Pay for athletic trainers is unusually consistent across the country: $43,850 at the bottom of the range, $89,630 at the top, a spread of only 2.04×. Where you work matters less for this role than it does for most — which usually points to pay being set by structure (scales, licensure, collective agreements) rather than local bidding.
From $48,180 at the 10th percentile to $88,760 at the 90th is only 1.84×, which is narrow. Pay for athletic trainers is set more by structure than by individual outcome — scales, steps, licensure. That makes income predictable and makes the ceiling real: the way to earn materially more is usually to change role or location, not to out-perform within this one.
5 of the ten best-paying metros for athletic trainers are in CA. When one state dominates the top of the table like this, cost of living is doing part of the work but rarely all of it — state licensing rules, public-sector pay scales and the presence of a few large employers usually explain the rest. If you are comparing an offer in CA against one elsewhere, adjust for housing before concluding anything.
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA | $89,630 | — | 0.54 | 120 |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission TX | $82,480 | — | 1.63 | 90 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario CA | $79,950 | — | 0.7 | 240 |
| Trenton-Princeton NJ | $78,910 | — | 0.97 | 50 |
| Corpus Christi TX | $78,580 | — | 1.4 | 50 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA | $77,840 | — | 0.54 | 250 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom CA | $77,580 | — | 0.3 | 60 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA | $76,890 | — | 0.45 | 560 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ | $76,500 | — | 0.71 | 1,330 |
| Urban Honolulu HI | $75,540 | — | 1.77 | 160 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV | $75,390 | — | 0.64 | 390 |
| Fresno CA | $74,650 | — | 0.5 | 50 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad CA | $73,770 | — | 0.68 | 200 |
| Waterbury-Shelton CT | $72,800 | — | 1.02 | 30 |
| Madison WI | $72,780 | — | 1.59 | 130 |
| Albuquerque NM | $72,440 | — | 1.07 | 90 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford CT | $72,360 | — | 0.37 | 40 |
| El Paso TX | $72,250 | — | 1.4 | 90 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands TX | $72,150 | — | 0.74 | 480 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA-NH | $71,880 | — | 0.93 | 490 |
| Beaumont-Port Arthur TX | $71,660 | — | 0.98 | 30 |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury CT | $71,140 | — | 1.21 | 100 |
| Corvallis OR | $70,120 | — | 4.85 | 40 |
| North Region of Texas nonmetropolitan area | $70,090 | — | 1.22 | 70 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA | $69,980 | — | 0.31 | 130 |
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery AL | $43,850 | — | 1.78 | 60 |
| Birmingham AL | $46,280 | — | 3.88 | 400 |
| Central Kentucky nonmetropolitan area | $47,730 | — | 1.32 | 40 |
| Mobile AL | $50,070 | — | 1.9 | 60 |
| Des Moines-West Des Moines IA | $50,110 | — | 2.26 | 180 |
| Greenville-Anderson-Greer SC | $51,240 | — | 1.49 | 130 |
| Central Missouri nonmetropolitan area | $51,240 | — | 1.5 | 50 |
| Lakeland-Winter Haven FL | $51,390 | — | 0.65 | 30 |
| Huntsville AL | $51,550 | — | 1.69 | 90 |
| Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach FL | $52,090 | — | 0.94 | 40 |
Athens-Clarke County has 6.71× the national concentration of athletic trainers — the densest market in the country for this role, with 130 employed locally. Pay there is $64,590, which does not put it near the top of the pay table. Concentration and compensation are different things — a dense market is easier to get hired in and easier to move around within, but the competition that makes it dense also caps what employers need to offer.
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens-Clarke County GA | $64,590 | — | 6.71 | 130 |
| Corvallis OR | $70,120 | — | 4.85 | 40 |
| Lawrence KS | $60,820 | — | 4.06 | 40 |
| Birmingham AL | $46,280 | — | 3.88 | 400 |
| Muncie IN | $59,120 | — | 3.75 | 30 |
| Bowling Green KY | $56,630 | — | 3.74 | 60 |
| Harrisonburg VA | $63,230 | — | 3.66 | 50 |
| Akron OH | $60,330 | — | 3.49 | 220 |
| Florence SC | $60,550 | — | 3.45 | 60 |
| Mankato MN | $61,670 | — | 3.11 | 30 |
| St. Joseph MO-KS | $54,810 | — | 3.11 | 30 |
| Northwest Virginia nonmetropolitan area | $62,370 | — | 2.96 | 40 |
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ | $76,500 | — | 0.71 | 1,330 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX | $62,520 | — | 0.99 | 790 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington PA-NJ-DE-MD | $63,840 | — | 1.36 | 770 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin IL-IN | $65,780 | — | 0.73 | 650 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos TX | $64,150 | — | 2.56 | 650 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA | $76,890 | — | 0.45 | 560 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach FL | $63,560 | — | 0.89 | 490 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA-NH | $71,880 | — | 0.93 | 490 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI | $65,830 | — | 1.29 | 490 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands TX | $72,150 | — | 0.74 | 480 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler AZ | $61,710 | — | 0.99 | 460 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood IN | $63,370 | — | 1.98 | 430 |
Figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics programme, May 2025 release, SOC code 29-9091. OEWS surveys employers, so it reports what is actually paid rather than what job advertisements claim, and it excludes the self-employed. Estimates are published for 194 of 528 metropolitan areas; the remaining 334 had too few survey responses for BLS to publish without risking disclosure, so they are absent here rather than estimated. For a specialised role that is normal. Read the methodology.