Respiratory therapy is a very good field to get involved in. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment growth is expected to be faster than average and job prospects are very good for respiratory therapists. Once you have your degree and pass the licensure exams there shouldn't be any problem finding a job.

The BLS says that the mean annual respiratory therapist pay was $50,930 in 2007, with the lowest paid 10% of respiratory therapists making less than $36,650 and the highest 10% making an annual wage of more than $66,680. That is quite a wide range of salaries, but as with any career there are many factors that can affect the amount of respiratory therapist pay that is received. This includes location, the type of office where the respiratory therapist works, and years of experience.

The industries where respiratory therapist pay is the highest are junior colleges ($73,210), employment services ($60,420), local government ($58,500), offices of other health practitioners ($53,670), and outpatient care centers ($52,630). Of course there aren't necessarily a lot of jobs in these industries. Out of these five industries, only employment services is one of the top five industries for respiratory therapists at number four. The other top employers are general medical and surgical hospitals, special hospitals, nursing care facilities, and consumer goods rental. So if you are looking for a high paying industry with a lot of job openings, your best bet would be employment services.

The states where respiratory therapist pay is the highest are California ($61,810), New Jersey ($60,660), Hawaii ($60,150), Nevada ($60,060) and New York ($59,500). However, when you are considering the differing rates of pay in different locations, you need to be sure to also consider the cost of living, as places like California and Hawaii tend to have higher costs of living, making it so that even though the salary is higher you might not be able to purchase as much with that salary as you could in another location with a lower salary and a lower cost of living.

According to PayScale, the median respiratory therapist pay for those with less than one year of experience is $41,422. The median respiratory therapist pay for those with 20 years or more of experience is $56,335. This shows that experience does make a difference in this industry, so the longer you work the more you are likely to make.

Louis Zhang, Certrespiratorytherapist.com.

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