Can you hear me now–then listen up to the 25 best states for audiologists. As a person who is half deaf, I have spent my share of time with audiologists–they are good people. Plus, you get to spend a lot of time in soundproof booths that feel like refrigerators, with windows. It’s not the worst thing in the world.
Audiology is the branch of medicine that deals with hearing, balance, and disorders related to them. Depending on the patient problem, they can initiate many treatments and procedures like: cleaning ear canal, teaching patient lip reading, fitting a hearing aid, etc. Also, they may ask the patient to spend some time in a soundproof booth. Being an audiologist is a very profitable profession in America, especially because there are very few practitioners in the country.
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According to United States Department of Labor, there are actually only 12,070 of these practitioners, who are all working at an average hourly wage of $37.22. Therefore the mean annual wage is $77,420. They are usually employed in hospitals, physicians’ offices, and audiology clinics. To become an audiologist you must have a doctoral degree, or an Aud.D. The doctoral degree in audiology is a four-year program, although at many universities there is a possibility to specialize in the areas such as pediatric, geriatric or educational audiology. As a kid I used to tear off my hearing aid and throw it in the garbage so pediatric audiologists really need to have patience.
Because the number of retired people in the country is increasing, and their hearing is decreasing, this sector is expecting to grow by 29% from 2014 to 2024. The baby boomer population gives ample opportunity for job growth in geriatric audiology as does longer life expectancy. This is a very small sector in America but still, it is good to know which states offer the best working conditions for this occupation. Also, if you’re interested in a larger career field be sure to check out 25 Best States for Architects.
The methodology that we use in this article requires that we first identify the states which have registered audiologists from the United States Department of Labor. Through this site, we find all usable data for this research, such as hourly and annual salary or wage data. We cross reference these numbers with Meric’s living cost index, which includes essential living costs such as health care costs, transportation costs, housing, etc. That is how we arrived at our results.
Now it’s time to see which state in the US offers the best place for an audiologist’s living and working conditions. Here is the list of best states for audiologists:
