Respiratory Therapist Salary in Oregon 2026,
$100,560 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $100,560 a year, or $48.34 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 22.2% above the national median of $82,280. The middle half falls between $85,310 and $104,360 and the full band runs $81,490 to $120,060. The 10th percentile sitting essentially level with the national median is the clearest statement of Oregon's premium.

Salem at $104,360, ahead of Medford $102,780 and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro $100,030, with Eugene-Springfield well below at $85,930. That Salem and Medford both out-pay Portland points to hospital staffing pressure outside the largest market — smaller Oregon hospitals must compete for a credentialed workforce the state employs at only 0.76 times the national rate.

Through the Oregon Health Licensing Office's Respiratory Therapist and Polysomnographic Technologist Licensing 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 Oregon's larger hospitals, and the shared board reflects how closely respiratory care and sleep medicine sit together here.

Constrained supply meeting steady demand. Oregon employs the profession at 0.76 times the national rate — about 1,340 therapists — in a state with an ageing population, dispersed rural hospitals needing coverage, and an established sleep medicine sector competing for the same credentialed people. A licensure requirement slows entry on top of that. The result is a floor at $81,490 that most states cannot reach at their median.

It is, and Oregon's regulatory structure signals as much: respiratory therapy and polysomnographic technology share a licensing board here. Sleep laboratory work, polysomnography credentials and the diagnostic side of respiratory care are an established alternative to acute hospital practice in this state, with different hours and a different pace. Those roles sit in the upper part of the band alongside specialty-credentialed acute care and supervision.

Because the binding constraint is staffing rather than cost of living. Portland has the largest hospital systems and the deepest local pool of credentialed therapists; Salem and Medford must attract the same nationally credentialed workforce to smaller markets, and in a state employing the profession at 0.76 times the national rate there is no slack to draw on. A hospital in Medford cannot run its intensive care unit with fewer therapists, so it pays what it must. That pattern — smaller markets paying above the largest one — recurs across several allied health roles in this batch, and it is always a supply story rather than a demand one.

It reports wages as paid, so night, weekend and extra-shift differentials are inside the number and a therapist on straight days will sit below it. With about 1,340 therapists the sample is modest. It blends acute hospital, sleep laboratory, long-term acute care and home care settings with different pay structures. And it must be read against Oregon's tax position — 9.9% top rate plus Portland-area local income taxes, offset by no sales tax.

Registered respiratory therapist standing first, as the gate to critical care assignment. Unit second: adult intensive care, neonatal and paediatric above general ward and pulmonary function. Specialty credentials and sleep medicine third, the latter being a distinctly Oregon route given the shared licensing board. Shift differentials fourth, which are substantial here. Supervision and clinical coordination reach the $120,060 ninetieth percentile. Location contributes about eighteen thousand dollars between Salem and Eugene-Springfield, in the direction most people would not expect.