Average Salary

• During its national survey of employment conducted in 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics gathered wage information from over 50,000 individual diagnostic medical sonographers. It calculated that the average annual salary for the occupation was $63,640. This corresponds roughly with figures produced by wage comparison website PayScale.com in March 2011, which put the average at between $46,584 and $67,161, including bonuses and profit sharing. In 2008 the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs stated that the starting salary for the occupation was $43,600.
  
  

Salary by Industry

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that salary levels for diagnostic medical sonographers varied across different sectors of the health-care industry. The offices of physicians offered average wages of $63,820, and general medical and surgical hospitals had similar wage levels at $63,770, both sectors paying slightly less than wages in outpatient care centers, at $64,560. Medical and diagnostic laboratories were listed at an average annual pay of $61,820 while colleges, universities and professional schools offered sonographers an average of $66,250.
  
  

Salary by Location

• A second factor that affects the salary a sonographer achieves is geographical location. The bureau listed Massachusetts, Oregon and Colorado as the top three states in which, across all industry sectors, a practitioner was likely to achieve the best pay rates: $78,460, $78,320 and $77,380, respectively. In contrast, Florida was listed at $56,030. At the scale of metropolitan districts, the Santa Cruz-Watsonville area of California topped the table with an average of $97,530, while Jackson, Tennessee, was listed at just $54,600. SalaryExpert.com analyzed salaries in some major cities and listed Boston, Massachusetts, as the most lucrative for a sonographer, with wages averaging $101,476. Orlando, Florida, was listed at just $60,076.
  
  

Outlook

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects demand for diagnostic medical sonographers to increase by around 18 percent through 2018. This is considerably faster that the growth rate across all occupations in the United States, expected to be between 7 and 13 percent. An expanding, aging population will need more diagnostic imaging services and the technology is increasingly used to track the progress of treatments as well. Its cost effectiveness compared to other technologies, such as radiologic imaging, means health care providers are increasingly favoring sonography. As such, salary levels should remain very attractive.