What a pharmacy technician earns, by metro

Median pay for pharmacy technicians runs from $26,350 in Aguadilla to $77,360 in Napa — a 2.94× range across 527 metropolitan areas. The national median of $45,750 sits inside that range but describes no particular market.

Pay is tightly banded

From $36,020 at the 10th percentile to $61,040 at the 90th is only 1.69×, which is narrow. Pay for pharmacy technicians 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.

Where the money is

6 of the ten best-paying metros for pharmacy technicians 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.

Highest paying metros

Lowest paying metros

Where the role is most concentrated

Largest employers by metro

Current openings

About this data

Figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics programme, May 2025 release, SOC code 29-2052. OEWS surveys employers, so it reports what is actually paid rather than what job advertisements claim, and it excludes the self-employed. Estimates cover 527 of 528 metropolitan areas — near-complete coverage, which means the ranges above are reliable rather than drawn from a handful of markets. Read the methodology.