Radiologic Technologist Salary in Hawaii 2026,
$101,700 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $101,700 a year, or $48.89 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 27.0% above the national median of $80,110. The middle half falls between $85,480 and $107,080 and the full band runs $39,150 to $115,440. The very low 10th percentile reflects part-time and limited-scope work, so the 25th percentile is the more realistic floor for registered practice.

Effectively neither: Urban Honolulu reports $102,610 and Kahului-Wailuku on Maui $101,190, with the statewide row at $101,700 — about fourteen hundred dollars across the whole table. Like physical therapy in this state, imaging shows no island premium, which points to a nationally credentialed profession recruited from the same mainland pool by employers on every island.

No. Hawaii is one of the few states with no radiologic technologist licensure scheme — there is no state board, no examination and nothing to renew. That is a notable gap for a role involving the operation of ionising radiation equipment on patients, and it means the ARRT registration is the only credential establishing competence. Hawaii employers require it precisely because the state does not.

Not by the state, but effectively by every employer worth working for. In the absence of any Hawaii licensure requirement, ARRT registration in radiography is what hospitals and imaging centres use to establish that a technologist may operate the equipment, and post-primary ARRT credentials in computed tomography, mammography and interventional radiography are what they require for those modalities. It is also the clearest pay lever available in this state.

Recruitment cost, principally. A location quotient of 0.74 shows the state employs the profession below the national rate, and with limited local training capacity most technologists are recruited from the mainland — which means relocation to the most expensive housing market in the country. The premium is what persuades people to make that move. It is smaller than the electrician premium in this state, because imaging staff can be recruited over months whereas a construction crew is needed this week.

It means the assurance framework here is entirely private. In most states a radiologic technologist holds a state licence with defined scope, continuing education requirements and a disciplinary process; in Hawaii there is none of that, so a hospital's confidence that a technologist can safely operate ionising radiation equipment rests on ARRT registration and on the employer's own credentialing. In practice the large Hawaii employers require ARRT registration, so the outcome is broadly similar — but the gap is real, and for a technologist it makes the registration more important rather than less. It is the only thing standing between you and no credential at all.

The 10th percentile of $39,150 sits far below the 25th at $85,480, which means the bottom of this band is part-time and limited-scope work rather than a starting salary — reading it as an entry rate would badly mislead. With about 690 technologists the sample is small and the percentiles correspondingly less stable. The figure reports wages as paid, so evening, night and call differentials are inside it. And it must be read against the highest cost of living in the United States.

ARRT post-primary credentials first — computed tomography, mammography and interventional radiography, each of which authorises modality work employers pay above general radiography for, and in a state with no licence these are the only formal distinctions available. Multi-modality competence second, particularly valuable on neighbour islands where one technologist may need to cover several modalities. Shift and call third. Lead technologist and departmental supervision fourth, which is what the $107,080 seventy-fifth percentile and $115,440 ninetieth describe. Island choice contributes about fourteen hundred dollars and can be ignored.