Salary of a Sports Physical Therapist
Sports physical therapists not only treat athletic injuries, but they also work with industrial workers at times. They are health care professionals who work to prevent, treat, diagnose, assess and rehabilitate injuries of the bones and muscles that athletes develop. They can be found working with all types of sports teams and at all levels (high school, college and professional) of competition. Because of team schedules, sports physical therapists tend to work much longer hours than regular physical therapists.
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National Pay
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Nationwide, the 15,260 sports therapists earned an average of $44,020 a year in 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The salary range for most of them (10th to 90th percentile) was $25,510 to $65,140. Job growth in this field is expected to grow much faster than average. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected a growth of 37 percent between 2008 and 2018. However, most of the growth is expected to be in non-sports settings, such as hospitals or health care offices.
Pay by Industry
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The top-paying industry for sports physical therapists is Spectator Sports. In 2009, there were 760 positions in this industry that paid an average of $54,710 a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The other top-paying industries were: Elementary and Secondary Schools; Local Government; Business, Professional, Labor, Political and Similar Organizations; and Junior Colleges. However, Colleges, Universities and Professional Schools was the industry that employed the most sports physical therapists (3,660).
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Pay by State
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In 2009, sports physical therapists in Washington, D.C., earned more than their counterparts in any state. The 40 therapists earned an average of $72,910 a year. The top-paying states were Connecticut, Utah, New Jersey and Rhode Island. However, the state where sports physical therapists had the best chance of getting a job was in Vermont, where there were 0.348 therapists per 1,000 workers.
Pay by Metro Area
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Sports physical therapists in the Bridgeport-Stamfort-Norwalk, Connecticut, metropolitan area earned an average of $73,830 a year in 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was the highest-paying metro area in the country. Other top-paying metro areas were Salt Lake City, Utah; Edison-New Brunswick, New Jersey; Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas; and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas. However, Charlottesville, Virginia, had the highest concentration of sports physical therapists with 0.919 therapists per 1,000 workers.
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