Salary of a Pharmacy Technician in Texas
The 248 million prescriptions filled in Texas in 2009 may account for only 6.8 percent of the country's total that year, but those medications added up to a cost of $15 billion, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. This kept busy both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, staffers who aide pharmacists by filling pill bottles, ordering supplies and verifying customer insurance. The average salary for Texas' pharmacy technicians in 2009 fell just under the nation's average for the field.
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Facts
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics documented the average pharmacy technician salary in the nation as $28,940 in its May 2009 Occupational Employment and Wages survey. This figure is slightly higher than the salary earned by Texas' pharmacy technicians, averaging a statewide wage of $28,870 per year.
Range
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Some of Texas' 28,480 pharmacy technicians earned salaries higher than the state and national average. In Texas' overall 90th percentile of earners, salaries were as high as $38,160 per year. At the other end of the scale, salaries fell to $21,170 annually in the bottom 10th percentile.
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Cities
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Even within the Lone Star State itself, salaries varied widely by city. Three areas of Texas offered average pharmacy technicians above the state and national average -- Austin-Round Rock, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Dallas-Plano-Irving, at $30,270, $30,160 and $30,360 respectively. These three areas also had the state's highest 90th percentile wage for pharmacy technicians, but they did not represent the lowest 10th percentile salaries. Texarkana, at $17,890, and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, at $17,910, had the lowest salaries in the state.
Considerations
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Texans interested in earning salaries as pharmacy technicians will find a number of points of entry into the field. There is no singular requirement in terms of education or experience, as compared to pharmacists, who must attend post-secondary schooling for a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Some pharmacist technicians are hired with just a high school diploma and receive on-the-job training. Another option is to pursue a short-term certificate or two-year associate degree in pharmacy technology at a community college or technical school. Unlike actual schools of pharmacy, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education does not accredit pharmacy technician schools.
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References
- Photo Credit Prescription medicine image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
