With nearly 40,000 OTAs employed, it is surprising how many people don’t know where OTAs work. Based on recent job postings on ZipRecruiter, the Occupational Therapy Assistant job market in both Chicago, IL and the surrounding area is very active. Occupational Therapy Assistant Salary in U.S. (2019 survey) This includes data from the 2018 full calendar work year. $40.14 is the 90th percentile. Occupational Therapy Assistant Salary Comparison by Location. So, don’t worry—I will continually be updating this article! Check out her site here! $75,000 is the 75th percentile. Data used to develop this report includes ADP data. Occupational therapist assistants earn an average yearly salary of $51,368. That said, the travel industry is notoriously shady, so I recommend that you work with Nomadicare so that you don’t get taken advantage of. Also, I found the StoryBrand Podcast episode #26 - 5 Strategies That Will Make You a Strong Negotiator very helpful, as it helps to normalize the idea of negotiation. This means there actually was an increase in median pay of OTAs over 20 years, which is not the case for OTs. ranks number 1 out of 50 states nationwide for Occupational Therapy Assistant salaries. The chart below represents localized salaries for some of our most popular Occupational Therapy Assistant job titles in Cleveland, OH.Salaries can vary greatly depending on numerous factors, including position, location, years of experience, and level of education. Salaries above this are outliers. According to our calculations and the BLS’ calculations, OTA salaries are certainly higher than the national average. For example, a brand-new OTA with under a year of experience will make a median salary of $39,000. Unlike some of the other salary websites out there, PayScale’s data tends to skew on the lower side—but its data is also close to the AOTA’s findings, so we find that it reflects the reality of OTA salaries pretty well. According to the BLS, in 1998, the median annual salary for an OT assistants was $29,710, and today it is $60,410. These charts show the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant in the United States. That said, there has been increased focus on outcomes-based (versus fee-based) reimbursements, so I realize we’re in a time of flux in the occupational therapy world. New Jersey, Nevada, California, and Virginia are not far behind with OTA salaries, with all of them averaging over $65,000 annually. So, one might say that OTAs do make a lot of money. ADP is an exclusive provider of employee payroll data for ZipRecruiter. According to Glassdoor, the mean annual pay for OTAs as of 2019 is $58,336. If you’re looking to maximize your hourly pay, working PRN (or per diem) might be the answer. And, unlike OT salaries, which have largely stagnated over the last two decades, OTA salaries have seen significant growth per the BLS. Whether you’re still considering if a career as an OTA is right for you, you’re looking at options for your first job, or you’re simply curious about how your pay compares to the national average, this article aims to give you a better idea of how much money OTAs tend to make. When employees working fewer hours than 40 per week were factored in, the number was $45,678. How much does a Occupational Therapy Assistant make? Sometimes, despite your best attempts at negotiation, a job simply won’t budge on salary. On the higher side, OTAs that work in home healthcare services can earn $57,840 annually. Table 1. A good salary negotiation is always founded in research. According to Salary, the average annual salary of an OTA is $57,920 per year. Here are just some of those ways: As is the case with OTs, the SNF (skilled nursing facility) and HHOT (home health occupational therapy) settings typically pay higher wages than schools and hospitals. Salaries above this are outliers. We ran some numbers based on her spreadsheet. However, before we dive into the nitty gritty, I want to start out with discussing what the average OTA salary really is. Your privacy is our priority. With these 10 cities having average salaries higher than the national average, the opportunities for economic advancement by changing locations as an Occupational Therapy Assistant appears to be exceedingly fruitful. Finally, another factor to consider is the average salary for these top ten cities varies very little at 10% between San Francisco, CA and Sunnyvale, CA, reinforcing the limited potential for much wage advancement. An Occupational Therapy Assistant in your area makes on average $67,290 per year, or $1,556 (2%) more than the national average annual salary of $65,734. We're sending you an email for you to verify and access your account. As an affiliate and a friend of Laura’s, I completely support and believe in the Nomadicare mission. Additionally, education, area of expertise and certifications also affect pay levels. She is an OT with a passion for helping other OTs earn what they deserve, and her website collects data from visitors in an attempt to improve visibility into OT salaries. While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $91,500 and as low as $42,000, the majority of Occupational Therapy Assistant salaries currently range between $52,000 (25th percentile) to $75,000 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $83,500 annually across the United States. On the other hand, salaries rose 8.2% for full-time OTs since 2010. $1,442 is the 75th percentile. First of all, you’ll want to gather as much information as you can about comparable positions. There are plenty of ways to increase your earning potential as an OTA. According to the AOTA, overall salaries for OTAs rose 9.1% since 2010. The impact of outliers on a mean is a very important in this consideration, though, as quite a few OTAs work part-time or PRN, and their annual salaries are lower, which could skew the mean results toward the lower end. Wages above this are outliers. The average salary for a certified occupational therapy assistant is $30.72 per hour in New Jersey. OTSalary was created by Kate Washa Boyd. PayScale is one of my favorite sources of info because it is one of the very first salary websites, pioneering the use of big data in its calculations—plus, salary data is pretty much all it covers. An Occupational Therapy Assistant in your area makes on average $67,290 per year, or $1,556 (2%) more than the national average annual salary of $65,734. The best-paid 25 percent made $71,820 that year, while the lowest-paid 25 percent made $50,510. I provide additional details about my own negotiating experiences in my post, Occupational Therapy Job Negotiations. Here’s what this means: Some websites break down salaries between states (or even cities), Some websites break them down per experience level, Some websites present findings as means (averages) while others use medians (which I’ll explain more in depth in a moment). ), Data according to the AOTA Salary and Workforce Survey. I cannot agree more! We, at OT Potential, have created this calculation, and we based it on an average of numerous reputable websites’ salary data for OTAs. $36.06 is the 75th percentile. Start imagining yourself working in school-based, home health, or other clinical settings while you enjoy DAY ONE benefits and a variety of other perks. To estimate the most accurate annual salary range for Occupational Therapy Assistant jobs, ZipRecruiter continuously scans its database of millions of active jobs published locally throughout America. This is the equivalent of $1,264/week or $5,478/month. Their pay could fall below $26.23 per hour, or $54,560 per year, or reach above $57.91 per hour, or $120,440 per year. At the same time, you can always find professions with astronomically high salaries, such as anesthesiologists and radiologists, and OTAs seem to make very little in comparison. Travel occupational therapist (OTs) can expect to earn a salary/hourly wage between $39.00-$47.00/hr. Nearby Occupational Therapy Assistant Jobs. That said, this number is closer to the median BLS findings, so don’t discount it altogether. I’ve given you the lay of the land in terms of what types of OTA salaries are out there, as well as roughly what you can expect to earn based on your unique circumstances. 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