How much do pharmacists make in 2026?
Pharmacists earn a national median of $140,910 a year ($67.75 an hour) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 29-1051). The bottom 10% earn about $99,290 and the top 10% reach $174,230 — a comparatively narrow band for a doctoral profession, because the licence is uniform and most employers pay to a structured grid. Setting matters more than seniority: community retail pharmacy sits close to the median with staffing pressure attached, hospital and health-system pharmacy pays similarly with better schedules, and clinical specialists, informatics pharmacists and pharmacy managers occupy the upper percentiles. Employment growth is 4.6% through 2034 with roughly 14,200 openings a year. → Full pharmacist career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $140,910 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Pharmacists earn a national median $140,910/yr ($67.75/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1051); the P10 to P90 range is $99,290 to $174,230.
- The band is narrow for a doctoral profession — $99,290 to $174,230 — because licensure is uniform and most employers pay to a grid rather than negotiating individually.
- Setting is the real choice: retail and hospital medians sit close together, but the schedule, staffing pressure and progression routes are entirely different.
- Employment growth is a modest 4.6% through 2034 with roughly 14,200 openings a year, so residency-trained clinical and informatics roles are where the pay ceiling has moved.
US Pharmacist Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do pharmacists earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 29-1051; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1051, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a pharmacist earn at each career stage?
Pharmacy has one licence, so the stages below follow setting, residency training and management scope. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS percentile distribution for SOC 29-1051.
By State
Which states pay pharmacists the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the BLS national median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. Pharmacist pay is unusual in that rural and hard-to-staff markets often pay above high-cost metros, because a pharmacy legally cannot open without a pharmacist on site.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($162,050), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
pharmacist pay by state — all 34 state guides
By Metro
Which cities pay pharmacists the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national median scaled by the state wage index and then by the published metro index. They are wage-level estimates, not BLS metropolitan-area observations, and they understate the premium paid in genuinely hard-to-staff locations.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a pharmacist’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does pharmacist pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Pharmacists sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify pharmacist wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a pharmacist actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Pharmacist Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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