Pharmacy Technician Salary

The average salary for a pharmacy technician in the U.S. is about $35,100 per year.

$25,400 (low 10%)

$35,100 (median)

$50,430 (top 90%)

Pharmacy technicians earn an average of $35,100 per year according to the bls.gov.

The range in pay goes from $25,400 to $50,430 per year.

PercentileAnnual Wage
10%$32,900
25%$29,090
50%$35,100
75%$41,660
90%$50,430

How much does a pharmacy technician make?

According to the bls.gov, pharmacy technicians make an average of $35,100 per year which comes out to $17.52 per hour. The highest-paid pharmacy technicians earn approximately $50,430 per year or $24.25 per hour. The lowest-paid pharmacy technicians earn as little as $25,400 per year or $12.21 per hour.

Whether you are on the low or high end of a pharmacy tech pay scale, you will still earn significantly more than minimum wage. To become a pharmacy technician you typically only need a high school diploma or the equivalent and can often learn through on-the-job training.

Top paying industries for pharmacy technicians

The highest paying industry for pharmacy technicians is outpatient care centers where the annual wages average $49,690. This is in contrast to the average pay across all industries which is around $35,000 per year. That means pharmacy techs in outpatient career centers could make about $14,000 per year.

Pharmacy techs in the federal executive branch also earn a higher pay of around $47,700 per year. Take a look at the table below for more high-paying industries for pharmacy technicians.

IndustryAnnual wage
Outpatient care centers$49,690
Federal executive branch$47,690
Colleges, universities, professional schools$43,990
Medical and diagnostic laboratories$43,960
Local government, excluding schools & hospitals$43,730

Top paying cities for pharmacy technicians

All of the top-paying metropolitan areas for Pharmacy Technicians are in California. The average salary nationwide is $35,100, but the average salary in the San Jose, CA region is $56,620. The average salary for pharmacy technicians is $56,020 in the San Francisco, CA region and $52,810 in Santa Rosa, CA. These are significantly higher than the average. Take a look at the table below for the other high-paying cities.

CityAnnual wage
San Jose region, CA$56,620
San Francisco region, CA$56,020
Santa Rosa, CA$52,810
Stockton region, CA$50,860
Vallejo region, CA$50,580

Pharmacy technician salaries by state

The top-paying states for pharmacy technicians are California, Alaska, Washington, the District of Columbia, and Oregon.

StateAnnual wage
California$47,620
Alaska$46,430
Washington$46,400
District of Columbia$46,240
Oregon$43,410

How do pharmacy technician salaries compare to related careers?

The average salary for pharmacy technicians is around $35,100 per year. This is comparable to the salary for both medical assistants and medical transcriptionists as both these careers earn around $35,000 per year also.

Dental assistants, however, earn more. Their typical salary is around $41,180 so that’s about $6,000 more each year. Finally, pharmacists are a similar career to pharmacy technicians. As a pharmacist, you can average about $128,710 per year which is about 3 times as much as a pharmacy technician. However, you will need to gain a Doctoral degree so the education requirements are much higher.

CareerAnnual wage
Pharmacy technicians$35,100
Dental assistants$41,180
Medical assistants$35,850
Medical transcriptionists$35,270
Pharmacists$128,710