Average Salary

• In the occupational employment and wages data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 2009, the mean yearly salary for a surgical technologist was listed as $40,710. This is equivalent to a monthly income of $3,393 or a pay rate per hour of $19.57. She may also receive additional payments, such as pension contributions and health insurance cover through her employer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports that while the top 10 percent of earners in the profession achieved an average salary of $55,620, the bottom strata of earners, the lowest 10 percent received $27,910.
  
  

Salary by Employer

• A surgical scrub tech may find that her salary level varies according to the nature of her employer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics demonstrated how wages differ between sectors of the health-care industry. It lists positions within private practices of other health professionals as offering surgical techs the best rates of pay, an average of $56,220 per year. Speciality hospitals offered $43,560 as of May 2009, while general medical and surgical hospitals were listed at $40,330. Outpatient care centers had an average pay level of $41,320, while surgical techs working in the offices of dentists could expect a salary of $38,060.
  
  

Salary by Geography

• Judging by the data produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Maryland and Nevada offer surgical scrub techs the highest levels of average salary in terms of location--$48,820 and $48,440 respectively. Minnesota and District of Columbia offer similar levels of pay--$47,590 and $47,390--while California completes the top five highest-paying states with average wages for a surgical technologist of $46,600. Kentucky and Alabama were among the least lucrative states, paying an average of $35,200 and $32,940 respectively. The area of San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara in California was listed as the best paying metropolitan area, with salaries averaging $57,730.
  
  

Prospects

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the employment opportunities available to surgical technologists should increase much faster than the national rate across all occupation in the immediate future. For the decade between 2008 and 2018 the BLS expects a national growth rate somewhere between seven and thirteen percent. For surgical technologists, it estimates an increase of 25 percent. This will be fuelled by the aging of the American population as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, increasing the need for surgical procedures. As such, surgical scrub techs should continue to receive very competitive annual salaries.