Rad Tech Salary 2026
Rad techs earn a median of $80,110 (BLS, May 2025), from $55,980 to $118,660. Hospitals pay less than outpatient, and adding a modality is worth $15,370.
Rad Tech Salary: What Radiologic Technologists Earn
Radiologic technologists sit at an $80,110 median, $38.52 an hour, in BLS data for May 2025. The figure covering every US occupation is $50,980, so radiography runs 57 percent ahead of it.
Two things on this page will be new to most rad techs. Hospitals pay less than outpatient imaging despite employing most of the profession, and adding a modality is worth more than a decade of experience.
The Full Range
- Bottom 10 percent
- Under $55,980
- Where rad tech starting salary sits in year one
- 25th percentile
- $64,810
- A few years in, general radiography
- Median
- $80,110
- The radiology technologist salary most quoted
- 75th percentile
- $98,750
- A second modality, or an expensive state
- Top 10 percent
- Over $118,660
- Multiple modalities, interventional, lead roles, contract
Rad tech salary, xray tech salary and radiography technologist salary all point at the same figure. BLS counts the occupation once, as radiologic technologists and technicians. As xray tech hourly pay the median is $38.52.
The mean runs higher than the median at $83,840, which means the upper end is pulling. On this page the pulling is done by modality and by contract work.
Setting
Most Rad Techs Work in the Lowest Paying Setting
- Federal government
- $93,970
- Highest median, smallest share of jobs
- Outpatient care centers
- $81,000
- Weekday hours, no overnight call
- Hospitals
- $78,560
- Around 60 percent of the profession works here
- The gap
- $2,440
- Between hospitals and outpatient, in outpatient's favor
That is the opposite of what most people assume. Hospitals carry the acuity, the overnight rota and the weekend cover, and they pay below the outpatient centers that do none of it.
The gap is only $2,440, so this is not a reason to leave acute work if you want it. But if you are weighing an outpatient offer against a hospital one and assuming the hospital pays more, check.
Adding a Modality Beats Adding Years
BLS reports MRI technologists separately from radiographers, which makes the comparison unusually clean. The MRI median is $95,480 against $80,110 for radiologic technologists. That is a $15,370 difference for the same base registration plus one post primary credential — the MRI technologist pay page has the full spread.
For context, moving from the median to the 75th percentile is worth $18,640. A modality gets you most of that distance, and it is something you can do in a year or two rather than waiting a decade.
CT follows the same logic though BLS does not publish it separately, so any precise CT figure you see is an estimate. What is reliable is that cross trained technologists cover two rota gaps with one person, and departments price accordingly.
Interventional Radiology and Certification
Interventional radiology tech salary is one of the most searched specialty questions in imaging, and the honest answer starts with a caveat. BLS does not break interventional radiology out from radiography, so no official IR median exists and any precise figure quoted elsewhere is estimated from job adverts.
What can be said is that IR work carries call rotas, longer cases and a smaller pool of technologists willing to do it, and all three of those push a rate up rather than down.
Certification works on access rather than rate. There is no published radiology technician certificate salary either, but an uncertified technologist faces a far shorter list of open posts, and contract work almost always names ARRT registration as a condition.
How Contract Rates Differ
Nothing above applies to agency work. A weekly contract figure is two things bolted together: an hourly rate the taxman sees, and housing and meal money he does not. The second part only holds if you are genuinely keeping a home somewhere else.
Imaging adds two further variables. How many modalities the post covers, because radiography plus CT prices differently from radiography alone. And whether call is folded into the rate or paid separately.
Get the hourly rate on its own before you compare anything to a salary.
See what a contract would pay you
Send over your modalities, your state licenses and the places you can work. A real figure comes back, not an average.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do radiologic technologists make?
$80,110 a year is the BLS median for May 2025, which comes to $38.52 hourly. A tenth of rad techs sit below $55,980 and a tenth above $118,660. The profession runs 57 percent clear of the $50,980 median for all US occupations.
Do hospitals pay rad techs more than outpatient centers?
Outpatient care centers pay slightly more than hospitals, at an $81,000 median against $78,560 on May 2025 BLS data. Around 60 percent of radiologic technologists work in hospitals, so most of the profession is in the lower paying of the two. The gap is $2,440.
How much more do MRI techs earn?
Around $15,370 more, on May 2025 BLS figures: $95,480 for MRI technologists against $80,110 for radiography. The route there is a post primary credential rather than seniority, which is why experienced radiographers often out earn colleagues who have been qualified longer.
Which states pay rad techs the most?
California leads at a $121,260 median, with Massachusetts at $103,620 and the District of Columbia at $102,770, on May 2025 BLS data. All three carry high living costs, so the real gain is smaller than the ranking implies.
Figures: BLS OEWS May 2025, codes 29-2034 and 29-2035, with the Occupational Outlook Handbook. All linked above. Last reviewed October 2026.