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Pharmacy Technician/Assistant

A program that prepares individuals, under the supervision of pharmacists, to prepare medications, provide medications and related assistance to patients, and manage pharmacy clinical and business operations. Includes instruction in medical and pharmaceutical terminology, principles of pharmacology and pharmaceutics, drug identification, pharmacy laboratory procedures, prescription interpretation, patient communication and education, safety procedures, record-keeping, measurement and testing techniques, pharmacy business operations, prescription preparation, logistics and dispensing operations, and applicable standards and regulations.

Types of Degrees Pharmacy Technician/Assistant Majors Are Earning

Those studying Pharmacy Technician/Assistant can earn degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Certificate	3,682
Associate’s Degree	1,189
Master’s Degree	2,581

What Pharmacy Technician/Assistant Majors Need to Know

Programs in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant build a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

According to O*NET, a major in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Customer and Personal Service — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.1 / 7.
• Medicine and Dentistry — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 3.7 / 7.
• Computers and Electronics — Importance 3.7 / 5; level 4.1 / 7.
• Mathematics — Importance 3.6 / 5; level 3.7 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

Skills emphasized by a Pharmacy Technician/Assistant program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Active Listening — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.1 / 7.
• Speaking — Importance 3.9 / 5; level 3.8 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 3.9 / 5; level 4.1 / 7.
• Critical Thinking — Importance 3.5 / 5; level 3.8 / 7.
• Active Learning — Importance 3.4 / 5; level 3.4 / 7.

Abilities

Abilities most relevant to Pharmacy Technician/Assistant careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Oral Expression — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Near Vision — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.0 / 7.
• Speech Recognition — Importance 3.7 / 5; level 3.8 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Getting Information	4.3 / 7
Working with Computers	4.3 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	4.1 / 7
Processing Information	4.0 / 7
Documenting/Recording Information	4.0 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.0 / 7
Training and Teaching Others	4.0 / 7
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events	3.9 / 7
Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards	3.9 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	3.9 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by Pharmacy Technician/Assistant professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	✓
Medical condition coding software	Medical software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Billing and reimbursement software	Billing and invoicing software	—
Label-making software	Label making software	—
Pharmacy management software	Enterprise resource planning ERP software	—
Inventory management software	Inventory management software	—
Prescription processing software	Medical software	—
Pyxis MedStation software	Inventory management software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates include:

• Pharmacy Clerk
• Accredited Pharmacy Technician
• RPhT (Registered Pharmacy Technician)
• Compounding Pharmacy Tech (Compounding Pharmacy Technician)
• Pharmacy Service Associate
• Chemotherapy Pharmacy Technician (Chemo Pharmacy Technician)
• Inpatient Pharmacy Tech (Inpatient Pharmacy Technician)
• Pharmacist Assistant
• Pharmacy Technician (Pharm Tech)
• Retail Pharmacy Tech (Retail Pharmacy Technician)
• Hospital Pharmacy Tech (Hospital Pharmacy Technician)
• Pharmacist Technician
• Pharmacy Technologist
• OR Pharmacy Tech (Operating Room Pharmacy Tech)
• Compounding Technician

What Can You Do With a Pharmacy Technician/Assistant Degree?

Graduates with a degree in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant commonly enter the following occupations:

Occupation	Job Growth	Median Salary	25th–75th Pctile
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary	10.7%	$46,663	$40,304–$53,022

^{Job-growth = projected employment change for the parent occupation. Source: ONET / BLS Employment Projections.*}

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Postsecondary certificate	29.3%
High school diploma or equivalent	24.1%
Master’s degree	11.7%
Some college courses	9.9%
Doctoral degree	8.1%
Bachelor’s degree	6.7%
Post-doctoral training	6.2%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	4.1%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant?

Gender Distribution

This field skews predominantly female, with women earning 81.6% of Pharmacy Technician/Assistant degrees.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	6,156	81.6%
Men	1,385	18.4%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	1,714	22.7%
Asian	432	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3,098	41.1%
Black or African American	1,375	18.2%
American Indian / Alaska Native	88	1.2%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander	38	0.5%
Two or More Races	250	3.3%
Race Unknown	514	6.8%
International Students	32	0.4%

^{See minority definition below.}

How Much Do Pharmacy Technician/Assistant Graduates Earn?

College Scorecard reports median earnings of Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates 1, 4, and 5 years after completion. Wages typically rise steadily as graduates gain experience and move into mid-career roles.

Years Out	Median Earnings
1 year	$27,434
4 years	$29,082
5 years	$32,352

By year 5 out, median earnings rise to $32,352 — roughly 18% above the 1-year mark.

^{Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings tracker.}

Online Pharmacy Technician/Assistant Programs

Online study are documented by IPEDS for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. The table below shows how many graduates earned at least some of their coursework online (Distance-Ed Available) versus completing the entire program online (Distance-Ed Only).

Award Level	Distance-Ed Available	Distance-Ed Only
Associate’s	9	7

^{Distance-Ed Only = degrees completed entirely online; Distance-Ed Available = degrees including at least some online coursework. Source: IPEDS Completions by Distance Education status.}

Is a Degree in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant Worth It?

On the earnings side, the federal earnings tracker, Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates earn a median of $29,082 four years after completion — about 23% below the national median for workers with only a high school diploma (~$38,000). On earnings alone, this program does not show an income premium over the baseline; non-financial outcomes (career interests, certification requirements, advancement potential) are typically the stronger argument for fields in this range.

^{ROI estimate compares the program’s 4-yr median earnings against the 2023 BLS CPS median earnings for high-school-only workers. Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard + BLS Current Population Survey.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	Annual Degrees Awarded
Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services	80,693
Medical/Clinical Assistant	52,819
Physical Therapy Assistant	5,633
Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services, Other	4,065
Occupational Therapist Assistant	3,178
Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions, Other	2,445
Radiologist Assistant	1,513
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Assistant	614
Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant	431
Anesthesiologist Assistant	423
Speech-Language Pathology Assistant	363
Advanced General Dentistry	238

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.