A ultrasound technician in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has a median wage of $173,150. In San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas the median is $38,120. That is a 4.54-fold difference for the same job title, which is unusually wide even by the standards of a country this large — and it means a national average for this role is close to meaningless.
Ten per cent of ultrasound technicians earn below $67,820 and ten per cent above $129,370 — a 1.91× band. The upside from median to 90th percentile is 34%, which is a normal amount of room for experience and specialisation to matter. An offer below the 25th percentile is worth questioning; one above the 75th is worth taking seriously.
10 of the ten best-paying metros for ultrasound 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.
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA | $173,150 | $83.25 | 0.76 | 500 |
| Vallejo CA | $171,170 | $82.30 | 1.63 | 140 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom CA | $163,220 | $78.47 | 0.98 | 610 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma CA | $161,570 | $77.68 | 0.73 | 90 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA | $160,270 | $77.05 | 0.94 | 1,300 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville CA | $142,150 | $68.34 | 0.71 | 40 |
| Modesto CA | $141,210 | $67.89 | 1.76 | 200 |
| Redding CA | $133,340 | $64.11 | 0.91 | 40 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara CA | $132,490 | $63.70 | 0.89 | 100 |
| Stockton-Lodi CA | $130,210 | $62.60 | 0.81 | 140 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA | $129,960 | $62.48 | 0.98 | 1,190 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region of California nonmetropolitan area | $129,920 | $62.46 | 0.95 | 30 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad CA | $129,630 | $62.32 | 0.8 | 720 |
| North Coast Region of California nonmetropolitan area | $128,690 | $61.87 | 0.67 | 40 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro OR-WA | $128,420 | $61.74 | 0.99 | 690 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region of California nonmetropolitan area | $128,020 | $61.55 | 0.94 | 60 |
| Salem OR | $127,680 | $61.38 | 1.02 | 110 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura CA | $125,750 | $60.46 | 0.76 | 140 |
| Kahului-Wailuku HI | $125,670 | $60.42 | 0.8 | 30 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles CA | $125,090 | $60.14 | 0.55 | 40 |
| Western Washington nonmetropolitan area | $123,910 | $59.57 | 1.14 | 90 |
| Chico CA | $123,880 | $59.56 | 1.86 | 80 |
| Urban Honolulu HI | $123,070 | $59.17 | 0.62 | 160 |
| Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard WA | $121,340 | $58.34 | 0.89 | 50 |
| Bozeman MT | $121,260 | $58.30 | 0.8 | 30 |
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas PR | $38,120 | $18.33 | 0.52 | 210 |
| Southeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area | $61,660 | $29.64 | 0.68 | 30 |
| Southwest Alabama nonmetropolitan area | $62,440 | $30.02 | 1.11 | 40 |
| Middle Georgia nonmetropolitan area | $62,560 | $30.08 | 1.33 | 110 |
| Dothan AL | $62,620 | $30.11 | 1.91 | 70 |
| Lower East Mississippi nonmetropolitan area | $63,230 | $30.40 | 1.24 | 90 |
| Northeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area | $64,900 | $31.20 | 0.94 | 80 |
| Daphne-Fairhope-Foley AL | $66,270 | $31.86 | 1.14 | 60 |
| Valdosta GA | $67,100 | $32.26 | 1.21 | 40 |
| Beckley WV | $67,210 | $32.31 | 1.9 | 50 |
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester MN | $100,770 | $48.45 | 3.38 | 240 |
| Charleston WV | $75,900 | $36.49 | 2.74 | 160 |
| Greenville NC | $76,380 | $36.72 | 2.59 | 120 |
| Sioux Falls SD-MN | $80,600 | $38.75 | 2.39 | 250 |
| Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville FL | $82,940 | $39.88 | 2.27 | 320 |
| Tyler TX | $82,110 | $39.48 | 2.22 | 150 |
| Vineland NJ | $113,140 | $54.40 | 2.21 | 80 |
| Mobile AL | $68,090 | $32.74 | 2.19 | 220 |
| Atlantic City-Hammonton NJ | $87,200 | $41.92 | 2.15 | 210 |
| Mount Vernon-Anacortes WA | $107,340 | $51.61 | 2.14 | 70 |
| Huntington-Ashland WV-KY-OH | $78,830 | $37.90 | 2 | 160 |
| Springfield IL | $98,470 | $47.34 | 1.97 | 120 |
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ | $107,250 | $51.56 | 1.28 | 7,020 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA | $119,430 | $57.42 | 0.98 | 3,550 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin IL-IN | $103,080 | $49.56 | 0.87 | 2,280 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX | $98,810 | $47.51 | 0.92 | 2,160 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach FL | $86,250 | $41.47 | 1.17 | 1,910 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands TX | $95,100 | $45.72 | 0.88 | 1,670 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington PA-NJ-DE-MD | $94,640 | $45.50 | 0.99 | 1,660 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler AZ | $102,810 | $49.43 | 1.16 | 1,600 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA-NH | $109,200 | $52.50 | 1.02 | 1,590 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV | $105,290 | $50.62 | 0.85 | 1,550 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MI | $83,280 | $40.04 | 1.35 | 1,490 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell GA | $88,940 | $42.76 | 0.82 | 1,380 |
Figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics programme, May 2025 release, SOC code 29-2032. 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 378 of 528 metropolitan areas; the remaining 150 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.