Respiratory Therapist Salary in Oklahoma 2026,
$78,800 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $78,800 a year, or $37.88 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, which is only 4.2% below the national median of $82,280. The middle half falls between $67,110 and $83,610 and the full band runs $64,380 to $95,350. The 75th percentile clearing the national median is the significant detail — Oklahoma's upper half is nationally competitive.

Oklahoma City at $80,810, essentially level with Tulsa at $80,250, and Enid at $77,230 not far behind. About thirty-six hundred dollars separates the whole published table, so relocating within Oklahoma is not a pay strategy for this profession — which is unusual, and a genuine advantage for anyone who wants to choose where to live on other grounds.

Through the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, which licenses respiratory care practitioners alongside physicians rather than through a separate allied health board. You need a degree from an accredited respiratory care programme and the National Board for Respiratory Care credential. Registered respiratory therapist standing is the practical requirement for critical care and neonatal assignment at the state's larger hospitals.

On the published figures it is one of the better allied health positions in this region. A median within four per cent of the national figure, a 75th percentile above the national median, an entry-level 10th percentile of $64,380, a 4.75% top income tax rate and low housing costs together make Oklahoma's real position stronger than several higher-nominal states. The 12.1% projected national growth and the state's chronic respiratory disease burden support demand as well.

The Oklahoma City and Tulsa hospital systems account for the bulk of it, along with community hospitals across the state. Tribal health systems and the Indian Health Service are significant additional employers in much of Oklahoma and recognise the same credentials. Beyond acute hospital work there are sleep laboratory, pulmonary function, long-term acute care and home care roles, and critical care transport — which matters here because rural Oklahoma hospitals transfer into the two metropolitan systems regularly.

Because respiratory therapy pay is set by hospital staffing markets that are more nationally standardised than most, and because Oklahoma's hospital systems compete for the same credentialed pool across the whole state rather than city by city. Enid at $77,230 has to pay close to Oklahoma City's $80,810 or it will not staff its unit — a small hospital cannot simply offer less for a licensed, credentialed, ventilator-competent therapist. The result is a flat table, and the practical consequence is that in Oklahoma a respiratory therapist's pay is determined by credential and unit assignment almost entirely, with location contributing very little.

It reports wages as paid, so night, weekend and extra-shift differentials are inside the number — a therapist on straight days sits below it. With about 2,000 therapists statewide the sample is moderate, and it blends acute hospital, tribal health, long-term acute care, sleep laboratory and home care settings with genuinely different pay structures. And only three metros are published, which leaves a good deal of rural Oklahoma hospital employment outside the table, though the flatness of the published figures suggests less variation than in most states.

Registered respiratory therapist standing first, since it is the gate to critical care assignment at the larger systems. Unit second: adult intensive care, neonatal and paediatric work above general ward and pulmonary function. Specialty credentials and critical care transport third — with rural Oklahoma hospitals transferring into the metropolitan systems, transport competence is genuinely in demand and is a route toward the $83,610 seventy-fifth percentile. Shift differentials fourth. Supervision, education and clinical coordinator roles are what reach the $95,350 ninetieth percentile. Geography contributes almost nothing.