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Role hub · Pharmacists

Pharmacist: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of pharmacists earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$140,910
Hourly
$67.75
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Pharmacists dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use. The median pay is $140,910 a year ($67.75 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a doctoral degree (78% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$140,910
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
321,970
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Most common education
Doctoral Degree
78% of workers
Explore the role

Every page for Pharmacists

SalaryPharmacist salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomePharmacist how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumePharmacist resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsPharmacist interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Career changePharmacist career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What pharmacists do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
  2. Collaborate with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, or evaluate the quality or effectiveness of drugs or drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications or characteristics.
  3. Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage, and proper medication storage.
  4. Provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure.
  5. Analyze prescribing trends to monitor patient compliance and to prevent excessive usage or harmful interactions.
  6. Maintain records, such as pharmacy files, patient profiles, charge system files, inventories, control records for radioactive nuclei, or registries of poisons, narcotics, or controlled drugs.
  7. Prepare sterile solutions or infusions for use in surgical procedures, emergency rooms, or patients' homes.
  8. Compound and dispense medications as prescribed by doctors and dentists, by calculating, weighing, measuring, and mixing ingredients, or oversee these activities.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Reading ComprehensioncoreActive ListeningcoreSpeakingcoreSocial PerceptivenessService OrientationComplex Problem SolvingJudgment and Decision MakingTime ManagementWriting

Knowledge areas: Medicine and Dentistry, English Language, Biology, Mathematics, Chemistry, Education and Training.

Tools and technology

Software pharmacists use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Epic SystemsMedical softwareHot technology
  • MEDITECH softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • eClinicalWorks EHR softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • Freedom MedTEACHComputer based training software
  • Label-making softwareLabel making software
  • Pyxis MedStation softwareInventory management software
  • RxKinetics UD Labels for WindowsLabel making software
  • TPNassistAnalytical or scientific software
  • TTP LabTech comPOUNDAnalytical or scientific software
  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft OutlookElectronic mail softwareHot technology

Also called: Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (CPS), Community Pharmacist, Hospital Pharmacist, Inpatient Pharmacist, Pharm D (Pharmacy Doctor).

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).