Kinesiology Degree Programs

Salary · SOC 29-1122

Occupational Therapist Salary

Occupational Therapists earn a median of $100,330 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 occupational therapist 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)

An older adult with arthritis gripping a crayon to draw at a table, the kind of fine-motor task occupational therapy rebuilds
Photograph by JIUN-JE LIN on Pexels

How Much Do Occupational Therapists 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

$71,690 $131,950
10th pct
$71,690
25th pct
$82,510
Median
$100,330
75th pct
$116,670
90th pct
$131,950

162,450 people were employed in this occupation nationally, and the median hourly wage was $48.24.

What the spread actually tells you

Half of occupational therapists earn more than $100,330 and half earn less. The bottom tenth are under $71,690 and the top tenth clear $131,950, so the published range is about $60,260 wide. Put another way, the top tenth earn about 1.8x 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 $82,510 and $116,670. 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 162,450 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.

Occupational Therapist Salary by State

All 51 states with published data, alphabetically. 20 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 $76,670 $94,050 $123,870 1,500
Alaska $82,320 $103,680 $133,860 410
Arizona $78,160 $103,660 $131,950 2,680
Arkansas $65,160 $106,360 $144,250 2,160
California $85,550 $124,510 $158,560 13,810
Colorado $81,390 $106,720 $157,820 3,390
Connecticut $76,360 $102,440 $127,630 3,150
Delaware $71,280 $102,130 $138,640 490
District of Columbia $81,760 $109,170 $129,810 540
Florida $66,230 $99,360 $117,950 10,650
Georgia $75,290 $104,010 $128,610 3,650
Hawaii $78,670 $102,870 $118,240 390
Idaho $69,440 $97,760 $152,880 840
Illinois $73,360 $99,700 $132,180 7,710
Indiana $69,550 $97,020 $119,950 3,830
Iowa $64,610 $89,910 $109,200 1,290
Kansas $66,720 $99,170 $120,950 1,560
Kentucky $71,030 $97,650 $119,250 2,190
Louisiana $61,070 $98,490 $126,630 2,060
Maine $63,750 $84,310 $114,100 1,120
Maryland $76,650 $106,980 $132,300 2,390
Massachusetts $73,140 $100,930 $127,380 6,510
Michigan $66,580 $89,910 $105,720 5,120
Minnesota $71,770 $93,050 $108,790 3,670
Mississippi $73,200 $94,930 $113,950 1,340
Missouri $71,880 $97,290 $120,130 3,400
Montana $76,110 $88,990 $110,910 420
Nebraska $70,370 $93,740 $107,780 1,500
Nevada $85,720 $110,520 $139,260 1,080
New Hampshire $64,150 $83,900 $115,050 1,240
New Jersey $78,690 $103,410 $159,230 6,290
New Mexico $69,230 $99,170 $133,050 1,030
New York $64,770 $96,390 $133,700 11,690
North Carolina $62,230 $92,940 $118,300 4,490
North Dakota $66,890 $83,200 $106,300 570
Ohio $70,080 $99,390 $123,800 6,760
Oklahoma $68,530 $104,300 $134,420 1,180
Oregon $78,500 $112,310 $131,340 1,170
Pennsylvania $69,120 $98,440 $128,790 6,560
Rhode Island $75,760 $100,040 $126,630 770
South Carolina $75,370 $101,130 $123,110 1,840
South Dakota $65,820 $85,050 $106,520 490
Tennessee $68,520 $97,700 $119,070 2,490
Texas $76,350 $106,140 $135,200 13,400
Utah $75,570 $97,150 $126,970 1,030
Vermont $69,120 $93,340 $118,110 320
Virginia $70,200 $100,710 $134,570 4,150
Washington $83,110 $107,670 $135,290 3,340
West Virginia $60,870 $96,190 $129,460 700
Wisconsin $73,610 $92,390 $110,950 3,710
Wyoming $57,740 $86,170 $127,790 350

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

Highest and Lowest Paying States for Occupational Therapists

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

  • California $124,510 13,810 jobs
  • Oregon $112,310 1,170 jobs
  • Nevada $110,520 1,080 jobs
  • District of Columbia $109,170 540 jobs
  • Washington $107,670 3,340 jobs

Lowest median

  • North Dakota $83,200 570 jobs
  • New Hampshire $83,900 1,240 jobs
  • Maine $84,310 1,120 jobs
  • South Dakota $85,050 490 jobs
  • Wyoming $86,170 350 jobs

How Occupational Therapist Pay Compares

Among the 8 occupations a kinesiology degree leads to, this one ranks 2 on median pay. The next step up is physical therapists at $102,760. Below it sits physical therapist assistants at $68,380.

Read that ranking with the education in mind. This job needs its own professional degree, so the figure is not what a kinesiology graduate earns on graduating. It is what someone earns after the second degree, and the years and tuition in between belong in the comparison. The career profile sets out the full route.

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

What Moves Occupational Therapist Pay Up

BLS publishes wages, not the reasons behind them, so treat this as context rather than data. Three things separate the $131,950 end of this distribution from the $71,690 end.

  • Geography, and it is the one you can verify. California pays a median of $124,510 against $100,330, 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.
  • Specialization. Within this occupation, the sub-fields with the fewest qualified practitioners command the most.

Occupational Therapist Salary FAQ

How much does an occupational therapist make?
The median is $100,330 a year (BLS, May 2025). The bottom tenth earn under $71,690 and the top tenth clear $131,950. That works out at about $48.24 an hour at the median.
What is the highest paying state for occupational therapists?
California, at a median of $124,510. That is $24,180 above the national median. 20 of the 51 states with published data pay above the national figure.
Do occupational therapists earn more with experience?
The published distribution suggests so, though BLS reports percentiles rather than years of service. The 25th percentile is $82,510 and the 75th is $116,670, a gap of $34,160 across the middle half of the workforce. Setting and region account for much of that alongside experience.
Is an occupational therapist salary good compared to other kinesiology careers?
It ranks 2 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 occupational therapist?
86% of O*NET respondents named master's degree. This job requires its own professional degree, so a kinesiology bachelor's is preparation for admission rather than a route into the work.
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 51 states, so the rest were withheld rather than being zero.

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