The health care industry is filled with individuals who have invested zero to more than 11 years of time seeking postsecondary education in their profession. For occupations with little to no educational requirement such as orderlies and aides, salaries fall lower than their more educated counterparts, physicians and surgeons. But even within the job categories themselves, medical professionals have the opportunity to earn a wide range of salaries.
Physicians and Surgeons
Cresting the top of the health care hierarchy, physicians and surgeons numbered 274,160 in 2009. Their median wage was higher than the U.S. Bureau of Statistics' reporting level of $166,400, as was their 75th and 90th percentile wages. At the bottom end of the scale, these doctors earned $51,750 in the 10th percentile. A quick look at the BLS top-five paying states for physicians and surgeons' salaries gives a glimpse of how high wages in the field go. Minnesota topped the BLS list of highest-paying states, with salaries of $218,180. Indiana was also higher-than-average at $212,200.
Registered Nurses
Registered nurses comprise the largest health care occupation in the country, far outnumbering the physicians they support with a country's total of 2,583,770 workers in 2009. Registered nurses earned a median salary of $63,750, but the range varied. The highest-paid nurses earned $93,700, while nurses at the bottom of the scale earned $43,970. Registered nurses who "thought outside the clinic" earned the highest salaries. The medical equipment and supplies manufacturing industry paid the highest RN salaries, at $77,870. The federal executive branch of the government also paid its nurses a higher-than-average wage of $77,830.
Home Health Aides
Providing that some medical professionals do indeed make house calls, home health aides visit the homes of the disabled, ill or elderly to provide personal care and hygiene services. Some home health aides also visit retirement and residential care facilities. In 2009, the country's 955,220 home health aides earned a median salary of $20,480, ranging from $15,950 to $29,390. Connecticut paid its home health aides the highest salaries, at $29,020. Alaska also paid a higher-than-average wage of $27,550, as did Rhode Island, with $26,070.
Aides, Orderlies and Attendants
Serving as the backbone and foundation of the hospitals, clinics and physicians' offices in which they serve, the 1,438,010 orderlies, aides and attendants in the country earned a median salary of $24,040. This range topped out at $33,970 at the highest 90th percentile and bottomed out at $17,510 at the 10th percentile. Orderlies working for the scheduled air transportation field had the opportunity to nearly double their salary; the industry was the BLS highest-paying, at $41,720. The scientific research and development services industry also paid higher-than-average orderly salaries at $35,000.
Tags: health aides, also paid, earned median, earned median salary, highest salaries
