In 2023, hospitals employed about 1.5% of the nation’s pharmacists and paid them an average salary of $144,270, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Annual pharmacist wages increased 4.2% across all industry settings, and the fastest growing salaries were in home healthcare (7.2%), hospitals and physician offices (about 4%), and retail outpatient pharmacies (3.4%).
The share of pharmacists working in non-retail settings — including hospitals, physician offices, outpatient care centers and home healthcare businesses — have increased from 27% to 33% in the past decade. These figures likely understate true employment growth since the Bureau of Labor Statistics includes hospital-owned retail pharmacies in the retail category, according to Drug Channels.
Retail was the only setting where employment dipped and inflation-adjusted salaries fell, the report found. In 2023, retail pharmacies employed 12.1% of the nation’s pharmacists and paid them an average salary of $126,990. The decrease in pay happened simultaneously with more retail pharmacies closing and frustrations rising among retail pharmacists.
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