There were 134,980 occupational therapist jobs in the U.S. as of May 2022 per data recently made available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Occupational therapists (OTs) work in varied healthcare settings, including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, offices of non-physician healthcare practitioners, and home healthcare agencies.  Many occupational therapists also work in educational settings, mostly elementary and secondary schools.  Like many other healthcare professionals with special training and skills, OTs usually earn more money than workers in most occupations.  According to recent BLS estimates, as of May 2022, the mean annual wage for OTs was $92,800.  Nationally, the profession's median wage, which is the wage level that separates the upper half of earners from the lower half, was $93,180 per year.  According to BLS data, the nation's 25 largest metropolitan areas accounted for 43.5% of the occupational therapist jobs in the U.S. as of May 2022.  BLS data further indicated that occupational therapist average pay in the top 25 U.S. metropolitan areas looked as follows:

Occupational Therapist Average Pay in the Top 25 U.S. Metropolitan Areas

	Area Name		Median Annual Wage	Mean Annual Wage
1	New York-Newark-Jersey City		$101,770	$105,290
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim		$102,950	$107,060
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin		$98,880	$93,250
4	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington		$95,880	$99,810
5	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land		$98,530	$97,480
6	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria		$103,280	$104,570
7	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington		$99,770	$97,650
8	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach		$93,430	$92,750
9	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta		$95,230	$96,640
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton		$92,060	$92,500
11	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler		$84,450	$91,680
12	San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley		$122,720	$120,420
13	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario		$100,550	$100,200
14	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn		$84,150	$86,600
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue		$95,100	$96,560
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington		$82,680	$83,800
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad		$102,230	$105,600
18	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater		$94,450	$91,390
19	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood		$99,110	$100,440
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson		$96,200	$92,620
21	St. Louis, MO-IL		$84,330	$85,220
22	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford		$90,210	$90,250
23	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia		$91,630	$89,370
24	San Antonio-New Braunfels		$95,390	$95,310
25	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro		$99,200	$96,140
	National		$93,180	$92,800

Report Period:  May 2022
Top 25 U.S. Metro Areas from the 2020 Census
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Occupational Statistics
Data extracted on June 7, 2023