The Pay Scale for Phlebotomy Techs in the USA
Phlebotomy techs, sometimes referred to as phlebotomists, are health care professionals who specialize in drawing blood and collecting other fluid samples from patients. They may prepare the fluid and blood samples for laboratory analysis. They may screen blood donors, measure patient vital signs, and transport tissues samples from the patient to the laboratory. Phlebotomy tech wages can vary based on a number of factors including their geographic location and the type of organization they work for.
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Wages
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) includes phlebotomy techs with the occupational category of medical and clinical laboratory technicians. Wages for these techs ranged from less than $23,850 per year to more than $55,210 per year as of May 2009. The median annual income for techs was $36,030 and the mean hourly wage was $18.20. Salary.com placed the median annual income for phlebotomy techs at $29,407 as of March 2011.
Geographic Location
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Techs who worked in Rhode Island earned the highest mean wages of any state at $26.68 per hour, or $55,494 per year, according to the BLS. Techs who worked in Alaska, Maryland, Connecticut and New York earned a mean hourly wage in excess of $21.00 per hour. Techs who worked in major metropolitan areas tended to earn higher wages that those who worked in rural communities. The Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, metropolitan area offered techs the highest mean hourly wages in the country at $30.00 per hour, or $62,400 per year.
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Employer Type
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There were approximately 152,420 techs working in the United States as of May 2009, according to the BLS. More than 110,000 of those techs were employed in general medical hospitals, surgical hospitals, private doctors' offices, medical laboratories or diagnostic laboratories. Mean hourly wages for techs in these employment environments ranged from $17.11 to $18.66 per hour. The highest paying jobs for techs were offered by community colleges, universities, the federal executive branch of government, home health care services and research and development services. Mean hourly wages from these organizations extended up to $23.10 per hour.
Considerations
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The BLS anticipates new employment opportunities for techs to grow by 14 percent between 2008 and 2018. Most states do not require phlebotomy techs to be licensed or certified, but voluntary certification by an independent, non-governmental credentialing organization such as the American Society of Phlebotomy Technicians may provide phlebotomy techs with an advantage at hiring time. Most employers require phlebotomy techs to hold at least a high school diploma and some prefer candidates who have formal training.
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