Ultrasound Tech Salary 2026
Sonographers earn a median of $96,590 (BLS, May 2025), ranging from $67,820 to $129,370. See what moves it, and why some guides quote a different figure.
Ultrasound Tech Salary: What Sonographers Really Earn
Sonographers take home a median of $96,590 a year, which works out at $46.44 an hour. That is the May 2025 figure published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and it sits 89 percent above the $50,980 median for all US occupations.
Most of the profession is reachable on a two year associate degree. Very few careers pay this well on that entry route, and that gap is the single most important thing on this page.
- National median
- $96,590
- a year, May 2025
- Hourly equivalent
- $46.44
- at the median
- Full range
- $67,820–$129,370
- 10th to 90th percentile
The full range
- Bottom 10 percent
- Under $67,820
- First year, labs, rural
- 25th percentile
- $80,430
- Two to four years in
- Median
- $96,590
- The ultrasound technician salary most quoted
- 75th percentile
- $106,930
- A second registry, or a costly metro
- Top 10 percent
- Over $129,370
- Multiple registries, lead roles, contract work
Search ultrasound technologist salary, sonographer salary or ultrasound tech wages and you land on the same number. BLS counts the occupation once, as diagnostic medical sonographers. Expressed as ultrasound tech hourly pay, the median is $46.44.
Note how tight the middle is. The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is $26,500, while the jump from the 75th to the top tenth is $22,440. Most sonographers cluster in the middle and the money is at the edges.
What moves it
What actually moves sonographer pay
Three things, in descending order of how much difference they make.
Registries, first and by a long way
Sonography is credentialed by body system rather than by seniority. A sonographer holding one ARDMS registry is competing for one slice of the market. One holding three is competing for most of it, and departments will pay to avoid rostering two people where one would do.
Setting, which barely registers
The only setting figure BLS publishes separately for May 2025 is medical and diagnostic laboratories, at an $87,580 median. That sits about $9,000 below the national figure, which tells you labs pay least. For hospitals and outpatient imaging, BLS does not break the number out, so anyone quoting a precise hospital sonographer salary is estimating. Treat setting as a lifestyle decision rather than a pay one.
Geography, which is mostly cost of living in disguise
State medians run from $68,180 to $128,530, which looks enormous until you account for rent. The states at the top of that range are almost entirely the states where living costs most.
Ultrasound tech starting pay
Begin in the lower quarter and you are looking at roughly $67,820 to $80,430. What stands out is the floor. Even the bottom of that band clears the median wage across all US occupations, which almost no entry level clinical role manages.
The climb out is quicker than in most professions because the lever is a credential rather than a calendar. Adding a second registry is something you can do in your first few years, and it moves you further than another three years in the same scanning room will.
Does specializing pay more?
Yes, though not in the way most salary guides suggest, and the honest caveat comes first. BLS reports all sonographers as one occupation. There is no published ob gyn sonographer salary, no official vascular sonographer salary and no separate cardiac ultrasound tech salary. Any site quoting those precisely is estimating from job advert data.
The pattern is observable even where the figures are not. OB and abdominal form the broadest markets and are the most competitive to get into. Vascular and cardiac are narrower, each carries its own registry, and both are chronically hard for departments to fill. Scarcity is what lifts a rate.
The practical answer is that the second registry matters more than which one you choose. A sonographer who can cover two body systems is worth more to a department than one who covers a single niche brilliantly.
Contract rates work differently
Nothing above describes agency work. A travel ultrasound tech salary arrives as a weekly figure, and that figure is assembled from an hourly rate that gets taxed plus housing and meal money that does not.
The untaxed portion is conditional. It assumes you are maintaining a home somewhere else and paying to keep it. Take the money without that and you may be liable for it later.
Three things to establish first. The hourly rate stripped of everything else. What the stipend assumes about where you live. And how many registries the assignment demands. That last one is particular to sonography. A two registry contract prices differently from a single registry one, and the gap between them often exceeds the gap between two agencies.
Find out what a contract would pay you
Give us your registries, the body systems you scan and where you can work. We come back with a figure for your situation.
Frequently asked questions
How much do ultrasound techs make?
BLS put the sonographer median at $96,590 for May 2025, equal to $46.44 hourly. A tenth of the profession sits below $67,820 and a tenth above $129,370. Against the $50,980 median across all US occupations, sonography pays 89 percent more.
Why do salary sites quote different figures for sonographers?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes $96,590 for May 2025. Other figures circulate because some sites quote means rather than medians, some use older survey years, and at least one widely cited guide reports $97,240 for the same period. Check the year and the measure before comparing any two figures.
Is sonography worth it financially?
Sonography pays close to double the median across all US occupations and is reachable on a two year associate degree, which is a rare combination. BLS projects 14 percent growth through 2035, much faster than average. The caveat is that pay plateaus without a second registry.
Do travel sonographers earn more?
A travel week usually totals more than a staff week, though the two numbers are built from different parts. Some of a travel package is taxed hourly pay and some is untaxed housing and meal money conditional on keeping a home elsewhere. Judge it on the hourly rate, and ask how many registries the post needs.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-2032, and the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Last reviewed October 2026.