How much do surgical technologists make? That varies greatly. A surgical tech may need to explore numerous avenues and variables to achieve the desired salary. These variables will be explained and can hopefully answer your question.
Location, Location, Location, For Surgical Tech Salary
That is right, depending on the location techs live in can be a good indicator of how much they will get paid. That is true because certain states pay more than others. Certain states pay their tech so low that it would be offensive to even bring up when compared to other more well-paying states. For example, as of March 2023, Alabama pays and average of
$18 an hour while California pays $31 an hour. Almost every salary varies greatly depending on the location but be mindful that when it comes to tech pay. That wage gap can be quite large. The county and city surgical techs work in can also have a large impact on how much they make. In California, a tech can have up to an $8 dollar difference in salary when compared to his or her counterpart working at a different facility. Yes! Location matters!
Hospital or Surgical Center
Not only does location matter, so does the type of facility a surgical tech works at. There are parts of the country or even within the same city that pay varies according to the facility. Sometimes surgical centers pay more than hospitals do. Other times the opposite is true. However, the chance of landing a better paying job would be at a hospital. If the hospital is unionized, there is a good chance that the salary would be even higher. I will give you my anecdotal experience (not my salary) with pay regarding different facilities. In Riverside, Ca an unionized hospital is paying their techs $41 bucks an hour. Only five miles down the street to another hospital (non-union) pays $34 an hour. Furthermore, 20 miles north into another city and county techs are earning $32 an hour at a surgical center, and it is entry level.
Travel
The holy grail of maximized earnings for most techs. Yes, surgical techs can also do travel contracts and get paid handsomely. There are travel contacts out as March 2023 that are paying techs up to $60-70 dollars an hour. Yup you read that right! However, you will need experience to achieve this pay. As you can see, discussing how much surgical technologists make cannot be answered simply.
