Speech Language Pathologist salary

Q: What state pays Speech Language Pathologists the most?

California pays Speech Language Pathologists the most in the United States, with an average salary of $82,600 per year, or $39.71 per hour.

Q: How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a Speech Language Pathologist?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a Speech Language Pathologist if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in Nevada you should be paid close to $79,594 per year.

Q: What is a good starting salary for a Speech Language Pathologist?

A good starting salary for a speech language pathologist is $49,000 in the United States. That puts you in the 10th percentile of annual income for a speech language pathologist in the U.S., which is about what you would expect if you were new to the field. The average salary for speech language pathologists is $65,973, but that normally requires some level of experience to achieve. Furthermore, a good starting salary for a speech language pathologist can vary by state.

Q: Do speech-language pathologists make good money?

Yes, speech-language pathologists make good money. The average salary for a speech-language pathologist is $83,240 a year or $49.02 an hour. However, the pay range for speech pathologists can go as high as $136,000 a year to as low as $20,500 a year.

Q: How much do speech pathologists make starting off?

Speech pathologists make $66,682 a year starting off. However, the pay range for an entry-level speech pathologist can go from as high as $136,000 a year to as low as $20,500 a year. Fluctuations in pay rate reflect differences in location and the type of speech pathologist or industry.

Q: Who is the highest-paid speech pathologist?

The highest-paid speech pathologist is dependent on location and type of speech pathologist. The median salary for a speech pathologist in the United States is $98,823 annually. However, speech pathologists can earn as high as $166,500 a year.

Average speech language pathologist salary

$62,340

$29.97 hourly rate

Entry-level speech language pathologist salary

$43,000 yearly salary

Updated January 8, 2025

How much does a speech language pathologist make?

The average speech language pathologist salary in the United States is $62,340. Speech language pathologist salaries typically range between $43,000 and $89,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for speech language pathologists is $29.97 per hour.

Speech language pathologist salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Speech language pathologists earn the highest average salary in California.

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Where can a Speech Language Pathologist earn more?

Compare salary by location

111k

91k

71k

51k

31k

California$85,108

Fairfield, OH$61,030

Compare salary by company

117k

97k

77k

57k

Northeastern University$100,856

University of Maryland Medical System$87,016

Speech Language Pathologist Salaries By Experience Level

Experience Level	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
Entry-level speech language pathologist	$59,500	$28.61
Mid-level speech language pathologist	$64,300	$30.92
Senior-level speech language pathologist	$69,100	$33.23

Speech Language Pathologist salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, Glassdoor, Comparably and CareerExplorer, the average salary for a speech language pathologist typically falls between $62,340 and $209,204.

zippia

$62,340yearly

glassdoor[1]

$99,773yearly

comparably[2]

$93,909yearly

Salary.com[3]

$209,204yearly

CareerExplorer[4]

$79,060yearly

Average speech language pathologist salary by state

The average speech language pathologist salary in California, Nevada, and Alaska are the highest in the U.S. The lowest average speech language pathologist salary states are Minnesota, North Dakota, and Nebraska.

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Highest paying states for speech language pathologists

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	California	$82,600	$39.71
2	Virginia	$74,834	$35.98
3	Washington	$74,039	$35.60
4	Nevada	$79,594	$38.27
5	Louisiana	$71,715	$34.48
6	Connecticut	$71,803	$34.52
7	New Mexico	$66,398	$31.92
8	Delaware	$69,835	$33.57
9	Arizona	$68,463	$32.91
10	New Jersey	$75,450	$36.27
11	Alaska	$76,983	$37.01
12	South Carolina	$64,043	$30.79
13	Maryland	$70,931	$34.10
14	Oregon	$69,006	$33.18
15	New York	$72,431	$34.82
16	Idaho	$66,674	$32.05
17	Pennsylvania	$65,926	$31.70
18	Wyoming	$63,500	$30.53
19	Missouri	$64,906	$31.20
20	Kansas	$61,142	$29.40
21	Hawaii	$70,475	$33.88
22	Wisconsin	$63,254	$30.41
23	Florida	$62,208	$29.91
24	District of Columbia	$76,451	$36.76
25	Iowa	$59,938	$28.82
26	Michigan	$61,645	$29.64
27	Ohio	$61,598	$29.61
28	Illinois	$62,468	$30.03
29	Colorado	$65,553	$31.52
30	Rhode Island	$61,548	$29.59
31	Massachusetts	$60,251	$28.97
32	West Virginia	$56,910	$27.36
33	Kentucky	$59,628	$28.67
34	Texas	$60,324	$29.00
35	Indiana	$59,412	$28.56
36	North Carolina	$60,425	$29.05
37	Arkansas	$61,072	$29.36
38	Georgia	$61,429	$29.53
39	Vermont	$55,532	$26.70
40	Montana	$60,844	$29.25
41	New Hampshire	$54,075	$26.00
42	Mississippi	$59,961	$28.83
43	Oklahoma	$60,038	$28.86
44	North Dakota	$54,504	$26.20
45	Nebraska	$54,229	$26.07
46	Tennessee	$57,230	$27.51
47	Alabama	$55,729	$26.79
48	South Dakota	$51,192	$24.61
49	Utah	$57,471	$27.63
50	Minnesota	$54,588	$26.24
51	Maine	$46,238	$22.23

Top speech language pathologist jobs near you

Highest paying cities for speech language pathologists

The highest-paying cities for speech language pathologists are Redwood City, CA, Las Vegas, NV, and Washington, DC.

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Redwood City, CA	$85,108	$40.92
2	Las Vegas, NV	$79,424	$38.18
3	Washington, DC	$76,504	$36.78
4	Tacoma, WA	$74,974	$36.05
5	New York, NY	$73,009	$35.10
6	Fairfield, CT	$72,773	$34.99
7	Baltimore, MD	$71,129	$34.20
8	Wilmington, DE	$69,773	$33.54
9	Salem, OR	$69,128	$33.23
10	Phoenix, AZ	$68,604	$32.98
11	Philadelphia, PA	$66,629	$32.03
12	Albuquerque, NM	$66,425	$31.94
13	Colorado Springs, CO	$66,135	$31.80
14	Chicago, IL	$62,591	$30.09
15	Miami, FL	$62,226	$29.92
16	Detroit, MI	$61,915	$29.77
17	San Antonio, TX	$61,601	$29.62
18	Jacksonville, NC	$61,542	$29.59
19	Atlanta, GA	$61,227	$29.44
20	Fairfield, OH	$61,030	$29.34

Speech Language Pathologists are the most in-demand in these five cities:

Speech Language Pathologist salary details

A speech language pathologist's salary ranges from $43,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $89,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average Speech Language Pathologist Salary Graph, Trends, and Summary

What is a speech language pathologist's salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$89,000	$7,417	$43
75th Percentile	$75,000	$6,250	$36
Average	$62,340	$5,195	$30
25th Percentile	$51,000	$4,250	$25
10th Percentile	$43,000	$3,583	$21

Highest paying speech language pathologist jobs

The highest paying types of speech language pathologists are speech therapist, speech/language therapist, and speech-language pathologist teacher.

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Graduate Student Clinician	$59,667	$4,972	$28.69	39,709
Student Clinician	$59,506	$4,959	$28.61	36,281
Graduate Student Internship	$30,945	$2,579	$14.88	56,982
Speech Therapist	$70,411	$5,868	$33.85	57,509
Speech/Language Therapist	$67,378	$5,615	$32.39	45,699
Speech-Language Pathology Internship	$59,985	$4,999	$28.84	72,220

Top companies hiring speech language pathologists now:

Which companies pay speech language pathologists the most?

Speech language pathologist salaries at Northeastern University and Oculus are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average speech language pathologist salary at companies like University of California, Berkeley and Bank of the West are highly competitive.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Northeastern University	$100,856	$48.49
2	Oculus	$100,138	$48.14
3	University of California-Berkeley	$98,131	$47.18
4	Bank of the West	$97,746	$46.99
5	The TJX Companies	$96,089	$46.20
6	Valley Children's	$95,883	$46.10
7	University of California	$95,217	$45.78
8	Mayo Clinic	$95,164	$45.75
9	DXC Technology	$95,042	$45.69
10	Professional Healthcare Resources	$93,760	$45.08
11	DC Prep	$91,960	$44.21
12	Tenet Healthcare	$91,959	$44.21
13	Blue Bird	$90,475	$43.50
14	New York University	$90,368	$43.45
15	Amazon	$89,850	$43.20
16	Innovative Services	$88,186	$42.40
17	Bozeman Health	$88,164	$42.39
18	Stanford Health Care	$88,006	$42.31
19	National Mentor Holdings Inc.	$87,240	$41.94
20	University of Maryland Medical System	$87,016	$41.83

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$59,000$57,400$55,800$54,200$52,600$51,000

MaleFemale

Speech Language Pathologist salary trends

The average speech language pathologist salary has risen by $8,815 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average speech language pathologist earned $53,525 annually, but today, they earn $62,340 a year. That works out to a 8% change in pay for speech language pathologists over the last decade.

Compare speech language pathologist salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average speech language pathologist salary over time

Compare speech language pathologist salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

National Average

Speech Language Pathologist salary by year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2025	$62,300	$29.97	+1.7%
2024	$61,300	$29.46	+2.0%
2023	$60,000	$28.87	+1.2%
2022	$59,300	$28.53	+2.5%
2021	$57,800	$27.81	+1.7%

Recently added speech language pathologist salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
Central Michigan University	Speech Language Pathologist Master Clinical Educator	Mount Pleasant, MI	12/18/2024	$65,000
Iowa Department of Administrative Services	Speech/Language Pathologist-Campus Setting	Woodward, IA	12/18/2024	$54,122
Atc Travelers a	Speech Language Pathologist	Duncan, OK	12/18/2024	$87,654
Epic Special Education Staffing	Speech Language Pathologist CF School	Salem, OR	12/18/2024	$73,045
Epic Special Education Staffing	Speech Language Pathologist School	Warren, MI	12/18/2024	$98,089
Connectedhc	Travel Speech Language Pathologist (Pediatrics)	McAlester, OK	12/18/2024	$138,786
Aa009	Preschool Early Intervention: Long Term Substitute Speech Language Pathologist Itinerant-Countywid	Tarentum, PA	12/18/2024	$52,175
Epic Special Education Staffing	Speech Language Pathologist School Onsite Virtual or Hybrid	Macon, GA	12/18/2024	$66,784
Epic Special Education Staffing	Speech Language Pathologist School	Princeton, NJ	12/18/2024	$104,350
Fusion Medical Staffing	Speech Language Pathologist-SLP	Soddy-Daisy, TN	12/17/2024	$71,741

Speech Language Pathologist salary FAQs

What state pays Speech Language Pathologists the most?

How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a Speech Language Pathologist?

What is a good starting salary for a Speech Language Pathologist?

Do speech-language pathologists make good money?

How much do speech pathologists make starting off?

Who is the highest-paid speech pathologist?

Have more questions? See all answers to common healthcare practitioner and technical questions.

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Speech Language Pathologist Salary

Updated January 8, 2025

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