Patient Care Technician Hourly Pay & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 8,483 US job postings by 606 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for patient care technicians: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 8,483 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for patient care technicians in US job postings is $22.05 an hour (1,515 postings from 145 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $20.00 to $24.34 an hour.
- Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $23.17 an hour (595 postings).
- The skills that most set patient care technician postings apart are phlebotomy, ekgs.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 1 year of experience.
Patient Care Technician job postings in the US, October 2026
- $22.05/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,515 postings)
- $20.00–$24.34
- Middle 50% of postings
- $23.17/hr
- Starting pay (postings asking up to 1 year)
- 8,483
- US job postings from 606 employers
How much does a patient care technician make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $22.05 an hour, from 1,515 US job postings by 145 employers that state pay. That is about $46,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,515 US patient care technician job postings: median $46,000 a year ($22.05 an hour), middle half $42,000 to $51,000.
- Median: $46,000 ($22.05/hr)
- 25th percentile: $42,000
- 75th percentile: $51,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 0.4% |
| $30K–$40K | 17.3% |
| $40K–$50K | 53.9% |
| $50K–$60K | 20.8% |
| $60K–$70K | 7.2% |
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 | $22.05 | $20.00–$24.34 | 928 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $46,000 | $42K–$51K | 1,515 |
What is the starting salary for a patient care technician?
Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $23.17 an hour (595 postings).
| Experience asked | Median advertised pay | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 years | $23.17/hr | 595 |
| 2-4 years | withheld | 56 |
| 5+ years | withheld | 16 |
Highest-paying patient care technician jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient Care Assistant | $23.44/hr | 364 | 33 |
| Patient Care Technician (general) | $22.00/hr | 845 | 86 |
Patient care technician pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $23.91/hr | $21.12–$27.68 | 237 | 6.6% |
| New Jersey | $20.23/hr | $18.00–$24.37 | 152 | 7.4% |
Skills employers ask for in patient care technician job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 28% |
| Phlebotomy | 16% |
| Interpersonal skills | 13% |
| Customer service | 10% |
| Medical terminology | 7% |
| Teamwork | 7% |
| Organizational skills | 7% |
| Ekgs | 6% |
| Compassion | 6% |
| Ekg | 5% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set patient care technicians apart
- Phlebotomy51.5× as often as in all postings · 16%
- Ekgs40.2× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Ekg47.3× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Medical terminology12.8× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Compassion6.8× as often as in all postings · 6%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a patient care technician job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a patient care technician do?
Employers post these jobs as Patient Care Tech, Patient Care Assistant, Emergency Department Technician, Patient Care Associate, Dialysis Technician and other titles. The largest specializations are Emergency Department Technician (8%), Patient Care Assistant (19%), Dialysis Technician (3%), Monitor Technician (1%), Transporter (under 1%), Clinical Technician (2%).
The closest official occupation is Nursing Assistants (31-1131.00). Its most important tasks:
- Turn or reposition bedridden patients.
- Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs.
- Feed patients or assist patients to eat or drink.
- Measure and record food and liquid intake or urinary and fecal output, reporting changes to medical or nursing staff.
- Provide physical support to assist patients to perform daily living activities, such as getting out of bed, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, standing, walking, or exercising.
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 a patient care technician?
Among 1,003 postings that state a minimum, the median is 1 year. 7% say 0 years and 77% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,003 US patient care technician job postings: median 1 year, and 77% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 16% |
| 1 yr | 61% |
| 2 yrs | 18% |
| 3-4 yrs | 3% |
| 5-7 yrs | 2% |
| 8-9 yrs | 0% |
| 10+ yrs | under 1% |
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.
Full-time 72%, Part-time 28% of the 653 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a patient care technician: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Patient Care Technician | 184 (30.4%) |
| Patient Care Tech | 119 (19.6%) |
| Patient Care Assistant | 87 (14.4%) |
| Emergency Department Technician | 70 (11.6%) |
| Patient Care Associate | 42 (6.9%) |
| Dialysis Technician | 35 (5.8%) |
| Emergency Room Technician | 29 (4.8%) |
| Nurse Technician | 25 (4.1%) |
| ED Technician | 25 (4.1%) |
| ER Tech | 23 (3.8%) |
| Nurse Tech | 20 (3.3%) |
| Emergency Department Tech | 17 (2.8%) |
| Patient Care Technician (PCT) | 16 (2.6%) |
| Patient Care Technician II | 15 (2.5%) |
| Patient Care Technician I | 14 (2.3%) |
| ER Technician | 14 (2.3%) |
| EMERGENCY ROOM TECH | 12 (2.0%) |
| Telemetry Tech | 12 (2.0%) |
| Monitor Tech | 12 (2.0%) |
| Emergency Dept Tech | 11 (1.8%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Patient care technician job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient Care Tech | 825 | 119 | – | – | communication, customer service, interpersonal skills |
Patient Care Technician compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient Care Technician | $22.05/hr | 1 year | 8,483 | – |
| Medical Assistant | $23.00/hr | 1 year | 22,021 | 17 |
| Phlebotomist | $22.50/hr | 1 year | 8,028 | 17 |
| Medical Laboratory Scientist | $37.86/hr | 1 year | 6,314 | 13 |
| Emergency Medical Technician | $26.00/hr | 2 years | 5,134 | 10 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Assistant | 17 | $23.00/hr |
| Phlebotomist | 17 | $22.50/hr |
| Medical Laboratory Scientist | 13 | $37.86/hr |
| Emergency Medical Technician | 10 | $26.00/hr |
| Clinical Research Coordinator | 12 | $79K |
| Licensed Practical Nurse | 14 | $32.65/hr |
Applying for patient care technician jobs?
- Patient care technician 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 patient care technician jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a patient care technician make an hour?
What is the starting salary for a patient care technician?
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 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 18 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.