Earnings for chiropractors who are just starting out can be significantly lower due to a smaller practice.
Chiropractors must earn a bachelor's degree, then enter a graduate chiropractor program that lasts four years. After graduation, a chiropractor must pass both national and state licensing exams before beginning to work on patients. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that chiropractors tend to earn less when they start out, since many are self-employed, with earnings increasing over time as a chiropractor's individual practice grows.
National Figures
As of May of 2009, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 26,310 chiropractors employed in the United States earned a mean annual income of $80,390 and a median income of $67,650. The top ten percent of chiropractors in the country earned $150,570 or more annually, while the seventy-fifth percentile earned $97,110 annually. The twenty-fifth percentile of chiropractors brought in an annual income of $46,400 while the bottom ten percent earned $32,750 or less.
Top Industries for Pay
Physician's offices provided the highest level of mean pay for chiropractors nationally, totaling $93,450. The outpatient care centers industry paid the second-highest mean salary of $85,930 to chiropractors. Third on the list were colleges, universities and professional schools, with a mean annual income of $81,570. Chiropractors who worked in the offices of other health practitioners earned the fourth-highest mean salary of $79,870, while those who were in the general medical and surgical hospitals industry earned the fifth-highest mean salary of $69,290.
Top Five States
The top state in the country for annual income was Tennessee, where chiropractors earned a mean of $112,060. Those working in the state of Delaware earned the second-highest mean salary of $111,190. Chiropractors in North Carolina earned the third-highest mean salary in the nation, totaling $109,240. Fourth in the nation was Nevada, where chiropractors earned a mean of $103,430 for the year. Chiropractors in the state of Wisconsin earned the fifth-highest mean salary of $102,030.
Top Five Cities
The top metropolitan area for chiropractors' salaries was the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord area in North and South Carolina, where chiropractors earned $138,320 in a year's time. Second in the nation was the Cincinnati-Middleton metropolitan area in the states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana with a mean salary of $129,670. Chiropractors who worked in the Indianapolis-Carmel area in Indiana earned a mean income of $128,150, putting the area third on the list. Fourth place went to the Orlando-Kissimmee metropolitan area of Florida, where chiropractors earned a mean of $126,470. Fifth in the nation was the Chattanooga metropolitan area in Tennessee and Georgia.
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