Respiratory Therapists Salary and Job Growth
The average salary for Respiratory Therapists is $25.55 for full time. The best paid ones (upper 10%) make $69,000 a year or more and the worst paid (bottom 10%) make $38,000 a year. Median wage is
$25.10 an hour. Salary in all health care fields is greatly influenced by experience. The difference between a new therapist and one with 20 years of experience is about $7.00 an hour. What a Respiratory Therapist makes is also influenced by where they work in the hospital and the location in which they practice. Therapists in urban areas make more than those in rural. Ones that work in Critical Care areas make more than those who work on a general medical floor in a hospital. The lower paying positions would be the ones where the therapist is not making life or death decisions several times a shift such as at a sleep lab. The highest paying states are California and New York with Texas following a close third. California and New York rates are about $46,000 to $68,000, while Texas's is $36,000 to $60,000. On the low end of the scale is Illionois with a rate of $38,000. Average vacation rates are about two weeks for a therapist with 2 years of experience. This increases to four weeks with greater than ten years experience.
