Pharmacists

SOC 29-1051 · 2024-2034

Dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use. May advise physicians and other health practitioners on the selection, dosage, interactions, and side effects of medications.

How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.

The job this trains for

Typical pay in California: $169,218per year
Projected openings: 16,170
Projected change: +8.4%
Usually needs: Doctoral or professional degree

Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Rapid Growth

The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.

Skills this work uses most

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.

Speaking
Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
Monitoring
Writing
Critical Thinking

Pay by region

Region	Typical pay in California	Projected openings
Napa MSA (Napa County)	$209,493	70
Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties)	$201,805	1,080
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties)	$201,584	970
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)	$187,948	740
Vallejo MSA (Solano County)	$182,355	160
Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County)	$179,561	140
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties)	$178,226	1,190
Chico MSA (Butte County)	$175,853	80
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County)	$175,113	110
Salinas MSA (Monterey County)	$173,644	110
San Rafael MD (Marin County)	$173,180	100
North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties)	$172,473	60
Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties)	$171,580	40
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County)	$170,316	120
North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties)	$169,638	80
Visalia MSA (Tulare County)	$169,320	120
Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties)	$168,991	460
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County)	$168,313	1,290
Redding MSA (Shasta County)	$168,221	60
Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County)	$167,050	60
Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County)	$166,752	290
El Centro MSA (Imperial County)	$165,961	40
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)	$165,006	1,760
Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties)	$164,050	70
Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County)	$163,866	40
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County)	$163,647	4,470
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County)	$163,352	300
Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County)	$162,325	220
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)	$158,827	1,340
Merced MSA (Merced County)	$157,251	30
Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County)	$157,251	170

Similar work

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.

The job this trains for	Typical pay in California	Projected openings	Projected change
Emergency Medicine Physicians	Not reported	1,730	+10.9%
Nurse Practitioners	$173,237	26,610	+52.2%
Registered Nurses	$144,197	228,840	+13.5%
Physician Assistants	$170,287	11,040	+26.7%
General Internal Medicine Physicians	$322,677	2,360	+9%
Physicians, All Other	$289,473	9,800	+9.5%

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