Medical Coding Salaries

We'll compare medical coding salaries from two different sources, the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and PayScale.

U. S. Bureau of Labor
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the salary range for medical coders is between $20,850 and $51,510. The Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook classifies medical coders as Medical Records and Health Information Technicians. These estimates are from the 2010-2011 edition of the Occupational Outlook. This data provides a good look at salaries by employer and industry.

Unfortunately the Occupational Outlook does not distinguish medical coding salaries from the medical billing salary as it considers both to be medical records and health information technicians. They kind of lump everything together into what is more like medical billing coding salaries. However I would expect the medical coding salary to be on the higher end of this data. This is because medical coders typically require some training and many are certified which results in better pay.

Type of Employer
A breakdown by type of employer shows that hospitals are the largest employers, followed by physician offices, nursing care facilities, outpatient care centers, and the federal branch of government. The average wage by employer is:

• Hospitals: $35,870
• Physicians Office: $28,460
• Nursing Care Facilities: $33,100
• Outpatient Care Centers: $30,650
• Federal Government: $45,120

Size Matters
As you can see there's a big disparity between physician's offices and hospitals. Larger employers such as hospitals and nursing care facilities are on the higher end of the range for medical coders. The higher salaries would tend to reflect this.

They are also more likely to offer better benefits than smaller employers - which most physicians offices would tend to be classified as. Larger employers such as hospitals do typically have more stringent certification, education, and experience requirements than a physician's office would.

Type of Industry
Another interesting statistic for medical coding salaries is the pay by industry. According the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, following are the top five paying industries followed by average annual salary:

• Pharmaceutical: $61,210
• Business, Professional, Labor, or Political Organizations: $ 45,850
• Federal Government: $45,120
• Other Support Services: $44,270
• Scientific Research and Development: $42,050

What we can learn from this data is larger employers, pharmaceutical, and professional/political employers pay the highest medical coding salary. But keep in mind these employers also are more likely to have higher standards for certification, education, and experience.

AAPC Medical Coding Salaries Survey
Probably one of the best sources of medical coding salary information is the American Academy of Professional Coder (AAPC). They conduct an annual survey of member that gives a very accurate picture of medical coding salaries. Here’s a summary of the latest survey:

Overall the average salary for medical coders is $45,404 for certified and $37,746 for non-certified coders. As you can see a medical coding certificate adds over $7,600 on average to the annual salary. That’s an investment that pays for itself very quickly.

Years of Experience
For a certified coder, the salary range is $34,551 for one year to $53,669 for 25 plus years of experience.

Non-certified coders very from $30,175 starting to $47,805 for 25 plus years of experience.

Workplace Size
In general larger employers pay better; Hospitals average between $45,005 and $47,848 for a certified coder. Large employers in general average $45,480 for certified coder.

The lowest paying workplace is Home Health at $37,965 and Long Term Car facilities at $39,881. Non-certified coders earn about 10% to 15% less.

Geographic Differences
Which part of the United States you work in affects medical coding salaries also:

• Northeast averages $46,643
• Midwest averages $41,235
• South averages $41,863
• West averages $48,150

As the American Academy of Professional Coders data shows, medical coding salaries are still holding up well despite a challenging economy and job outlook in general for other professions. The survey results summarized above were complied from over 10,000 coders.

Source: AAPC

PayScale Salary Data
Here’s the range for Medical Coding Specialist Salary:

Median Hourly Rate by Years Experience - Job: Medical Records Coder (United States)

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This is according to PayScale.com. This translates into a range from $25,230 a year to $40,144 per year with a mid-point about $32,700. The pay ranges reflected in this data is a national average and can vary widely.

The range of salary is dependent on:

• Years of experience
• Location (City or rural area)
• Geographic area (Northwest, Southeast, Pacific, etc.)
• Size of employer – Hospital or small practice
• Training

If you are changing jobs, this kind of information is helpful to get an idea of your market value before negotiating. You like to try to get at least 10% more than your current salary when changing jobs. Of course if you're miserable in your current job or can't stand the working conditions, money may not be as big of a factor.

For comparison let’s compare to the salary ranges of other medical office occupations:

Median Hourly Rate by Job - Industry: Medical Office (United States)

Compare your salary: Get a free Salary Report

Salary Data Varies
In researching the salary range for medical coders, I noticed it can vary widely depending on the source. According to to the job search site Indeed, the average salary range for medical coders is $42,000 a year. This works out to about $20.19/hour which is higher than the Department of Labor and PayScale data above.

So use this data to get a general idea of the range to expect for medical coding salaries.

Medical Billing and Coding Jobs from Home?
If you have the drive, entrepreneurial spirit, and good business sense you can earn a lot more starting a medical billing business – that’s what I did. I’ll be honest – it’s a lot of hard work, but it’s also very rewarding. My business provides both coding and billing.

The benefits are:

• Set your own hours
• Control your salary by how hard you work
• Satisfaction of creating a successful business
• Work from home

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