How Much Do Occupational Therapists Make?

Occupational therapists earn a median of $98,340 a year — about $46 an hour — according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2024). The best-paid quarter of the profession earns $110,460 and the lowest-paid quarter earns $80,490. Setting moves that number more than specialty does, and more than seniority does.

How much do occupational therapists make a year?

Each figure below carries its source and the date it was measured. OT salary pages quote wildly different averages, largely because they mix release years and mix employed OTs with contract and travel roles.

The distance between the 10th percentile and the best-paid quarter is about $45,000. That spread — inside one profession, with one licence — is the thing worth understanding.

Does a PT or OT make more money?

Physical therapists edge it. For the same May 2024 release the BLS median was $101,020 for physical therapists against $98,340 for occupational therapists — a gap of roughly $2,700, or about 3%.

That gap is smaller than the spread between settings inside either profession. Which discipline you chose matters less to your income than where you practise and how you are paid.

What is the highest paid OT setting?

BLS publishes medians by industry. Home health and skilled nursing facilities sit at the top of the range; school-based and outpatient roles sit lower. Travel and contract positions quote higher hourly rates because they carry no benefits, so compare total compensation before reading one as a raise.

Beyond setting, the levers are the same ones every clinical practice has:

• Payer mix — how much of the caseload depends on reimbursement rates you do not set
• Ownership — an owner draws practice profit as well as a wage
• Product revenue — the adaptive equipment and home-program items you specify anyway

How do OTs add income that isn't set by a fee schedule?

Occupational therapy is unusually product-dense. A home program rarely ends at exercises — it names a reacher, a jar opener, a built-up grip, a splint, a weighted blanket, a shower chair. The patient leaves with a list of items they are expected to find on their own.

Most guess. They buy the wrong size, the wrong resistance, or nothing at all, and the plan of care quietly degrades between visits.

A storefront closes that gap. The OT specifies the item, the brand ships the order directly, and the practice earns on what it recommended. There is no stock to hold and no fulfilment to manage, because the supplier ships. It is incremental revenue that scales with a clinician's reputation and caseload rather than with added hours.

PTs, OTs and chiropractors can sell products to patients where the financial interest is disclosed and clinical judgment stays in front. The mechanics are in how to recommend products the right way, and the category view is in the products a clinic should carry. For the wider set of options beyond insurance, see adding revenue that doesn't need another appointment.

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