Pharmacist Salary in Hawaii 2026,
$163,220 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $163,220 a year, or $78.47 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 15.8% above the national median of $140,910. The middle half falls between $133,900 and $171,510 and the full band runs $127,410 to $177,290. Both the floor and the median are among the highest for this profession in the country.

Oahu, marginally: Urban Honolulu reports $165,090 against Kahului-Wailuku at $160,440, with the statewide row at $163,220. About five thousand dollars separates the table, so unlike nurse practitioners in this state, pharmacists face no meaningful island pay decision. Chain and health-system pay bands rather than local scarcity appear to set the rate.

Through the Hawaii Board of Pharmacy at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. You need an accredited Doctor of Pharmacy degree, completed intern hours and a passing NAPLEX score along with the state's jurisprudence requirement. The board also registers technicians, licenses pharmacies and handles controlled substance registration, so it is the single regulatory point of contact for practice in the state.

It reduces it substantially but does not eliminate it, and that distinguishes pharmacy from most occupations in this Hawaii unit. A 15.8% premium over the national median is large enough to survive a serious cost adjustment, whereas physical therapy and dental hygiene here pay essentially the national rate in the most expensive state in the country. Housing remains the dominant variable, and an 11% top income tax rate plus the general excise tax take a real share of the difference.

Supply chain, more than anything. Every medication dispensed in the state arrives by sea or air, so inventory buffers must be deeper, lead times are longer, and a national shortage or a shipping disruption is felt here first and hardest. That makes procurement and inventory judgement a larger part of the role than on the mainland. On the neighbour islands, where a single pharmacist may serve a whole district, the responsibility is correspondingly greater.

Because pharmacy has a genuinely national labour market attached to a single national degree, and Hawaii has to compete in it from four thousand kilometres away. A PharmD graduate can work anywhere; persuading one to move to a state where housing is the most expensive in the country requires paying above the national rate, and Hawaii does — 15.8% above. Occupations with more locally trained workforces, or with rates anchored to national reimbursement, do not generate the same pressure, which is why physical therapy and dental hygiene here pay essentially the national figure. Pharmacy is the case where isolation shows up as money rather than as a vacancy.

With about 1,190 pharmacists the sample is moderate but the percentile figures are less stable than in large states. The 10th percentile of $127,410 is unusually high, which suggests relatively little part-time and relief practice in the sample — a different composition from mainland states where that tail drags the bottom down. The figure excludes sign-on and relocation incentives, which are a real part of Hawaii recruitment. And the whole band must be read against the state's cost structure and 11% top income tax rate.

Setting first: hospital and clinical roles above community retail, roughly the distance from the $133,900 twenty-fifth percentile to the $163,220 median. Residency training and specialty certification second, for the clinical posts concentrated in the Honolulu health systems. Management responsibility third — pharmacy manager and hospital pharmacy director roles are what the $171,510 seventy-fifth percentile and $177,290 ninetieth describe, though that upper band spans under six thousand dollars. Island choice contributes about five thousand dollars and points to Oahu. The honest summary is that the money here is in entering the profession rather than climbing it.