Surgical Tech Salary in 2025: Scrub Tech Pay by State

How pay is spread out

The BLS range runs from $45,940 to $96,940. Geography explains a lot of that gap, as the state table below shows.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 29-2055 (Surgical Technologists).

Surgical tech salary by state

State medians run from $49,110 in West Virginia to $82,640 in Hawaii. Some states regulate surgical technologists, while others leave it to employers. Once prices are taken into account, Minnesota comes out on top at about $81,300.

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Hawaii	$82,640	290	$75,160
Oregon	$81,390	1,090	$78,740
California	$81,310	11,920	$73,440
Massachusetts	$80,870	2,220	$76,470
Alaska	$80,380	310	$78,530
Minnesota	$80,210	1,770	$81,330
Connecticut	$79,890	1,220	$77,110
New York	$79,550	6,540	$73,710
District of Columbia	$77,520	340	$70,540
Washington	$77,270	2,510	$72,210
New Jersey	$77,200	2,780	$70,950
Colorado	$75,740	2,100	$73,500
Nevada	$75,480	1,110	$75,500
New Hampshire	$75,040	370	$72,040
Rhode Island	$74,130	240	$72,480
Wisconsin	$74,120	2,180	$78,770
Idaho	$72,550	1,100	$75,970
Arizona	$72,260	2,410	$71,770
Maryland	$68,970	1,880	$65,710
Virginia	$67,580	1,910	$66,840
Texas	$65,220	10,160	$67,200
Illinois	$64,650	3,570	$64,680
Indiana	$64,240	2,680	$68,830
Georgia	$64,010	4,380	$66,470
Nebraska	$63,880	770	$70,900
Michigan	$63,320	3,840	$65,810
Maine	$62,860	470	$64,770
Utah	$62,720	1,170	$63,440
Pennsylvania	$62,680	4,490	$64,240
Florida	$62,440	9,120	$60,380
Ohio	$62,420	3,730	$67,280
Delaware	$62,250	340	$62,370
South Carolina	$62,160	2,680	$66,300
North Dakota	$61,640	370	$69,290
Oklahoma	$61,190	1,940	$69,660
Missouri	$61,120	2,100	$67,300
Montana	$60,970	490	$64,420
North Carolina	$60,920	4,400	$64,580
Vermont	$60,660	140	$61,920
Kansas	$60,600	1,200	$67,280
Iowa	$60,540	950	$68,980
Tennessee	$60,530	3,310	$65,890
Kentucky	$60,490	1,440	$67,090
South Dakota	$59,870	600	$67,580
Wyoming	$58,850	210	$63,490
Arkansas	$57,400	1,640	$66,020
Louisiana	$57,370	2,230	$65,040
New Mexico	$51,780	540	$56,150
Mississippi	$49,810	1,110	$57,280
Alabama	$49,420	2,480	$55,640
West Virginia	$49,110	580	$54,870

Medians: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Cost-adjusted: median divided by the state's BEA Regional Price Parity, 2024 (U.S. = 100); the result is an estimate in national-average dollars.

Best-paying cities

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA pays the highest median at $106,840, well above the national figure of $64,650.

Metro area	Median	Employed	Cost-adjusted
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$106,840	700	$96,760
Vallejo, CA	$105,260	100	$97,030
Napa, CA	$102,490	60	$91,060
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$100,130	80	$91,110
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$99,960	120	$92,740
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$99,390	1,440	$85,970
Redding, CA	$89,940	80	$89,330
Urban Honolulu, HI	$87,330	230	$78,700
Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$86,790	250	$81,220
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$84,120	6,320	$74,730

Where the most jobs are

Metro area	Median	Employed	Cost-adjusted
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$84,120	6,320	$74,730
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$81,580	3,440	$71,830
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$79,990	2,790	$77,590
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$71,050	2,660	$72,040
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$66,360	2,530	$64,060
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$67,570	2,400	$67,530
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$65,520	2,200	$57,400
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$69,650	2,020	$67,920
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$78,050	1,790	$75,540
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$65,810	1,670	$65,610

BLS OEWS, May 2025, metropolitan statistical areas. Cost-adjusted: BEA Regional Price Parities for metro areas, 2024.

Pay by type of employer

Most surgical techs work in hospitals (70%, median $64,950). Pay barely moves between hospitals, physicians' offices ($64,590) and outpatient centers ($64,670), so location matters more than setting.

Industry	Median	Employed	Share
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	$64,950	81,900	70%
Offices of Physicians	$64,590	12,280	10%
Outpatient Care Centers	$64,670	12,150	10%
Employment Services	$62,250	4,410	4%
Offices of Dentists	$48,190	2,110	2%
Specialty (except Psychiatric and Substance Abuse) Hospitals	$71,390	1,690	1%

BLS OEWS, May 2025, national industry estimates (4-digit NAICS).

What surgical techs do

Maintain a proper sterile field during surgical procedures.
Count sponges, needles, and instruments before and after operation.
Hand instruments and supplies to surgeons and surgeons' assistants, hold retractors and cut sutures, and perform other tasks as directed by surgeon during operation.
Scrub arms and hands and assist the surgical team to scrub and put on gloves, masks, and surgical clothing.
Wash and sterilize equipment, using germicides and sterilizers.

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

Hourly to annual

Operating rooms use call shifts and early starts. Any extra pay for those is not reflected here; the conversion is simply the hourly rate times 2,080 hours.

Hourly wage ($)

Annual, full time ($)

How you get there

Most people enter through a certificate or associate degree from an accredited program. Certification is not always required, but some employers ask for it and it can help in finding a job.

High school diplomaRequired for program entry

Accredited programCertificate or associate degree, with clinical cases

CertificationCommonly the CST credential through NBSTSA

Check state rulesSome states regulate this work

Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. Projected job growth, 2025–35: 5%, about 7,100 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections).

How to become a surgical tech →