There are a lot of factors that determine the salary of speech language pathologist. Not only does it vary by location (country, state, city, etc.) but it also varies by setting. Speech language pathologists, or SLPs, can work in a variety of settings including schools, private clinics, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, outpatient, rehabilitation hospitals, home health, preschools/daycares, universities, and early intervention. To learn more about what an SLP does, check out this blog post.
National Estimates of Salary for SLPs
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics as of May 2020, there are 148,450 SLPs in employment. The mean hourly rage is $40.02 with the mean annual range being $83,420.
As it depends on the setting, here are there breakdowns for each setting.
Employment
- Elementary/Secondary Schools – 58,530
- Offices of other Health Practioners – 32,240
- General Medical and Surgical Hospitals – 17,140
- Home Health Care Services – 6,410
- Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities – 5,990
Hourly Mean Wage / Annual Mean Wage
- Elementary/Secondary Schools – $36.38 / $75,670
- Offices of other Health Practioners – $41.36 / $86,020
- General Medical and Surgical Hospitals – $42.06 / $87,480
- Home Health Care Services – $43.31 / $90,080
- Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities – $45.46 / $94,560
For more statistics and to see charts/geographical maps, check out their website.
Salary of Speech Language Pathologist in Arkansas
When I was in grad school, I thought these numbers looked good. I went into my studies thinking I was going to make 70-80k a year. HA! Man was I wrong. ..
Where I live, the school district puts SLPs on the same salary schedule as teachers. No, I am not happy about it and have tried to change it. In my district we don’t even get an extra stipend for having our CCCs – it’s ridiculous. However, a lot of smaller neighboring cities do offer 10k stipends for CCCs. Even though we have a master’s degree and it puts us higher on the pay scale, starting pay is $45,430. That is lowwww, my friends. Even with our low cost of living being in Arkansas.
Granted we do have nice benefits like healthcare for free and the great teacher retirement system. But the best part is truly all the days/time off. In the clinic where I used to work, I made $50 an hour. But that could have easily been $60-70 based on insurance reimbursement rates. When I worked PRN at a rehabilitation hospital, I made $50 an hour (no benefits) but full time employees made around $40-45 an hour (with benefits and very little time off). Most tele-therapy jobs that I’ve found make $45 an hour. If I were to open up my own private practice, I could likely make $80-100 an hour based on insurance rates and not having to pay a boss aka middle man.
generally speaking…
When looking up the salary of any job, make sure you take into account benefits and other advantages. Not everything is about the money! However, it’s important to have a very realistic look at what you could make in each setting before you go into the speech therapy field. You will typically make more working for yourself or in the medical field than with children in a school or early intervention. The least desirable jobs, like skilled nursing facilities, usually pay the best. 🙁
Other factors to consider are productivity rates (yikes in SNFs and hospitals), workloads (yikes in most of our field), and general expectations. Burnout is real and happens easily in our field! So watch for that!
Do you have any more questions about the salary for speech language pathologist? As always, comment below or ask in my DMs on social media. Talk soon friend!
-Chloe B | School SLP
