Skip to content
TryHired.
Role hub · Pharmacy Technicians

Pharmacy Technician: 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 pharmacy technicians earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$45,750
Hourly
$22.00
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Pharmacy Technicians prepare medications under the direction of a pharmacist. The median pay is $45,750 a year ($22.00 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a post-secondary certificate (42% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$45,750
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
471,680
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 3 of 5
medium preparation
Most common education
Post-Secondary Certificate
42% of workers
Explore the role

Every page for Pharmacy Technicians

SalaryPharmacy Technician salary

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

Open →How to becomePharmacy Technician how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumePharmacy Technician resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsPharmacy Technician interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Career changePharmacy Technician 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 pharmacy technicians do day to day

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

  1. Receive written prescription or refill requests and verify that information is complete and accurate.
  2. Enter prescription information into computer databases.
  3. Establish or maintain patient profiles, including lists of medications taken by individual patients.
  4. Maintain proper storage and security conditions for drugs.
  5. Receive and store incoming supplies, verify quantities against invoices, check for outdated medications in current inventory, and inform supervisors of stock needs and shortages.
  6. Answer telephones, responding to questions or requests.
  7. Assist customers by answering simple questions, locating items, or referring them to the pharmacist for medication information.
  8. Operate cash registers to accept payment from customers.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

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

Active ListeningcoreReading ComprehensioncoreSpeakingcoreCritical ThinkingSocial PerceptivenessService OrientationComplex Problem SolvingJudgment and Decision MakingActive Learning

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry, Mathematics, English Language, Computers and Electronics, Law and Government.

Tools and technology

Software pharmacy technicians use

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

  • MEDITECH softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • Billing and reimbursement softwareBilling and invoicing software
  • Compounder softwareMedical software
  • Label-making softwareLabel making software
  • Medical condition coding softwareMedical software
  • Patient record maintenance softwareMedical software
  • Pharmaceutical softwareMedical software
  • Prescription processing softwareMedical software
  • Pyxis MedStation softwareInventory management software
  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft OutlookElectronic mail softwareIn demand

Also called: Pharmacy Tech, Accredited Pharmacy Technician, Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT), Chemotherapy Pharmacy Technician (Chemo Pharmacy Technician), Compounding Technician, OR Pharmacy Tech (Operating Room Pharmacy Tech), RPhT (Registered Pharmacy Technician).

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).