Occupation salary profile

Pharmacists

SOC 29-1051 BLS OEWS May 2025 H-1B LCAs, last 12 months

Dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use. May advise physicians and other health practitioners on the selection, dosage, interactions, and side effects of medications.

National median · BLS
$140,910
▲ +2.49% YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$136,084
▲ +3.85% YoY · 438 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$140,920
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
321,970
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.

Pay range for Pharmacists

Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 438 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.

Percentile All U.S. workers (BLS) H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay$99,290$102,927
25th$129,380$121,500
Median (50th)$140,910$136,084
75th$161,840$149,760
90th — top pay$174,230$160,666
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $136,084 for Pharmacists — 3.4% below the BLS national median of $140,910.

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Based on hrs/week × weeks/year = 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035

Job outlook for Pharmacists

BLS projects employment of pharmacists to grow 5.2% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the 3.5% average for all occupations. About 12,500 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.

Jobs 2025 → 2035
325,200 → 342,300
+17,100 jobs
Projected change
+5.2%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
12,500
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
No related experience required
Self-employed
0.3% of workers (2025)
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 5)
Extensive Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Fastest-growing jobs → Best-paying jobs that need a doctoral or professional degree →

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook →

H-1B sponsored pay

Pay by H-1B wage level

Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.

H-1B median $136,084
Change vs prior year +3.85%
After inflation (CPI-U) +0.7%
Wage level LCAs Share P25 Median P75
Level I 180 41.1% $106,304 $126,880 $140,027
Level II 169 38.6% $124,800 $136,989 $149,302
Level III 55 12.6% $140,002 $151,715 $161,971
Level IV 26 5.9% $154,190 $165,000 $175,000
H-1B job titles

Salaries by job title in Pharmacists

The 6 most-filed job titles inside SOC 29-1051, from 438 H-1B filings. Seniority words and level numbers are grouped (“Senior Data Engineer II” counts as Data Engineer). Tap a title for its full range, wage levels and the exact titles employers used.

Job title LCAs Share P25 Median P75 YoY
Staff Pharmacist FT 106 24.2% $133,120 $136,458 $141,440 +5.81%
Pharmacist 92 21% $118,040 $126,880 $139,385 -1.61%
Pharmacy Manager 50 11.42% $148,040 $154,360 $161,936 +6.57%
Staff Pharmacist 47 10.73% $135,741 $146,120 $152,360 +2.55%
Pharmacist in Charge 31 7.08% $121,607 $135,200 $155,500 +8.33%
Foreign Pharmacy Graduate 19 4.34% $101,941 $102,544 $113,693 —

Titles are cleaned from the employer's own LCA text (codes and typos removed, nothing invented). Rows need 10+ filings in this SOC.

Skills & tools

Skills needed for Pharmacists

How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.

Top skills
  • Active Listening4.0
  • Reading Comprehension4.0
  • Speaking4.0
  • Complex Problem Solving3.9
  • Critical Thinking3.9
  • Judgment and Decision Making3.9
  • Monitoring3.9
  • Service Orientation3.9
  • Social Perceptiveness3.9
  • Time Management3.9
Top knowledge areas
  • Medicine and Dentistry4.6
  • English Language4.4
  • Biology4.4
  • Mathematics4.2
  • Chemistry4.1
  • Education and Training3.9
  • Customer and Personal Service3.7
  • Law and Government3.5
Software and technology used
eClinicalWorks EHR softwareEpic SystemsMEDITECH softwareMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft SharePointMicrosoft WordComputer records systemsFreedom MedTEACHHealthprolink MedAtlasInsurance claim processing softwareLabel-making softwareMultitask softwarePyxis MedStation softwareRecordkeeping softwareRxKinetics UD Labels for Windows

Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

About the job

What pharmacists do

  • Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
  • Collaborate with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, or evaluate the quality or effectiveness of drugs or drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications or characteristics.
  • Work in hospitals or clinics or for Health Management Organizations (HMOs), dispensing prescriptions, serving as a medical team consultant, or specializing in specific drug therapy areas, such as oncology or nuclear pharmacotherapy.
  • Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage, and proper medication storage.
  • Provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure.
  • Analyze prescribing trends to monitor patient compliance and to prevent excessive usage or harmful interactions.
  • Maintain records, such as pharmacy files, patient profiles, charge system files, inventories, control records for radioactive nuclei, or registries of poisons, narcotics, or controlled drugs.
  • Prepare sterile solutions or infusions for use in surgical procedures, emergency rooms, or patients' homes.
Also called
Clinical PharmacistClinical Pharmacy Specialist (CPS)Hospital PharmacistRegistered PharmacistCommunity PharmacistInpatient PharmacistPharm D (Pharmacy Doctor)Pharmacy InformaticistPharmacy Services Clinical CoordinatorRetail Pharmacist
More job titles for this occupation (9)
ApothecaryDruggistFloater PharmacistIndustrial PharmacistOutpatient PharmacistPharmacy ResidentPrescriptionistRadiopharmacistTravel Pharmacist

Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.