The latest occupational employment numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) put the number of medical records specialists working in the U.S. at over 180,000 as of May 2021. With more than 23,600 medical records specialists employed at that time, the five-state Great Lakes region accounted for 13.1% of medical records specialist employment in the United States.  BLS data indicated the region to be a modestly weak one for medical records specialist pay, with nearly two-thirds of the region's medical records specialists living in a state where the annual mean wage for the profession was below the national average. From May 2021 BLS data, a state-level view reveals the following details about medical records specialist pay in the Great Lakes region.:

Medical Records Specialist Pay in the Great Lakes Region

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
IL	4,760	$48,920	18th
IN	4,010	$46,140	25th
MI	3,290	$43,610	42nd
OH	7,990	$46,340	24th
WI	3,600	$51,860	13th
U.S.	180,570	$48,310	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data accessed on June 15, 2022