Top Dollar For The Surgical Tech Salary
Is the surgical tech salary rewarding enough for the work required of you? Given the abbreviated training required of applicants, the surgical technologist salary is more than generous. Besides, the responsibilities demanded of you whips you into shape fast, and most often leads to pay increases.
Jobs for this position are increasing because of the demand for highly skilled and competent professionals. This means graduating from surgical tech schools with accreditation so you qualify for the licensure exam.
The payscale is often determined by education and experience, as well as certification. Most professionals will admit a certified surgical technician can earn from 50 cents to five dollars more per hour than a non-certified applicant.
How much does a surgical tech make?
The average surgical tech salary according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics is $19.00 per hour. That is higher than most positions in the allied health care field. But this is also due to the skills and knowledge required of scrub techs when they are taken in for the job.
With experience, further training and determination you can be earning more – up to $26 per hour. It also depends on any specializations you may have trained for.
Also remember that your workplace is a factor in your pay. The bigger the facility and the more complex the tasks required of you, the higher your income.
There are many who have enjoyed the work as surgical technicians and have opted to remain as such. But there are other opportunities open to you in case you want to climb the surgical technologist career ladder.
Two of the higher positions to aspire for are the Surgical first Assistant and the Circulating Surgical Technologist. Both require additional education and certification. You will have more responsibilities other than those normally performed by a scrub tech and can expect better surgical technologist salary.
California pays top dollar
States vary in how much they pay surgical technicians. Location, as in any career, is a key factor in determining salaries. If you've gained enough experience and want both additional challenge and remuneration, you may want to consider relocating to places where the position is in demand and where they pay top dollar.
Of all states, California is the most generous in terms of payscale for this allied health care professionals. In the list of top 10 cities paying the most for surgical technologists, six are in this state.
Long Beach, at number 9, posted the lowest of the lower range at $14.75. But you can earn as much as $26 per hour with enough experience. In 10th place is San Diego, which pays its certified surgical technologists between $18.80 to $25.50 per hour.
Sacramento is at number 7, with a pay range of $20.20 to $26.00. In number 3 is Orange County where you can earn a surgical tech salary of $24.50 to $29.00 per hour. San Jose at number 2 registered a range of $22.60 to $39.00 for this group of professionals.
Finally, San Francisco posted a starting pay of $27.30 per hour. But you can actually make as much as $40.80 per hour depending on the facility you work for and the number of year of experience you have. It is understandable why the state offers such an impressive surgical technologist salary to take into account the cost of living there.
Elsewhere, the salaries for surgical technologists in Portland, Oregon; Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Danbury, Connecticut are also very attractive. These range from $19.25 to $28.
For one to two years of training and education, wouldn't you consider the surgical tech salary quite attractive?
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