Interpreter Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 2,213 US job postings by 650 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for interpreters: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 2,213 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for interpreters in US job postings is $33.38 an hour (437 postings from 136 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $25.92 to $42.50 an hour.
- The skills that most set interpreter postings apart are confidentiality, deaf culture, asl.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Interpreter job postings in the US, October 2026
- $33.38/hr
- Median advertised pay (437 postings)
- $25.92–$42.50
- Middle 50% of postings
- 2,213
- US job postings from 650 employers
- 2 years
- Median experience asked
How much does an interpreter make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $33.38 an hour, from 437 US job postings by 136 employers that state pay. That is about $73,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 437 US interpreter job postings: median $73,000 a year ($33.38 an hour), middle half $54,000 to $95,000.
- Median: $73,000 ($33.38/hr)
- 25th percentile: $54,000
- 75th percentile: $95,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 0.6% |
| $30K–$40K | 6.1% |
| $40K–$50K | 11.0% |
| $50K–$60K | 18.8% |
| $60K–$70K | 10.7% |
| $70K–$80K | 10.7% |
| $80K–$90K | 11.3% |
| $90K–$100K | 9.9% |
| $100K–$110K | 5.5% |
| $110K–$120K | 5.5% |
| $120K–$130K | 0.9% |
| $130K–$140K | 5.8% |
| $140K–$150K | 0.6% |
| $150K–$160K | 0.6% |
| $170K–$180K | 1.7% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $33.38 | $25.92–$42.50 | 277 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $73,000 | $54K–$95K | 437 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Interpreters and Translators (27-3091) at $60,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for an interpreter?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Skills employers ask for in interpreter job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 25% |
| Interpersonal skills | 16% |
| Confidentiality | 13% |
| Professionalism | 12% |
| Customer service | 10% |
| Microsoft Office | 8% |
| Organizational skills | 8% |
| Attention to detail | 7% |
| Medical terminology | 6% |
| Excel | 6% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set interpreters apart
- Confidentiality9× as often as in all postings · 13%
- Medical terminology11.4× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Professionalism3.5× as often as in all postings · 12%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a interpreter job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does an interpreter do?
Employers post these jobs as Sign Language Interpreter, Translator, Educational Interpreter, ASL Interpreter, Medical Interpreter and other titles. The largest specializations are Sign Language Interpreter (39%).
The closest official occupation is Interpreters and Translators (27-3091.00). Its most important tasks:
- Follow ethical codes that protect the confidentiality of information.
- Translate messages simultaneously or consecutively into specified languages, orally or by using hand signs, maintaining message content, context, and style as much as possible.
- Listen to speakers' statements to determine meanings and to prepare translations, using electronic listening systems as necessary.
- Compile terminology and information to be used in translations, including technical terms such as those for legal or medical material.
- Refer to reference materials, such as dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, and computerized terminology banks, as needed to ensure translation accuracy.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be an interpreter?
Among 466 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. Under 1% say 0 years and 37% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 466 US interpreter job postings: median 2 years, and 37% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 2% |
| 1 yr | 35% |
| 2 yrs | 34% |
| 3-4 yrs | 20% |
| 5-7 yrs | 9% |
| 8-9 yrs | 0% |
| 10+ yrs | 0% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for an interpreter: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Sign Language Interpreter | 110 (16.9%) |
| Translator | 77 (11.8%) |
| Educational Interpreter | 60 (9.2%) |
| ASL Interpreter | 50 (7.7%) |
| Medical Interpreter | 42 (6.5%) |
| Interpreter | 39 (6.0%) |
| Court Interpreter | 36 (5.5%) |
| Spanish Interpreter | 31 (4.8%) |
| American Sign Language Interpreter | 31 (4.8%) |
| Educational Sign Language Interpreter | 30 (4.6%) |
| Interpreter/Translator | 29 (4.5%) |
| Interpreter for the Deaf | 17 (2.6%) |
| Spanish Medical Interpreter | 14 (2.1%) |
| Staff Interpreter | 13 (2.0%) |
| Vietnamese Interpreter | 12 (1.8%) |
| Language Interpreter | 11 (1.7%) |
| Certified Interpreter | 9 (1.4%) |
| Korean Interpreter | 9 (1.4%) |
| Spanish Translator | 9 (1.4%) |
| Substitute Sign Language Interpreter | 8 (1.2%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Interpreter compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interpreter | $33.38/hr | 2 years | 2,213 | – |
| Court Clerk | – | 1 year | 716 | 16 |
| Patient Services Representative | $21.50/hr | 1 year | 14,137 | 15 |
| Administrative Assistant | $21.50/hr | 2 years | 14,117 | 15 |
| Customer Service Representative | $19.00/hr | 1 year | 33,817 | 15 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Court Clerk | 16 | – |
| Patient Services Representative | 15 | $21.50/hr |
| Administrative Assistant | 15 | $21.50/hr |
| Customer Service Representative | 15 | $19.00/hr |
| Paraprofessional | 13 | $18.50/hr |
| Academic Advisor | 16 | – |
Applying for interpreter jobs?
- Interpreter resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find interpreter jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 36 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 34 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.