Average Income

• In 2006, the American Occupational Therapy Association reported that the median annual salary for an occupational therapist working in the United States was $55,800. In May of 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that an estimated 104,500 were employed in the nation, and that the median wage was $69,630, with the average salary being $70,680. In 2011, wage comparison website PayScale.com placed the average yearly salary for the profession at between $53,438 and $74,122, dependent upon bonuses. PayScale ranges are for the 25th to 75th percentile of respondents to their surveys.
  
  

Highs and Lows

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that occupational therapists at the top 10 percentile of earners received $100,430 or more, while. Their contemporaries at the 10 percentile mark made up to $45,340.
  
  

Income by Industry

• The bureau found that salaries for occupational therapists vary depending upon which sector of the health care industry a practitioner worked in. It listed home health care services and the private offices of physicians as among the best-paying sectors, with averages of $81,360 and $78,660, respectively. Nursing care facilities paid an average of $75,710, slightly more than the offices of other health practitioners, where the average was $72,970. Positions in general medical and surgical hospitals were listed at $71,300, while those in elementary and secondary schools offered $63,190.
  
  

Income by Location

• The location in which an occupational therapist practises will also influence salary. Pay analysis website SalaryExpert compared salaries for the profession across some major cities, and found that Dallas, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina, were among the most lucrative locations, with average salaries of $80,522 and $80,048, respectively. In contrast, Phoenix, Arizona was listed at $59,105. The Bureau of Labor Statistics placed California and Nevada at the top of the list of states for an occupational therapist to work in, averaging $82,610 and $81,310, respectively, while New Hampshire was listed at just $61,590.