Occupational Therapy Assistant Salary in Oklahoma 2026,
$66,520 Median | BLS Data by City

The published Oklahoma figure is $66,520 a year, or $31.98 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with a band from $51,710 at the 10th percentile to $79,320 at the 90th. That is 8.0% below the national median of $72,300. Oklahoma employs 1,000 OTAs at a location quotient of 1.77 — well above the national employment rate for the occupation.

Tulsa, decisively, at $75,360 against Oklahoma City's $65,840 — about 14% apart, with the statewide all-areas figure at $66,520. The Tulsa figure sits essentially at Oklahoma's own 75th percentile, which means the ordinary Tulsa post pays what an assistant elsewhere in the state reaches only through home health or specialty work.

Yes, through the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision rather than a freestanding therapy board. Licensure requires an ACOTE-accredited associate degree, the NBCOT examination and the COTA credential, with continuing education at renewal, and practice must be supervised by a licensed occupational therapist. In a largely rural state that supervisory requirement is a real constraint — an OTA post exists only where a supervising therapist is available.

The fundamentals are good. The occupation is projected to grow 19.2% nationally, Oklahoma already employs OTAs at 1.77 times the national rate, entry is a two-year accredited degree, and the state's cost of living is among the lowest in the country. The limits are the wage — 8% under the national median, at $66,520 — and the supervision requirement, which determines where posts can exist. The strongest position by some distance is a Tulsa post at $75,360.

Little, relative to cost of living. Oklahoma's progressive schedule tops out at 4.75% and an OTA at the $66,520 median sits within it rather than at the top, so the charge is modest. The far more consequential comparison is housing: peer states publishing nearly identical medians — Rhode Island $66,710 and the District of Columbia $66,390 — have dramatically higher living costs, so the same nominal wage goes considerably further in Oklahoma.

Because the employer mix differs. Tulsa's therapy employment is weighted toward hospital systems, outpatient rehabilitation and home-health agencies that compete for a small pool of licensed assistants, while Oklahoma City's larger and more varied market has a heavier skilled-nursing component with tighter reimbursement-driven budgets and a deeper candidate supply. The result is a Tulsa median of $75,360 against Oklahoma City's $65,840 — about 14% for the same licence and the same NBCOT credential.

The base is small — 1,000 jobs statewide — so the percentile estimates should be read as indicative rather than precise, and the state publishes only two metro rows plus the statewide figure. There is no rural Oklahoma metro median at all, so an assistant weighing a post in a smaller community has no published local benchmark and should reason from the $51,710-to-$79,320 state band. The role also cannot be practised independently: Oklahoma requires supervision by a licensed occupational therapist.

Location and setting, unusually equally. Working in Tulsa is worth about 14% over Oklahoma City at the metro median, which is as much as most settings deliver. Beyond that, per-visit home health across rural counties and contract therapy covering several skilled-nursing facilities pay for travel and coverage, carrying an assistant to the $75,590 seventy-fifth percentile from anywhere in the state. The $79,320 top decile is generally a high-volume home-health caseload, a paediatric specialisation, or a lead assistant role.