What is a Pharmacist Starting Salary?

In the United States, all pharmacists graduating from college after 1998 must attain a Doctor of Pharmacy degree in order to become a licensed pharmacist. A pharmacist starting salary, as with most careers that require a doctorate-level degree, is therefore quite high. PayScale's pharmacist starting salary data shows that even with less than a year of experience, median pharmacist salary is almost $80,000 a year. Compare a pharmacist salary to the starting salary of a physical therapist, or any other medical career that does not require a doctorate, and the difference is clear - the more education a career requires, the higher the starting salary tends to be, and this holds true for pharmacist starting salary as well. However, if you're contemplating a career as a pharmacist, starting salary is just one of many factors that should be considered in your pharmacist salary research. Looking further into PayScale's pharmacist salary data will show how a pharmacist's salary is affected by location, employment setting and more.

Pharmacist Salary Data

In addition to researching a pharmacist's starting salary, take some time to look at Pharmacist Average Salary by Industry - you'll see that a pharmacist's average salary is highest when working in a retail location, but not by much. How is a pharmacist average salary affected by location on a larger scale? Pharmacist Salary Data by State and Pharmacist Average Salary by City charts have the answer. Noticing a pattern? For a pharmacist, salary stays fairly consistent across a variety of factors. This type of pharmacist salary data is good news for pharmacists, who can set up shop in the locale and industry of their choosing without being concerned about taking a significant salary cut.

Pharmacist Average Salary

Before continuing your pharmacist salary research, find out why asking "what is a median pharmacist salary" will produce better results than "what is a pharmacist's average salary" by reading the Ask Dr. Salary article, "Why is Median Better than Mean for a Typical Salary?"