Kinesiology Degree Programs

Salary · SOC 29-1128

Exercise Physiologist Salary

Exercise Physiologists earn a median of $59,460 a year, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025. Here is the full distribution, every state BLS publishes, and how that exercise physiologist salary compares with the other careers a kinesiology degree leads to.

Taylor Rupe, Founder & Editor

Edited by Taylor Rupe B.A. Psychology (UW-Seattle), B.S. Computer Science (Oregon State)

A patient on a treadmill wearing chest electrodes and a gas-exchange mask during a graded exercise test, with clinicians watching the readout
Photograph by Los Muertos Crew on Pexels

How Much Do Exercise Physiologists Make?

The figure normally quoted for an occupation is its median, which is the midpoint of a distribution rather than an offer. Both published tails are below.

Annual wages, U.S.

BLS OEWS · May 2025

$42,760 $80,560
10th pct
$42,760
25th pct
$49,620
Median
$59,460
75th pct
$67,230
90th pct
$80,560

8,560 people were employed in this occupation nationally, and the median hourly wage was $28.59.

What the spread actually tells you

Half of exercise physiologists earn more than $59,460 and half earn less. The bottom tenth are under $42,760 and the top tenth clear $80,560, so the published range is about $37,800 wide. Put another way, the top tenth earn about 1.9x what the bottom tenth do. That is a relatively tight spread, so the median is a reasonable planning figure for this occupation.

The middle half of the workforce sits between $49,620 and $67,230. If you want one number to plan against, that band is more honest than the median alone, because it shows where most people actually land rather than where the exact midpoint falls.

BLS counts 8,560 people employed in this occupation nationally. Size matters when you read wage data: a high median in a small occupation can mean fewer openings and less room to negotiate, not a better market.

Exercise Physiologist Salary by State

All 42 states with published data, alphabetically. 16 of them pay above the national median. States are absent when BLS withheld the estimate because the sample was too small.

State 10th pct Median 90th pct Employed
Alabama $40,540 $50,820 $76,910 70
Arizona $51,950 $62,350 $77,630 220
Arkansas $40,800 $48,850 $66,890 40
California $36,970 $62,440 $106,290 640
Colorado $45,210 $63,800 $75,350 370
Connecticut $46,570 $62,510 $81,740 100
Delaware $41,960 $57,940 $83,910 90
Florida $47,800 $60,100 $88,070 330
Georgia $44,980 $58,170 $80,510 210
Idaho $49,550 $56,750 $74,650 40
Illinois $50,220 $60,130 $84,020 300
Indiana $34,060 $49,740 $71,130 310
Iowa $45,190 $56,640 $75,530 50
Kansas $49,830 $59,090 $73,550 60
Kentucky $45,960 $51,070 $64,810 60
Louisiana $40,410 $52,450 $81,330 40
Maryland $50,980 $62,220 $76,130 90
Massachusetts $60,060 $65,950 $97,370 180
Michigan $48,140 $55,080 $65,910 570
Minnesota $61,640 $67,230 $95,140 250
Mississippi $34,980 $43,060 $93,640 30
Missouri $46,700 $52,570 $69,260 160
Nevada $55,230 $55,240 $60,410
New Hampshire $51,630 $63,590 $79,050 50
New Jersey $55,620 $64,680 $79,290 130
New York $53,610 $59,940 $107,800 360
North Carolina $43,900 $52,450 $71,270 370
North Dakota $49,030 $50,430 $64,590 50
Ohio $44,310 $51,660 $71,560 340
Oklahoma $43,240 $49,190 $57,830 80
Oregon $56,010 $71,630 $81,260 80
Pennsylvania $38,900 $48,040 $67,820 640
South Carolina $32,100 $46,550 $64,420 230
South Dakota $48,390 $51,630 $71,540 30
Tennessee $40,620 $53,570 $73,360 140
Texas $36,890 $56,780 $79,150 520
Utah $28,860 $43,850 $73,570 220
Virginia $43,800 $52,400 $90,110 240
Washington $65,830 $81,310 $97,620 160
West Virginia $47,290 $50,270 $75,400 60
Wisconsin $55,100 $63,210 $77,320 340
Wyoming $49,620 $62,070 $97,800

A blank cell means BLS suppressed that value for this occupation in that state.

Highest and Lowest Paying States for Exercise Physiologists

Employment sits beside each median deliberately. A high median resting on a few dozen jobs describes a thin local market rather than a strong one.

Highest median

  • Washington $81,310 160 jobs
  • Oregon $71,630 80 jobs
  • Minnesota $67,230 250 jobs
  • Massachusetts $65,950 180 jobs
  • New Jersey $64,680 130 jobs

Lowest median

  • Mississippi $43,060 30 jobs
  • Utah $43,850 220 jobs
  • South Carolina $46,550 230 jobs
  • Pennsylvania $48,040 640 jobs
  • Arkansas $48,850 40 jobs

How Exercise Physiologist Pay Compares

Among the 8 occupations a kinesiology degree leads to, this one ranks 6 on median pay. The next step up is recreational therapists at $61,960. Below it sits coaches and scouts at $47,320.

This is one of the jobs a kinesiology degree reaches directly, so the median here is a figure you can weigh against tuition without adding a second degree to the calculation. The career profile has the education spread and the credentials employers ask for.

The full comparison across all 8 occupations, split by whether the degree reaches them directly, is on the salaries overview.

What Moves Exercise Physiologist Pay Up

BLS publishes wages, not the reasons behind them, so treat this as context rather than data. Three things separate the $80,560 end of this distribution from the $42,760 end.

  • Geography, and it is the one you can verify. Washington pays a median of $81,310 against $59,460, and the table above shows the whole range.
  • Setting. Within any of these occupations, hospital and home-health roles generally pay above school, community and commercial settings, and the gap is often larger than the difference between states.
  • Credentials. The certifications on this route are what employers screen for, and the clinical tier of a credential usually opens the better-paying settings.

Exercise Physiologist Salary FAQ

How much does an exercise physiologist make?
The median is $59,460 a year (BLS, May 2025). The bottom tenth earn under $42,760 and the top tenth clear $80,560. That works out at about $28.59 an hour at the median.
What is the highest paying state for exercise physiologists?
Washington, at a median of $81,310. That is $21,850 above the national median. 16 of the 42 states with published data pay above the national figure.
Do exercise physiologists earn more with experience?
The published distribution suggests so, though BLS reports percentiles rather than years of service. The 25th percentile is $49,620 and the 75th is $67,230, a gap of $17,610 across the middle half of the workforce. Setting and region account for much of that alongside experience.
Is an exercise physiologist salary good compared to other kinesiology careers?
It ranks 6 of the 8 occupations this site covers. The highest is physical therapists at $102,760, though that route requires its own professional degree.
What education do you need to be an exercise physiologist?
59% of O*NET respondents named bachelor's degree. A kinesiology degree can lead to this job directly.
Are these figures adjusted for cost of living?
No. Every number here is a published BLS figure for a stated area. Adjusting by a regional price index would produce values BLS never published and that you could not check against the source, so we report the survey as released.
Why is my state missing from the table?
BLS suppresses estimates where the surveyed sample is too small to publish reliably. This occupation has published medians for 42 states, so the rest were withheld rather than being zero.

Source