Medical Transcription Salary

Medical Transcription Salary is calculated by the US Government Bureau of Labor Statistics from a variety of sources. The official title is Medical Transcriptionist.  Medical Transcriptionists work in a number of settings including hospitals, clinics and doctors offices. The salary of a medical transcriptionist varies depending on the location and the setting. The assumption was made that the medical transcriptionist reflected here works an average of 40 hours per week with a total of 2080 hours per year. The average salary does not reflect the beginning salary.

Medical Transcription Salary: Median Hourly & Annual Data

A transcriptionist median salary is $15.41 per hour. The lowest 10% earn $10.76 per hour and those in the upper 10% earn more than $21 per hour.

Annually

On an annual basis  the median medical transcription salary is $32,060  The lowest 10% earn $22,380 per year while the upper 10% earn $45,370 per year.  These salaries are calculated as a mean or average. 

Lowest and Highest Medical Transcription Salary

The lowest paid transcriptionists earn less that $22,000 annually.  The highest medical transcription salaries are over $47,000 per year with a few making $50,000.  

Top 5 States

The 5 best paying states to earn a medical transcription salary are Massachusets, California, Hawaii, Alaska and New Jersey. In all five states the salary ranges from $37,000 to over $42,000 annually.

 Top 5 Metropolitan Areas

The 5 best city or metropolitan areas to earn a medical transcription salary are Bethesda-Fredrick MD, San Jose CA , Salinas CA, San Francisco CA, Santa Ana-Anaheim CA, and Toledo OH, all with salaries ranging from $44,000 to $48,000 annually.

Other Industries that Employ Medical Transcriptionists

While the majority work in hospitals and physicians offices some medical transcriptionists work for dental practices, insurance companies, military healthcare systems, and laboratory services. 

Employment Data

According to the US Department of Labor nationally there are 86,000 or more medical transcriptionists who earn a salary through being employed. Due to outsourcing and the ability to work from home with this skill it is not known how many transcriptionists work from home, as independent contractors and/or are employed from international locations.

Where They Work

Of all the medical transcriptionists employed in the United States over 36,000 work in hospitals.  Approximately 24,000 work in physicians offices. Business Support Services employ a little over 13,000. 

Private Practice Vs Employment

Medical Transcriptionist is frequently used as an example of the perfect home business. With the growth of the internet this is an ideal telecommuter or home business.  Transcriptionists desiring to seek this option to work for themselves may find they have to bid the work lower than prevailing wages in order to secure work.  This work has been highly outsourced to international work centers in recent years.  A U.S. or Canadian Transcriptionist may find themselves with an advantage as English will be thier primary written and verbal language.

Benefits

Fringe benefits will vary depending on business size and other factors. To see what a typical benefits package is worth  A typical employment benefits package is worth over $20,000 per year.