Salaries of Sports Massage Therapists
In 2010, 60,040 people worked as massage therapists nationwide, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. The bureau says massage therapists can choose to specialize in several different types of massage therapy, one of which is sports massage therapy, designed to help athletes rehabilitate from sports injuries. The BLS lists salaries for sports massage therapists in the same category as salaries earned by other types of massage therapists.
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Pay Scales
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Massage therapists made an average salary of $39,770 a year, or about $19.12 an hour, in 2010, according to the BLS. The bureau says the highest-paid massage therapists made $69,000 or more annually, but the median salary for someone working in sports massage therapy, and massage therapy in general, was $34,900. The middle 50 percent of those working in this field made annual salaries ranging from $24,220 to $51,410, with the lowest-paid professionals in the field making $17,970 or less.
Employers
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Massage therapists work in a variety of industries. Salaries for massage therapists can vary by type of employer and industry. Industries listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are more often those in which sports massage therapists work. According to the bureau, those working in the offices of physicians and other health care practitioners, such as physical therapists, earn an average salary of $43,480 a year, while those employed in personal care services earn an average of $37,620. Some massage therapists work in medical and surgical hospitals, earning an average of $46,230 annually.
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Locations
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Where the sports massage therapist works also provides an indication of how much she can expect to make. In terms of average salary, the highest-paid massage therapists worked in Alaska and earned an average of $86,250 in 2010, according to the BLS. This, however, was not the norm. Delaware was the state with the second-highest average salary at $57,830, while massage therapists in the state of Washington made an average of $54,770 a year. California was the state with the highest number of workers in this field. These massage therapists earned an average salary of $38,910 a year.
Job Outlook
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the number of jobs in the massage therapy field will grow by about 19 percent from through 2018, a rate that is faster than the average rate of growth for other occupations. According to the bureau, many of the jobs in massage therapy will be available because of higher demand for massage treatment among younger adults. Need for therapy by older adults will still exist, especially because of the increasingly active lifestyle of these adults. The bureau indicates that networking is key for many massage therapists, who may work in a variety of venues until they build a large-enough client base to run a successful massage therapy practice.
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References
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