, is, therefore a more efficient and productive employee as compared to a fresher who is still learning on the job. The starting salary of a pharmacy technician is around $25,400 - $29,090. The earnings of a pharmacy technician who has had 20 plus years of experience are estimated to be $41,660 - $50,430. With years of experience a pharmacy technician can also expect perks such as medical benefits and an insurance cover as part of the annual salary package.

Specialization: There are specializations which you can do as a pharmacy tech that will help you earn a higher pay package. Since, formal training in a school is not a pre-requisite to start a career in this field, hardly any consider specialization. This invariably creates a demand for pharmacy technicians specialized in Nuclear, Compounding and Oncology Pharmacy. Getting yourself specialized can therefore fetch you a fat pay check as compared to those who haven't advanced their education in Pharmacy Technology.

Type of the Employer: Your salary also depends on the type of employer you are working for. At times large retail pharmacies are not great payers as they compensate the experience and exposure they provide with a low wage. Smaller pharmacies on the other hand pay well in order to pool in talent, in a bid to scale up their sales. Conversely at times there are difference of wages between employers of the same cadre due to different company policies and status of the company's financial health. The salaries at two largest retail pharmacy employers: working for CVS Pharmacy, a pharmacy tech earns $22,930-$41,530 whereas pharmacy technicians working for Walgreen's Pharmacy earns $21,880-$39,630

10 Year (2008-2019) Historical Salary Growth

The current annual wage of pharmacy technicians in the United States is about $36,450. In 2008, the average annual salary was about $28,500, which shows a 32.26% increase in the average salary from 2008 to 2020.

2013: In the last decade the hike in the salary has been the highest from 2007 to 2008, increasing by a rate of 3.41%. However the hike has come down to 1.37% from 2012 to 2013.

2014: The growth rate from 2013 to 2014 has been a meager 0.81%, which has been the lowest in the last decade.

2015: The salary growth rate has bounced back from 2014 to 2015 at 1.90%.

2016: The next consecutive year it has stayed pretty much the same, indicating a growth rate of 1.55%.

2017: The good news is in the last five years pharmacy technician salary has grown the highest from 2016 to 2017 at the rate of 2.77%.

How Many Pharmacy Technician Jobs (New + Replacement) Are Being Created Annually?

A pharmacy technician's career is ever growing due to the rising expansion of medical sciences. Diseases and conditions that had no cure a decade back, today have prescription medications treating them. The advancement in the pharmaceutical world means a growing demand in pharmacy technicians. These days requirement of pharmacy technicians goes beyond a pharmacy. Qualified pharmacy techs are filling up positions in a wide range of work environments, including hospitals, emergency clinics, community centers and even in pharmaceutical companies. Pharmacy techs with years of experience prefer moving up the career ladder, taking up either management positions or go on to pursue pharmacy. This further creates job openings for pharmacy techs. With the availability and dependency on prescription medication going up in the recent years, job market for pharmacy techs is bound to get better, and just in the last one year of 2019, number of jobs created for pharmacy techs were 31,700.

Industries Hiring the Most

Pharmacy technicians work in varied work environments including retail pharmacies, hospitals, grocery stores, general merchandise stores, department stores, outpatient care centers and federal government. Retail pharmacies, either independently owned or part of a drug store chain or a mass retailer are the highest employers of pharmacy techs, having 210,190 i.e. almost 70 percent of pharmacy techs actively working. CVS hires the highest number, followed by Walgreens, Wal-Mart and Rite Aid Corp. About 66,240 pharmacy techs i.e. 13 percent work in hospitals. Specialty hospital and federal government hire the least number of pharmacy technicians.

Highest Paying Industries

As a pharmacy tech your salary will depend on your work environment. Pharmacy Technicians working for the Outpatient Care Centers take home the highest salaries at, $49,690, the reason being federal government work settings are stringent when it comes to their quality of recruitment. Federal Government and Specialty Hospital come next as they require pharmacy technicians who are educated and skilled to handle the rigors of their work environment. The lowest payers for pharmacy technicians are retail pharmacies and grocery stores, paying an annual wage of $34,420 and $33,000 annually.

Retail Pharmacies Hire the Highest Number of Pharmacy Technicians - A Look at What They Pay

Retail pharmacies are the top pharmacy technician hirers. A pharmacy technician at a retail pharmacy is responsible for dispensing medication, sorting pills, affixing labels and boosting sales. The following information will let you know more about the employment of pharmacy technicians in the top pharmacies of the country.

Costco Pharmacies: Costco Pharmacy or Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational which operates a chain of membership only warehouse clubs. Its headquarters are located in Issaquah, Washington. As of 2015 it was the world's second largest retailer. They pay their pharmacy technicians salaries ranging from $28,350 - $51,330. The company is known to give great benefits in terms of bonus and competitive wages. To get yourself a job at Costco you can apply here.

CVS Pharmacy: Originally called Consumer Value Store, CVS Pharmacy is a subsidiary of CVS Health. It is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. At present CVS Pharmacy is the largest pharmacy chain in the country having stores in 9,600 (as of 2016) locations. Working at CVS can bring you a paycheck ranging from $22,930 - $41,530. As a pharmacy technician at CVS you will dispense medication as well as ring in the cash register. They have part-time work options as well for pharmacy technicians. You can check their job openings here.

Giant Eagle Pharmacy: Giant Eagle is a chain of supermarket stores having branches in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Maryland. The company also operates 168 fuel stations under the GetGo banner. Since the 1980's the supermarket chain has been adding pharmacies to their stores. As a pharmacy tech at Giant, you can expect to earn a salary ranging from $25,890 - $46,880, annually. To know about their job openings you can check here.

Hy-Vee Pharmacy: Hy-Vee is a chain of supermarkets, having 245 stores across Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In 1969 the company opened its first drug store in Iowa. It has expanded its operations by bringing in the online shopping option to all its stores. Your annual income here will range from $26,600 - $48,170. The company offers flexible part-time job options, which you can learn about here.

Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy: Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy is a healthcare facility operating in the states of Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia and Georgia. It has its headquarters in Oakland. This healthcare magnet employs a large number of medical professionals and pharmacy technicians, who are paid from $28,740 - $50,600, annually and are part of this holistic healthcare team. To know if they have job openings you can check in here.

Kmart Pharmacy: Kmart is an American department store chain headquartered in Illinois. Kmart Pharmacy has now gone online to fulfill the needs to the ever-evolving retail space. As a pharmacy tech here expect to earn from $22,820 - $41,320, annually. You can find if they have any placements on their career page.

Meijer Pharmacy: Meijer Pharmacy is part of the hypermarket chain of the American retailer, Meijer Inc. The chain headquarters in Michigan, having more than half of its 240 stores located in the state. Most of their stores have pharmacies and are open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. If this is the company you would like to work for, where you will earn an annual income of $26,830 - $47,240, then learn about their placements here.

Publix Pharmacy: Publix is an employee owned super market chain, headquartered in Florida. The first in store pharmacy opened in 1986. 90% of Publix stores include a pharmacy and their pharmacies consistently rank number one for customer satisfaction. Pharmacy techs here earn an annual average income from $27,520 - $49,840. You can find job placements for pharmacy technicians here.

Rite Aid Pharmacy: A Fortune 500 company Rite Aid Corporation is a drugstore chain which is headquartered in Pennsylvania. It is the third largest drug-store in the nation and the largest on the East Coast. Its biggest competitors are CVS and Walgreens. As a pharmacy tech at Rite Aid you are expected to multitask without any breaks. You can expect to earn an annual salary from $23,570 - $42,680. If this is the place for you to work then you can learn about their job openings here.

Safeway Pharmacy: Safeway Inc is an American supermarket chain founded in 1915. The pharmacy is part of most of their supermarket stores. As of 2014 Safeway had a total of 1,335 stores across the country, the maximum number of its branches in Washington. It is an equal opportunity employer welcoming diverse talent and backgrounds. They pay their pharmacy techs an annual average of $28,090 - $50,850. Here's where you can look if they have any openings for pharmacy techs.

The Kroger Co: Kroger Co is an American retailing company founded in 1883. As of 2016, it was the country's largest general retailer by revenue. It is also the world's third largest retailer, having its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company operates more than 1,948 pharmacies, most of which are inside their supermarkets. If Kroger's is your kind of work place and an annual salary of $26,080 - $47,230 is what you looking at, then go ahead learn about the job openings they have.

Walgreen's Pharmacy: Walgreens is an American company which operates the second largest pharmacy chain in the country, after CVS. Its pharmacies specialize in dispensing prescription medication, health and wellness products, health information and photo services. Operating 8175 stores in all 50 states, it pays its pharmacy techs a salary of $21,880 - $39,630, annually. Check out their job openings here.

Walmart Pharmacy: Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation. It operates hypermarkets, department and grocery stores. Since is inception in 1962, the company has made its presence felt in 28 countries, operating under different names. In the U.S. the company operates over 500 Walmart and Sam's Club Pharmacies. As a pharmacy tech here you can expect to earn anywhere from $23,120 - $41,870. Find out about their placements here.

Winn-Dixie Pharmacies: Winn-Dixie is an American supermarket chain having stores in 500 locations. Its headquarters are in Jacksonville, Florida. Their pharmacies are part of the supermarket and they are open 7 days a week. Learn about their job openings here. You can expect to earn an annual income from $25,230 - $45,690

View Salaries at the Top Retail Pharmacies in a Snapshot

Employers Prefer to Hire Pharmacy Technicians with a PTCB Certification

PTCB is the most preferred certification across the country. Most states require their pharmacy technicians to be certified before they can work alongside a pharmacist. Even in states where certification is not required, employers prefer to hire certified pharmacy techs. At 37,813, Texas has the highest number of PTCB certified pharmacy technicians. California and Florida come next, having 20,121 and 17,378 certified pharmacy techs employed. Puerto Rico has only 192 PTCB certified pharmacy techs, which is the lowest in the country.

State Wise Salary Figures

States that are top paying are expensive to live in, with higher rentals and steeper cost of utilities and groceries and even a higher cost of education. So, living in California or Alaska may help you bring home a bigger pay, however you will end up spending more and saving less. Conversely states like Alabama or Kentucky, where wages are lower can be good options to start with, with cheaper housing, groceries and utilities. A pharmacy technician working in California will earn an average salary of $47,620 per year. If the same moves to Alaska, salary will come down to $46,430 per year. In the Arkansas area, a pharmacy technician can earn $31,010 compared to the same making $30,980 in the Alabama area and $30,370 around in Kentucky. A move to Hawaii means a pay cut down to $42,300 per year.

The following table provides data on Pharmacy Technician salaries for all states in the U.S.A with a quick reference for hourly wages and average annual salary on a state by state basis.

State Wise Employment, Employment Growth & Annual Job Openings

As the demand for healthcare professionals keeps rising, each year more number of pharmacy technicians join the workforce across the country. States like Texas, California and Florida have projected to have the highest job openings. Annually, while Texas has 3,990 job openings, California and Florida have 3,740 and 2,790 respectively. When it comes to employment growth Arizona projects the highest at 24.76%,, through 2020 to 2030. A state's population and presence of the number of pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies are key factors which affect the employment rate of a state.

Top 100 Best Paying Metros for Pharmacy Technicians In 2019

As a pharmacy technician the salary you earn will depend on various factors, namely; location, type of employer, work experience, certification and your educational background. It is always good to know how much pharmacy techs in other metros make while doing the same work as yours. Pharmacy technicians working in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA earn the highest salaries at $56,620, annually and $27.22, hourly. While San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward and Santa Rosa are other high paying metros in California, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue and Olympia-Tumwater are the highest paying metros in Washington. The table below gives you the list of the 100 best paying metros in terms of hourly and annual salary.

Pharmacy Technician Compared to Similar Healthcare Occupations

When you compare a pharmacy technician's salary with other health care professionals you will realize that it is on the lower side. The educational requirements to join the workforce as a pharmacy technician is not as much when compared to that of other careers. With just a certificate or a diploma you can start working. When it comes to levels of stress, a pharmacy technician does not have to deal with emergency or life-threatening situations. The comparative ease of this career makes up for the lower salaries. With an average annual salary of $35,100 in 2020, a pharmacy technician does not earn as much as some other workers in the health care support field. Dental assistants, LPNs' and LVNs', medical assistants, registered nurses and medical transcriptionists are better paid than pharmacy technicians.

The table and information below will take through the employment projection and salaries of health care career professionals vis-a-vis a pharmacy technician:

VS Dental Assistant: While a pharmacy technician makes $35,100 annually, a dental assistant earns $41,180, which is $6,080, more than that of what a pharmacy tech makes. Annually there are 12,300 more job openings for dental assistants when we compare with that of pharmacy techs.

VS LPN: An LPN earns an annual average salary of $48,820, which is $13,720, more than what a pharmacy tech earns annually. With 60,700 annual job openings for LPNs' and LVNs', they are more in demand in the job market when compared to pharmacy technicians.

VS Medical Assistant: The salary of a medical assistant and a pharmacy tech are almost at par, with hardly a difference of $750. The job openings for medical assistants are much more with 104,400 jobs available annually.

VS Medical Transcriptionist: There is hardly any difference between the salary of a pharmacy technician and medical transcriptionist. While a pharmacy tech earns $35,250 annually, a medical transcriptionist earns $35,100. However the projected growth rate differs considerably through a period of 2019-29, with medical transcriptionist at dismal $35,270 and pharmacy tech at 3.96%

VS Nursing Assistant: Nursing assistants earn an annual income which is lower than that of a pharmacy tech by $4,250. However there 187,000 jobs created for nursing assistants annually which is 155,300 job openings more than that of pharmacy techs.

VS Pharmacist: A pharmacy technician and pharmacist work hand in hand in a pharmacy. However the level of education required for both these professions differs considerably. While a pharmacist makes $128,710 annually, a pharmacy technician earns $35,100. However the employment growth rate for a pharmacy tech is much higher at 3.96% whereas that of a pharmacist is just at -2.14%.

VS Phlebotomist: The annual salaries of a pharmacy technician and a phlebotomist are pretty close with a phlebotomist earning slightly higher at $36,320 and a pharmacy tech at $35,100. A phlebotomist however has a promising employment growth rate of 22.22% through a period of 2020-30.

VS Registered Nurse: Registered nurses are hugely in demand in the medical field and hence there are 194,500 annual job openings for them. They earn almost twice the salary of that of a pharmacy technician at $75,330.