2019 Pharmacist Salaries

[TheBlaah]

The 2019 Pharmacist Salary Guide

I dislike the author overall, but found the article a decent congregation and summary of salary information.

Of particular note is that salary growth was only 0.2% and 1.35% on two separate surveys. Also, there was a reported decrease in average base salary for retail pharmacists specifically.

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[wagrxm2000]

I just want in on this since it contradicts everyone that says pay is going down. Nit pick all you want and while some states did indeed go down, all that matters is the great country of California went up, right?

Edit: nit picking already happening.

 

[Sine Cura]

California is right-skewed by Kaiser and Bay Area

 

[mentos]

I just want in on this since it contradicts everyone that says pay is going down. Nit pick all you want and while some states did indeed go down, all that matters is the great country of California went up, right?

That data is from 2018. Starting pay for 2019 definitely went down.

 

[TimeZero]

Inflation > salary growth.

 

[hye345]

California is right-skewed by Kaiser and Bay Area

Not just them: from my own experience and from what others told me, retail pay in Ca, in northern CA (above Sacramento), central coast, and southern CA, are all around $60-$65.

 

[Sine Cura]

Yeah but my rate is >70 and still higher at Kaiser and in the bay area

 

[Momus]

Yeah but my rate is >70 and still higher at Kaiser and in the bay area

Every manager in CA gets low 70s. BFE/high volume gets mid to high 70s.

New grads manager... subtract $5-10 less.

 

[GypsyHummus]

All the doom and gloom the Pharmacy forum talks about, yet every salary site has PharmD clocking in at 110-120k/year. 120k seems pretty good to a 22-24 year old kid who just graduated with a worthless bio degree making 12$/hour at a lab.

 

[Momus]

All the doom and gloom the Pharmacy forum talks about, yet every salary site has PharmD clocking in at 110-120k/year. 120k seems pretty good to a 22-24 year old kid who just graduated with a worthless bio degree making 12$/hour at a lab.

All the doom and gloom are correct. None of my floaters get full time hours in SD. Most of them got 0-2 days/week. Do you wanna work here and not be able to afford rent lol? I got about 10-15 of them desperate for hours. Trusting salary site for pharmacy is the dumbest thing you can do in 2019.

 

[mentos]

My SO is trying to make the biggest decision of her life: whether to attend pharm school or not (she’s been accepted). According to her school’s website, their graduates’ average salary is 120k, which in my opinion is a very good number. Yet here on SDN everybody is advising against going to pharm school and that pharmacy is all gloom and doom. How can you explain the average salary provided by the pharm school? Is that number simply inaccurate or what?

LoL who should you believe, real working pharmacists or a for-profit school trying to sell something for $150-300k?

That "average salary" means nothing. They probably got that number from a small survey which only half the graduating class answered. Most are not getting 40 hours per week. They certainly didn't include those who are unemployed, a $0/year salary would certainly bring that average down.

 

[King2440]

My SO is trying to make the biggest decision of her life: whether to attend pharm school or not (she’s been accepted). According to her school’s website, their graduates’ average salary is 120k, which in my opinion is a very good number. Yet here on SDN everybody is advising against going to pharm school and that pharmacy is all gloom and doom. How can you explain the average salary provided by the pharm school? Is that number simply inaccurate or what?

Schools can manipulate numbers. The BIG question you want to ask is what is their job placement percent? They won’t tell you that. Pharmacy in 2023 for a new grad is going to be rough and sub 100k. Already starting like that in Texas. Best of luck.

 

[greenteapanacea]

My SO is trying to make the biggest decision of her life: whether to attend pharm school or not (she’s been accepted). According to her school’s website, their graduates’ average salary is 120k, which in my opinion is a very good number. Yet here on SDN everybody is advising against going to pharm school and that pharmacy is all gloom and doom. How can you explain the average salary provided by the pharm school? Is that number simply inaccurate or what?

Many of the unemployed pharmacy grads may not be submitting data/responding to surveys, skewing the data in favor of those students who have found jobs.

 

[Momus]

Do people honestly think everyone gets a job after they graduate in 2023?

 

[lord999]

Those salary surveys have always been heavily biased. I kind of wish you

I just want in on this since it contradicts everyone that says pay is going down. Nit pick all you want and while some states did indeed go down, all that matters is the great country of California went up, right?

Edit: nit picking already happening.

I'd nitpick this as these are self-reports that are unverified. These are not BLS analyses of IRS data or verified license surveys.

 

[TheBlaah]

Those salary surveys have always been heavily biased.
I'd nitpick this as these are self-reports that are unverified. These are not BLS analyses of IRS data or verified license surveys.

If you want salary data from BLS, the OES database has that information from which the BLS is based on. I didn't look TOO closely at them, and the data is from 2017:

Occupational Employment Statistics


Quite frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of some of the doom and gloom posts that have no actual data to back them up. So I decided to provide some.

If you guys want to look at job opening projections, you can check here: Short Term - Projections Central


It's the projections data that BLS uses in their analysis. (There's also a long term one for 10 years). Just ctrl+f to find pharmacists in the menu.

What you want to look is the Average Annual Openings, which is the sum of the number of job openings/closings and the average annual separations, or the number of people leaving the occupation. Then compare it to the number of graduates per year for the area.

For example, nationwide the projected number of Average Annual Openings is 14900 for 2018-2020.

Then compare that to the number of new degrees awarded in 2017: 14500.

While the number of jobs pretty much evenly matches the number of graduates, these jobs are not necessarily 40-hr full-time positions. The OES covers both full-time AND part-time jobs. Additionally, many of the open positions will likely be in more rural areas. You can also use it see how many job openings there are in each specific state, though you'd have to determine the number of new graduates in your state by yourself (Maybe check the MPJE scores for an estimate for each school?).

 

[dxb8307]

If you want salary data from BLS, the OES database has that information from which the BLS is based on. I didn't look TOO closely at them, and the data is from 2017:

Occupational Employment Statistics


Quite frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of some of the doom and gloom posts that have no actual data to back them up. So I decided to provide some.

If you guys want to look at job opening projections, you can check here: Short Term - Projections Central


It's the projections data that BLS uses in their analysis. (There's also a long term one for 10 years). Just ctrl+f to find pharmacists in the menu.

What you want to look is the Average Annual Openings, which is the sum of the number of job openings/closings and the average annual separations, or the number of people leaving the occupation. Then compare it to the number of graduates per year for the area.

For example, nationwide the projected number of Average Annual Openings is 14900 for 2018-2020.

Then compare that to the number of new degrees awarded in 2017: 14500.

While the number of jobs pretty much evenly matches the number of graduates, these jobs are not necessarily 40-hr full-time positions. The OES covers both full-time AND part-time jobs. Additionally, many of the open positions will likely be in more rural areas. You can also use it see how many job openings there are in each specific state, though you'd have to determine the number of new graduates in your state by yourself (Maybe check the MPJE scores for an estimate for each school?).

10 years ago, when I was deciding whether to apply to pharm school or not, I thought the gloom and doom was overrated. I was wrong....Although I got the job before I even graduated (2015), just 2 years later, 2017 grads were not as lucky as almost 20 of them were let go in 2018. No new hires since then. Hours cut for many existing pharmacists. Work demands increased. So yes, while our salaries are still six figures for 40hr week, many do not have 40hrs and those of us that do, are working 50hrs to earn that paycheck. Salary decreases come in many forms...

 

[Wickett]

10 years ago, when I was deciding whether to apply to pharm school or not, I thought the gloom and doom was overrated. I was wrong....Although I got the job before I even graduated (2015), just 2 years later, 2017 grads were not as lucky as almost 20 of them were let go in 2018. No new hires since then. Hours cut for many existing pharmacists. Work demands increased. So yes, while our salaries are still six figures for 40hr week, many do not have 40hrs and those of us that do, are working 50hrs to earn that paycheck. Salary decreases come in many forms...

Yea it's getting pretty rough. I feel really lucky I got my job at a full 40hrs+/week upon graduation in 2016 (although it was a PIC job starting in BFE). Most of my classmates found work quickly, but most were 30-32 hrs guaranteed float. The kids I know graduating in the years since have at best got 32hrs, with many searching 6+ months to end up only getting part time/prn work. I'd really be curious to see the average salaries of people that have graduated in the past 3 years.

 

[CardinalGirl210]

My SO is trying to make the biggest decision of her life: whether to attend pharm school or not (she’s been accepted). According to her school’s website, their graduates’ average salary is 120k, which in my opinion is a very good number. Yet here on SDN everybody is advising against going to pharm school and that pharmacy is all gloom and doom. How can you explain the average salary provided by the pharm school? Is that number simply inaccurate or what?

it's a school - they want that tuition money! They could care less after they meet their quota. Talk to someone who hires pharmacists if you want a real picture!

 

[nextyearrx]

a pharmacist may be making $65 per hour, but the hours offered to full-timers are only 34-36 per week so that makes yearly income $115000-$121000

 

[nextyearrx]

After a couple of years, one will be lucky to job opening that offers 40 hours/week

 

[WorthlessOxygen]

a pharmacist may be making $65 per hour, but the hours offered to full-timers are only 34-36 per week so that makes yearly income $115000-$121000

Most new grads are already getting nowhere near $65/hr or 36 hours per week.

My area is ~$50/hr, 30 hours per week for class of 2019.

 

[steveysmith54]

Most new grads are already getting nowhere near $65/hr or 36 hours per week.

My area is ~$50/hr, 30 hours per week for class of 2019.

Mind sharing where your area is?

 

[WorthlessOxygen]

Mind sharing where your area is?

Smallish city in the Northeast

 

[grizzlesgrizzlies]

My SO is trying to make the biggest decision of her life: whether to attend pharm school or not (she’s been accepted). According to her school’s website, their graduates’ average salary is 120k, which in my opinion is a very good number. Yet here on SDN everybody is advising against going to pharm school and that pharmacy is all gloom and doom. How can you explain the average salary provided by the pharm school? Is that number simply inaccurate or what?

If you were the dean of the school, would it behoove you to post the true stats including job placement rates as well as hours per week? That "120k" is more like 89k to 94k given that most new grads are only able to get 30 hours to 32 hours of work per week. Don't me wrong, that's a pretty good salary but thats not considering having to pay back the 150k to 200k student loan.

 

[tlh908]

The one thing that doesn't show up in the stats are the new grads who get processed. They tell the school they were hired and a year or two later they are gone. I know many pharmacists who are not using their degree. They worked for a chain for a year or two and are now truck drivers or bartenders or baristas. Just because you get a 30 hour job it doesn't mean you will ever move up.

 

[Modest_anteater]

All the doom and gloom the Pharmacy forum talks about, yet every salary site has PharmD clocking in at 110-120k/year. 120k seems pretty good to a 22-24 year old kid who just graduated with a worthless bio degree making 12$/hour at a lab.

12 bucks at a lab if they are lucky. I imagine most are working at Walmart, Panera Bread, Starbucks making 8-11 USD an hour.

 

[Modest_anteater]

My SO is trying to make the biggest decision of her life: whether to attend pharm school or not (she’s been accepted). According to her school’s website, their graduates’ average salary is 120k, which in my opinion is a very good number. Yet here on SDN everybody is advising against going to pharm school and that pharmacy is all gloom and doom. How can you explain the average salary provided by the pharm school? Is that number simply inaccurate or what?

>trusting a source that gains from having high salary input


The numbers are correct but they are being economical with the truth.

People that respond to surveys are more likely to have jobs, people may lie to help their school out ,ect

IF I WORK ONE DAY A YEAR AND GET PAID 64 usd FOR THAT HOUR I WORKED I AM EARNING AN AVERAGE 128,000 USD A YEAR. THINK ABOUT IT.

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

>trusting a source that gains from having high salary input


The numbers are correct but they are being economical with the truth.

People that respond to surveys are more likely to have jobs, people may lie to help their school out ,ect

IF I WORK ONE DAY A YEAR AND GET PAID 64 usd FOR THAT HOUR I WORKED I AM EARNING AN AVERAGE 128,000 USD A YEAR. THINK ABOUT IT.

Yeah, I never understood why people quibbled over getting $55/hr vs $60/hr when what you really should be concerned about is the # of guaranteed hours you get. No point in making $200/hr when you sign a per diem job and end up getting one shift a month or less.

Isn’t it sad that pharmacy is the only profession where you have to explicitly clarify/negotiate your hours?

 

[Sine Cura]

Annual income for RPH is the new dick size.


Subject to reporting bias

 

[sb.tnh]

If you were the dean of the school, would it behoove you to post the true stats including job placement rates as well as hours per week? That "120k" is more like 89k to 94k given that most new grads are only able to get 30 hours to 32 hours of work per week. Don't me wrong, that's a pretty good salary but thats not considering having to pay back the 150k to 200k student loan.

Ok I agree that pharmacy is not as great as most schools wanted us to believe. But if a PharmD grad is able to pull 100-120k a year they will be able to pay off their 200k loan. It’s not like other professions have it better - I am in dental school and by the time I get my DDS I’ll be $300k in debt.

 

[grizzlesgrizzlies]

Ok I agree that pharmacy is not as great as most schools wanted us to believe. But if a PharmD grad is able to pull 100-120k a year they will be able to pay off their 200k loan. It’s not like other professions have it better - I am in dental school and by the time I get my DDS I’ll be $300k in debt.

Dentistry has a much higher floor as well as ceiling in terms of earning potential than pharmacy. The main difference is that dentists are able to bill for rendering services, whereas pharmacists do not have that ability.

 

[mentos]

Ok I agree that pharmacy is not as great as most schools wanted us to believe. But if a PharmD grad is able to pull 100-120k a year they will be able to pay off their 200k loan. It’s not like other professions have it better - I am in dental school and by the time I get my DDS I’ll be $300k in debt.

Dentists can open their own practice with less competition from major chains. Don't you guys charge like $200 to do a filling that takes 10 minutes?

 

[DMDWANNABEE]

Dentists can open their own practice with less competition from major chains. Don't you guys charge like $200 to do a filling that takes 10 minutes?

Dentists can open their own practice with less competition from major chains. Don't you guys charge like $200 to do a filling that takes 10 minutes?

The median dentist income is just above $155k. You can make a bit more as an owner, though that requires more risk and another $300k-600k or so to purchase a practice (or more in the 1 million range for a high producing practice).
Corporate chains are proliferating rapidly and reimbursements have been cut multiple times. New schools are plentiful and class sizes are increasing. Cost of attendance ranges from $250k to $425k not to include interest. Real incomes were falling all the way through the economic recovery, though are supposed to be flat right now. Sort of a watered down (for the time being) version of what you guys have going on.
And now my fiance is talking about going to pharmacy school, so here I am again. I guess I get the double dip of all this fun.

 

[JustFillIt]

I’m a 2019 pharmacist and I’m making a lot of freaking money. And I got laid off once this year - which ended up working out in my favor

 

[mentos]

I’m a 2019 pharmacist and I’m making a lot of freaking money. And I got laid off once this year - which ended up working out in my favor

Nice, where do you work?

 

[JustFillIt]

Nice, where do you work?

Well... I would like to protect my identity. I use the internet to vent my unusual personality quirks.

So - I’ll just say for the time being I picked up a lateral gig that will keep this ship floating. Not sure if I want to hold this hand or not for the long term.

I have plenty of options and I’m starting to believe that those with Absolutly no options likely have themselves to blame

 

[grizzlesgrizzlies]

Well... I would like to protect my identity. I use the internet to vent my unusual personality quirks.

I have plenty of options and I’m starting to believe that those with Absolutly no options likely have themselves to blame

Pharmacy seems like it would be a waste of your talents, I feel like your personality would totally crush it in big law or high finance.

 

[JustFillIt]

Pharmacy seems like it would be a waste of your talents, I feel like your personality would totally crush it in big law or high finance.

I have thought MANY times that the combination of lawyer/pharmacist would be so deadly. I have thought about going to night school for a law degree from some cheesy diploma mill.

Think about it: “you take atorvastatin and verapamil? You are having debilitating muscle pain right? Riiiiight? Who’s your doc? Just sign here and I’ll take it from here”

“Spironolactone and potassium? Whaaat? Sign here”

 

[projektreverb]

I have thought about going to night school for a law degree from some cheesy diploma mill.

The dude who taught law at my school did this. Dude was about as dumb as a bag of rocks. If his idiot ass could pull it off, it’s 100% do-able.

 

[ancienbon]

10 years ago, when I was deciding whether to apply to pharm school or not, I thought the gloom and doom was overrated. I was wrong....Although I got the job before I even graduated (2015), just 2 years later, 2017 grads were not as lucky as almost 20 of them were let go in 2018. No new hires since then. Hours cut for many existing pharmacists. Work demands increased. So yes, while our salaries are still six figures for 40hr week, many do not have 40hrs and those of us that do, are working 50hrs to earn that paycheck. Salary decreases come in many forms...

Coming early and staying late.

 

[GypsyHummus]

Agreed. I dont understand the mentality on the Pharmacy forum.

You have people making 100-120K/year, for only going to school for 4 years after college (when most of college degrees are worthless anyway), and the schools are super easy to get into, unlike dentistry or MD. Yet, every PharmD has said not to go to pharmacy school.

What did these pharmacists expect? That work would fill them up with all sorts of "muh passion" and "muh enjoyment"? Work is work, its not a hobby. If it was a hobby, people wouldnt pay you to do it. Did they not know about taxes?

Also newsflash, most of these MD specialties that are pulling in 500K are also working 60 hr workweeks. Everything has a cost/price. Dentistry at some schools will leave a student 500K in non dischargeable student loan debt. How is that fair?

Ok I agree that pharmacy is not as great as most schools wanted us to believe. But if a PharmD grad is able to pull 100-120k a year they will be able to pay off their 200k loan. It’s not like other professions have it better - I am in dental school and by the time I get my DDS I’ll be $300k in debt.

 

[rxkrafted]

Agreed. I dont understand the mentality on the Pharmacy forum.

You have people making 100-120K/year, for only going to school for 4 years after college (when most of college degrees are worthless anyway), and the schools are super easy to get into, unlike dentistry or MD. Yet, every PharmD has said not to go to pharmacy school.

What did these pharmacists expect? That work would fill them up with all sorts of "muh passion" and "muh enjoyment"? Work is work, its not a hobby. If it was a hobby, people wouldnt pay you to do it. Did they not know about taxes?

Also newsflash, most of these MD specialties that are pulling in 500K are also working 60 hr workweeks. Everything has a cost/price. Dentistry at some schools will leave a student 500K in non dischargeable student loan debt. How is that fair?

We are just mostly venting on here and warning new potential pre-pharmers from entering the field for what to expect... None of us are complaining about the 6 figure salary we get but salaries have been going down despite the worsening job market for pharmacists as schools pump out thousands of new grads every year. On top of all this, students graduate easily with more than 200K in debt.

 

[mentos]

Agreed. I dont understand the mentality on the Pharmacy forum.

You have people making 100-120K/year, for only going to school for 4 years after college (when most of college degrees are worthless anyway), and the schools are super easy to get into, unlike dentistry or MD. Yet, every PharmD has said not to go to pharmacy school.

What did these pharmacists expect? That work would fill them up with all sorts of "muh passion" and "muh enjoyment"? Work is work, its not a hobby. If it was a hobby, people wouldnt pay you to do it. Did they not know about taxes?

Also newsflash, most of these MD specialties that are pulling in 500K are also working 60 hr workweeks. Everything has a cost/price. Dentistry at some schools will leave a student 500K in non dischargeable student loan debt. How is that fair?

Those of making 6 figures right now have it good and have no problem paying the 100-200k that we borrowed. However it gets worse each year with skeleton crews, higher demands, little or no raises/bonuses, and more competition. Our nice jobs and high pay won't last. The new graduates will only be making mid 80k if they're lucky enough to find a job in BFE, with worse conditions and higher debt.

 

[rxkrafted]

Agreed. I dont understand the mentality on the Pharmacy forum.

You have people making 100-120K/year, for only going to school for 4 years after college (when most of college degrees are worthless anyway), and the schools are super easy to get into, unlike dentistry or MD. Yet, every PharmD has said not to go to pharmacy school.

What did these pharmacists expect? That work would fill them up with all sorts of "muh passion" and "muh enjoyment"? Work is work, its not a hobby. If it was a hobby, people wouldnt pay you to do it. Did they not know about taxes?

Also newsflash, most of these MD specialties that are pulling in 500K are also working 60 hr workweeks. Everything has a cost/price. Dentistry at some schools will leave a student 500K in non dischargeable student loan debt. How is that fair?

When I graduated 4 years ago, I thought everyone on this forum was overreacting but I noticed that job opening were drastically disappearing around my area and the pay was definitely going down... I am comfortable where I am with my job and am stable but just observing the job market around me and how my friends graduating after my year could not find jobs until almost a year after graduation. There are at least two different companies near me that are actually offering pharmacist positions for 25-50 dollars/hour, stated in the job posting

 

[spacecowgirl]

Ok I agree that pharmacy is not as great as most schools wanted us to believe. But if a PharmD grad is able to pull 100-120k a year they will be able to pay off their 200k loan. It’s not like other professions have it better - I am in dental school and by the time I get my DDS I’ll be $300k in debt.

So you as a couple could be in a half a million dollars of debt? Sweet Martha. Can you pay that debt on 1.5 salaries? 1 salary? Can you relocate? Can you sock anything away for a house, a retirement fund, kids?

 

[lane one]

Agreed. I dont understand the mentality on the Pharmacy forum.

You have people making 100-120K/year, for only going to school for 4 years after college (when most of college degrees are worthless anyway), and the schools are super easy to get into, unlike dentistry or MD. Yet, every PharmD has said not to go to pharmacy school.

What did these pharmacists expect? That work would fill them up with all sorts of "muh passion" and "muh enjoyment"? Work is work, its not a hobby. If it was a hobby, people wouldnt pay you to do it. Did they not know about taxes?

Also newsflash, most of these MD specialties that are pulling in 500K are also working 60 hr workweeks. Everything has a cost/price. Dentistry at some schools will leave a student 500K in non dischargeable student loan debt. How is that fair?

Spend a year in the salt mines of CVS and you'll understand the "Mentality on the Pharmacy forum". I used to think the same thing when I was in school. I thought that people complaining were just lazy and that people who worked hard would thrive. Wrongo.

 

[Lnsean]

Agreed. I dont understand the mentality on the Pharmacy forum.

You have people making 100-120K/year, for only going to school for 4 years after college (when most of college degrees are worthless anyway), and the schools are super easy to get into, unlike dentistry or MD. Yet, every PharmD has said not to go to pharmacy school.

What did these pharmacists expect? That work would fill them up with all sorts of "muh passion" and "muh enjoyment"? Work is work, its not a hobby. If it was a hobby, people wouldnt pay you to do it. Did they not know about taxes?

Also newsflash, most of these MD specialties that are pulling in 500K are also working 60 hr workweeks. Everything has a cost/price. Dentistry at some schools will leave a student 500K in non dischargeable student loan debt. How is that fair?

OMG...you are so adorable! I will tell the others that we must keep you!

 

[bacillus1]

Agreed. I dont understand the mentality on the Pharmacy forum.

You have people making 100-120K/year, for only going to school for 4 years after college (when most of college degrees are worthless anyway), and the schools are super easy to get into, unlike dentistry or MD. Yet, every PharmD has said not to go to pharmacy school.

What did these pharmacists expect? That work would fill them up with all sorts of "muh passion" and "muh enjoyment"? Work is work, its not a hobby. If it was a hobby, people wouldnt pay you to do it. Did they not know about taxes?

Also newsflash, most of these MD specialties that are pulling in 500K are also working 60 hr workweeks. Everything has a cost/price. Dentistry at some schools will leave a student 500K in non dischargeable student loan debt. How is that fair?

At least dentists have time to have lunch and use the restroom at work.

 

[Sparda29]

Agreed. I dont understand the mentality on the Pharmacy forum.

You have people making 100-120K/year, for only going to school for 4 years after college (when most of college degrees are worthless anyway), and the schools are super easy to get into, unlike dentistry or MD. Yet, every PharmD has said not to go to pharmacy school.

What did these pharmacists expect? That work would fill them up with all sorts of "muh passion" and "muh enjoyment"? Work is work, its not a hobby. If it was a hobby, people wouldnt pay you to do it. Did they not know about taxes?

Also newsflash, most of these MD specialties that are pulling in 500K are also working 60 hr workweeks. Everything has a cost/price. Dentistry at some schools will leave a student 500K in non dischargeable student loan debt. How is that fair?

I'm not gonna be happy until I get what was promised.

$75/hour + $100k sign on bonus + BMW M3 to just verify and watch Netflix.