Pharmacists
Health ScienceO*NET 29-1051.00United States
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.
- Median annual earnings
- $140,427
- Projected change
- +7.3%
- Typical education
- Doctoral degree or more
- Employment
- 326.4K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
83.4% of the workforce
Growing to 350.07K by 2035
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These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What pharmacists do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
- Assess the identity, strength, or purity of medications.
- Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage, and proper medication storage.
- Analyze prescribing trends to monitor patient compliance and to prevent excessive usage or harmful interactions.
- Maintain records, such as pharmacy files, patient profiles, charge system files, inventories, control records for radioactive nuclei, or registries of poisons, narcotics, or controlled drugs.
- Collaborate with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, or evaluate the quality or effectiveness of drugs or drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications or characteristics.
- Order and purchase pharmaceutical supplies, medical supplies, or drugs, maintaining stock and storing and handling it properly.
- Plan, implement, or maintain procedures for mixing, packaging, or labeling pharmaceuticals, according to policy and legal requirements, to ensure quality, security, and proper disposal.
- Compound and dispense medications as prescribed by doctors and dentists, by calculating, weighing, measuring, and mixing ingredients, or oversee these activities.
- Contact insurance companies to resolve billing issues.
- Advise customers on the selection of medication brands, medical equipment, or healthcare supplies.
- Teach pharmacy students serving as interns in preparation for their graduation or licensure.
- Provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure.
- Refer patients to other health professionals or agencies when appropriate.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $98,213
- 25th percentile
- $128,476
- 50th percentile
- $140,427
- 75th percentile
- $162,259
- 90th percentile
- $176,855
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $140,427 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+7.3%faster than average
2025326,395 jobs
2035 projected350,066 jobs
23,671 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Doctoral degree or more
- 83.4%
- Bachelor's degree
- 11.5%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 3.4%
- High school diploma or less
- 1.8%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Pharmacists27,671 postings
- 02Staff Pharmacists12,308 postings
- 03Clinical Pharmacists7,203 postings
- 04Pharmacy Managers/Pharmacists3,117 postings
- 05District Pharmacy Supervisors2,820 postings
- 06Float Pharmacists1,844 postings
- 07Inpatient Pharmacists1,844 postings
- 08Travel Pharmacists1,488 postings
- 09Pharmacists-in-Charge1,460 postings
- 10Pharmacy Residents951 postings
- 11Outpatient Pharmacists887 postings
- 12Lead Pharmacists870 postings
- 13Long Term Care Pharmacists865 postings
- 14Registered Pharmacists833 postings
- 15Specialty Pharmacists772 postings
- 16Night Pharmacists754 postings
- 17Clinical Staff Pharmacists736 postings
- 18Inpatient Clinical Pharmacists721 postings
- 19Clinical Pharmacy Specialists697 postings
- 20Hospital Pharmacists683 postings
Top employers
- 01Walgreens Boots Alliance10,278 postings
- 02CVS Health9,963 postings
- 03Soliant Health6,809 postings
- 04Walmart4,014 postings
- 05Kroger1,823 postings
- 06Costco1,574 postings
- 07UnitedHealth Group964 postings
- 08Kroger Health838 postings
- 09Actalent729 postings
- 10Aya Healthcare695 postings
- 11HCA Healthcare684 postings
- 12Albertsons660 postings
- 13Jt Medstaff606 postings
- 14Optum602 postings
- 15Cardinal Health516 postings
- 16Intermountain Health458 postings
- 17Alliance For Pharmacy Compounding451 postings
- 18Prime Therapeutics390 postings
- 19BrightSpring Health Services350 postings
- 20Encompass Health343 postings
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