Respiratory Therapist Salary in 2026: What Respiratory Therapists Earn
Respiratory therapists (RTs) are a small but critical part of the American healthcare workforce — about 139,600 of them in 2024, running ventilators in ICUs and NICUs, treating asthma and COPD on the floors, and managing breathing emergencies in the ER. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), they earn well above the national median for all jobs, and demand for them is growing much faster than average.
This guide breaks down what respiratory therapists actually earn in 2026 — the national median, how pay shifts with work setting and specialty, the credentials that move the number, and how location changes everything. All figures come from the most recent BLS data (the May 2024 release).
What the typical respiratory therapist earns
The median annual wage for respiratory therapists was $80,450 in May 2024. Median means half of all RTs earned more than that figure and half earned less. For comparison, the median wage across all U.S. occupations was $49,500.
The full range is wide:
- The lowest-paid 10% of respiratory therapists earned less than $61,900.
- The highest-paid 10% earned more than $108,820.
That spread — roughly $62,000 to $109,000 — is the most important thing to understand about RT pay. "Respiratory therapist salary" is not a single number; it depends heavily on where a therapist works, how long they have been working, and which patients they specialize in treating.
Respiratory therapist pay by work setting
Where a respiratory therapist works affects pay, though less dramatically than in some other healthcare occupations. BLS reports these median wages by employer type:
| Work setting | Median RT pay (2024) |
|---|---|
| Hospitals (state, local & private) | $80,660 |
| Nursing care facilities (skilled nursing) | $75,910 |
| Offices of physicians | $75,240 |
Hospitals dominate this profession in a way that few healthcare roles match: about 80% of all respiratory therapists work in a hospital, and the hospital median sits right at the national figure for the role. The remaining RTs are spread across skilled nursing facilities, physician offices, home health agencies, and outpatient clinics — all of which pay several thousand dollars below the hospital median. The gap between the top and bottom setting is only about $5,000 a year, which makes RT pay unusually tight by healthcare standards.
That tight band is partly a function of where the work actually lives. Hospitals concentrate the ventilator patients, the NICU babies, and the after-hours codes that respiratory therapists are uniquely trained to handle, so the role's pay scale is effectively set inside that one sector. Nursing facility and physician-office work tends to involve more routine pulmonary testing, oxygen-therapy management, and patient teaching — important, but typically scheduled day shifts without the differential pay that hospital nights and weekends add on top of the base.
Experience and specialty
The other major factor is experience. New-graduate respiratory therapists typically start near the lower end of the range with the Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) credential. Therapists who advance to the Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credential — and add high-acuity experience — move toward the upper end.
Specialty matters as much as years on the job. Neonatal/pediatric specialists working in NICUs, adult critical care RTs running ventilators in the ICU, and sleep-disorder specialists administering polysomnograms all command pay above the general hospital median. The National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) offers add-on credentials in these areas — Neonatal/Pediatric Specialist (NPS), Adult Critical Care Specialist (ACCS), and Sleep Disorders Specialist (SDS) — and respiratory therapists who hold them tend to earn toward the highest 10% of the BLS range.
Lead-therapist, supervisor, and clinical-coordinator roles also raise pay meaningfully, particularly in larger hospital systems. Some RTs move laterally into pulmonary function lab work, ECMO specialist roles, or transport teams (ground and rotor-wing critical-care transport), all of which tend to pay above the general floor rate. A bachelor's degree is not strictly required for most of these moves, but it is increasingly common among the therapists who hold them.
Where respiratory therapists earn the most
RT wages vary widely from state to state, and even between metro areas within the same state. Two forces drive that: local cost of living and local demand for respiratory therapists. A median wage in a high-cost coastal metro can sit tens of thousands of dollars above the same role in a lower-cost rural area, and large hospital systems in the Northeast and on the West Coast tend to pay at the upper end of the national range.
Demand also varies regionally. Areas with older populations, higher rates of smoking-related disease, or large tertiary hospital systems that operate busy ICUs and NICUs tend to keep RT positions open and bid wages up. Travel-RT contracts — short-term hospital assignments paid through staffing agencies — can pay well above the standard staff rate, but they are not reflected in the BLS median, which covers permanent employment only.
Because those figures are updated every year and differ for all 50 states, the most reliable source for a location-specific number is the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, which publishes median RT wages for every state and metropolitan area. Anyone weighing a respiratory therapy job offer should check the figure for their specific state and city rather than relying on the national median.
The job outlook for respiratory therapists
Pay is only half the picture; job security is the other. BLS projects employment of respiratory therapists to grow 12% from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 8,800 openings every year over the decade. The drivers are demographic and chronic: an aging population that brings a higher prevalence of pneumonia, COPD, and other conditions that restrict lung function, plus ongoing demand tied to smoking-related disease, air pollution, and respiratory emergencies. BLS also notes a growing emphasis on reducing hospital readmissions and shifting more pulmonary care into outpatient clinics and physician offices, which is expected to expand RT roles outside the traditional hospital walls. For a profession this specialized, that is an unusually strong outlook.
How respiratory therapists qualify
Respiratory therapists typically reach the role through an associate's degree in respiratory therapy from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC). Some employers prefer candidates with a bachelor's degree, and bachelor's-level programs are available for therapists who want to advance into supervisory or specialty roles.
After completing an accredited program, graduates sit for the National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC) exam to earn the Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT) credential, then a second NBRC exam to earn Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) status. Many hospitals now require RRT certification at hire or within a set window on the job, and most career advancement — specialty credentials, supervisory roles, ICU and NICU assignments — assumes the RRT as a baseline. Beyond the national credential, respiratory therapists must be licensed in every state except Alaska, with requirements set by each state board.
A note on your respiratory therapy credential
A respiratory therapy credential is one many RTs want to display once they have earned it. If your original has been lost or damaged, your program or the NBRC can issue an official replacement for any formal purpose. For a framed copy to hang at home or in an office, DiplomaCraft also offers replica credential certificates for display and novelty use.
Sources
- Wage, employment, and outlook data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Respiratory Therapists, reflecting the May 2024 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release (updated August 2025).
- State and metro wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS).
All wage figures are medians and reflect the most recent BLS data available as of 2026. Actual pay varies by employer, location, experience, and specialty.