A job that is often overlooked but extremely rewarding is that of an ultrasound technician. As an ultrasound technician you will experiance the joy in making moms-to-be dreams come true in letting them see their little miracle come to life infront of their eyes. Besides the personal gratification you may experiance while working as an ultrasound technician, there are also many monetary benefits as the ultrasound technician salary is growing yearly! As an employee in the medical field, your job will often have medical benefits and insurance above the normal standards in other types of empoyments as well!
Starting Ultrasound Technician Salary
Depending on where you are working such as a private doctors office or a public hospital, the beginning salary of an ultrasound technician will vary. In most cases the beginning salary of an ultrasound technician will start anywhere from about $15.30 an hour to $23.32 an hour depending on both the location of your office be it a privately owned business or a public hospital.
The beginning salary of an ultrasound technician also depends on the state in which you are working. Some of the highest paid ultrasound technicians are working in states such as California, Nevada, Texas, New York, and Georgia. The lowest paying states for a starting ultrasound technician are South Dakota, Missouri, Washington, and North Carolina.
No matter where you are beginning your work as an utrasound technician though, you will be making decent money, which will only increase with time through promotions and furthering your experiance and education in the field.
Salaries By Ultrasound Technician Type
Being an ultrasound technician does not mean you will only be looking at babies through the ultrasound, in fact, there are many more career oportunities for ultrasound technicians that can make a huge difference in your salary.
The type of sonographer you are plays a great role in the amount of money you will make while on the job. Ultrasound technicians have the ability to advance and specialize in different areas of sonography such as abdominal, neuro, breast, and Ob/Gyn medical sonography. By furthering your edication you may also have the abilty to earn a higher salary by getting different degrees and certifications such as earning things such as becoming a registered diagnostic medical sonographer or achieving the certificate of having the qualifications of becoming a registered diagnostic cardiac sonographer.
The rates of those ultrasound technicians with advanced education rise dramatically because as a more knowledgable ultrasound technician you are now more desireable and more in demand as more companies thrive on having the best ultrasound technicians available to their clients and patients.
Longevity
The longer you stay with a company such as a private practice or a hospital, the hire your pay will get. The average median salary for an ultrasound technician is about $65,000 nationwide! This salary, along with the benefits such as health insurance and paid vacation time, will all icrease the longer you stay with a company.
In the medical field especially, companies want to hold onto their staff as unlike many other professional fields, the workers in the medical field become wiser and more knowledgeable the longer they are doing their jobs as the medical field is an ever advancing and changing field. As the medical field is progressing, more and more ultrasound technicians are in need due to the advances in technology that can now broaden the use of the actual ultrasound equipment!
When deciding to become an ultrasound technician it is important to go into it with the understanding that what you give is what you get and that when trying to achieve the highest level of salary, both your education, practice, and geographic location play vital roles in determining just how high your salary will be. If you choose to stay in your current state of resident, by advancing your certification and education levels, you open doors to achieveing a higher pay and salary as you are more beneficial to the company in which you are working for.
Ultrasound Technician Salaries In Different Geographic Locations
The geographic location in which you are performing your work as an ultrasound technician truly does make a difference. For example, an ultrasound technician working in Anchorage, Alaska for fifteen years will make almost $90,000 a year as opposed to an ultrasound technician salary in Portsmouth, New Hampshire who will make an average salary of about $78,000 after working the same amount of time as the technician in Alaska. That is a difference of $12,000 towards your salary every year, based off of geographic location alone!
It is important to have an understanding that you as the ultrasound technician have the final say in how much you will actually make as a sonographer. If you are comfortable in your New Hapshire life but know that the opportunity to make more money as an ultrasound technician lies in working in a different state, then you still have the ability to earn a higher salary while maintaining your current location by becoming a more specialized ultrasound technician. You can do this by working towards achieving different certifications that will increase your desireability as a worker and in turn, increase your salary.
Many private practices and hospitals will actually pay for their workers to go back to school and attain different certificates, being as the clients and patients at that practice feel more comfortable and confident that they are getting the best service possible when the people that are taking care of them are better qualified than those that do not have any special skills or certifications on top of their initial degrees.
Becoming an ultrasound technician is an extremely rewarding job no matter what path you choose to take. Be it as an ultrasound technician for expecting mothers, or as an abdominal, neuro, breast, or Ob/Gyn sonographer, the ultrasound technician salary you achieve from this line of work will be rewarding and well-deserved. Both financially and mentally rewarding, being an ultrasound technician will leave you with greater opportunities in life to serve those around you while being able to afford your comfortable lifestyle at the same time.