This article will take a look at the sonographer’s salary, what you can expect to earn depending on where you choose to work, and what type of sonographer you become.

If you are interested in becoming a sonographer and want to learn more about the work, you can see: Sonographer Training, this article shows you what tasks the job involves, as well as some requirements, and education information.

They take calculations and measurements and provide information from images captured to physicians. Their salaries are typically around $50,000 to $65,000 per year.

Average & Salary Range

The average annual salary of a sonographer in the United States was $64,900 per year as of May 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

You could earn up to $44,900 per year, or $21.59 per hour if you were a sonographer in the 10th percentile for salary.

The 25th percentile earned up to $53,810 per year, or $25.87 per hour.

The 50th percentile made up to $64,380 per year, or $30.95 per hour.

The 75th percentile made up to $75,290 per year, or $36.20 per hour.

The 90th percentile made at least $88,490 per year, or $42.54 per hour.

Salary Survey

The American Association of Radiologic Technologists published a survey in 2010 that found that the average annual salary of a sonographer was $68,821 in the United States.

The median yearly salary was $66,593. Staff sonographers earned $66,247 on average, and lead sonographers earned $72,010 on average per year. Assistant chief sonographers earned $73,316 on average per year, and chief sonographers averaged $76,445 per year. Managers averaged $79,640 annually, and faculty members/instructors averaged $64,888 per year. Sonography program directors averaged $72,075 per year.

Education & Advancement

Sonographers that earned a high school diploma and a certificate in sonography averaged $70,523 per year, according to the 2010 ARST survey. If you earn an associate degree, you could earn an average of $67,732 yearly, and with a bachelor’s degree, you could average $69,106.

Sonographers with master’s degrees earned $69,069 per year on average. If you want to earn more money,enter administration or become certified in sonography of different body systems. Register with a professional association, such as the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Cardiovascular Credentialing International or the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.

Location

Massachusetts was the highest paying state for sonographers, according to the BLS as of May 2010. The average annual salary that year in Massachusetts was $80,000, or $38.46 per hour. Oregon came in next at $79,740 per year, or $38.33 per hour, and Colorado came in third place at $77,880 per year, or $37.44 per hour. California had the fourth highest average annual salary for sonographers at $77,260 per year or $37.14 per hour. Washington came in fifth place at $77,190 on average per year, or $37.11 per hour.

Industry & Workplace

The BLS reports that the industry with the highest sonographer salary’s was temporary employment services at $73,040 per year, or $35.12 per hour. The next highest-paying average salary was $72,570 per year, or $34.89 per hour, in colleges, universities and professional schools.

Outpatient care centers had an average annual salary of $70,440, or $33.87 per hour. You could earn an average of $68,680 per year, or $33.02 per hour, as a sonographer in the management of companies and enterprises industry. Working in specialty hospitals, except psychiatric and substance abuse, you could earn an average of $68,390 per year, or $32.88 per hour.

The 2010 ARST survey found that sonographers working in education earned an average of $70,530 per year, and that those in clinics or physicians’ offices averaged $69,562. If you worked in not-for-profit hospital, you could earn an average of $70,596 per year, according to the ARST survey, and if you worked in a for-profit hospital, you could earn $62,226 per year.

Outpatient care facilities and imaging centers paid an average of $67,243 per year, and those in government/VA hospitals averaged $56,533 per year. Those working in industrial workplaces earned an average of $91,525 per year; in a corporation the sonographer salary was $84,433, and those in mobile units averaged $89,392 per year.

I hope this article helped answer the questions you had about a sonographers salary. If you would like to learn more about what kind of education you need,plus some tips for becomming a sonographer, check out the article: sonography schools