Occupational Therapist Salary in Wisconsin 2026,
$92,390 Median | BLS Data by City

The published figure is $92,390 a year, or $44.42 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 for SOC 29-1122, with a band from $73,610 at the 10th percentile to $110,950 at the 90th. That is 7.9% below the national median of $100,330, and the middle half of Wisconsin therapists earn between $78,430 and $102,240.

Madison, at $95,670, then Oshkosh-Neenah $95,420, Janesville-Beloit $94,750, Milwaukee-Waukesha $94,020 and Kenosha $93,120. The five sit within about $2,500 of one another and all exceed the $92,390 state median, so metro choice is close to irrelevant to gross pay in this occupation in Wisconsin.

Through the Occupational Therapists Affiliated Credentialing Board within the Department of Safety and Professional Services. It requires a degree from an ACOTE-accredited programme, completion of supervised fieldwork and a passing score on the NBCOT examination, with continuing education at renewal. NBCOT certification alone does not authorise practice in Wisconsin — the state licence does.

Supply and setting rather than weak demand. A location quotient of 1.21 on 3,710 jobs shows the state employs occupational therapists at over a fifth above the national rate for its size, and a substantial share of that employment is school-district contract work and skilled-nursing practice at the lower end of the band. Every published metro sits above the state median, which places the shortfall outside the metros.

Yes. The same Affiliated Credentialing Board licenses occupational therapy assistants, which matters in a state where school districts and skilled nursing facilities deliver much of their therapy through assistants supervised by an occupational therapist. For a therapist, supervising assistants is a routine part of the job and a component of the lead and departmental roles that pay above the median.

It means Wisconsin is not short of occupational therapists. A location quotient of 1.21 says the state employs them at over a fifth above the national rate for its workforce size, and it does so at a median 7.9% below the national figure — the classic signature of adequate supply meeting steady demand. The state's accredited programmes feed a market of large health systems, school districts and skilled-nursing operators that all pay on schedules, and none of them face the recruitment desperation that produces premiums in thinner states. For an individual therapist that means competition on setting and specialty rather than on geography.

The $73,610 tenth percentile is not a realistic full-time clinical starting salary — it reflects part-time, contract and school-calendar work annualised onto the same row. The $78,430 twenty-fifth percentile is the more honest entry reference for a new graduate in full-time practice. At the other end, the figure is straight-time and excludes the productivity bonuses common in per-visit home health, which sit at the top of the state's distribution. And because school-district employment is a large Wisconsin employer paying on a contract calendar, the median blends a nine- or ten-month working year with twelve-month clinical posts.

Setting first. Home health paid per visit and contract therapy in skilled nursing sit at the top of the state's distribution and account for most of the reach from the $102,240 seventy-fifth percentile to the $110,950 ninetieth, while outpatient and paediatric practice generally pays below them. Specialty certification is second — certified hand therapy in particular commands a premium in Milwaukee and Madison orthopaedic practice. Third is departmental responsibility: supervising licensed occupational therapy assistants and fieldwork students is a graded step in most Wisconsin health systems rather than an informal one.