Sterile Processing Technician Hourly Pay (2026 Data)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 2,241 US job postings by 459 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for sterile processing technicians: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 2,241 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for sterile processing technicians in US job postings is $26.00 an hour (302 postings from 115 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $22.87 to $30.13 an hour.
- The skills that most set sterile processing technician postings apart are sterile processing, decontamination, sterilization.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 1 year of experience.
Sterile Processing Technician job postings in the US, October 2026
- $26.00/hr
- Median advertised pay (302 postings)
- $22.87–$30.13
- Middle 50% of postings
- 2,241
- US job postings from 459 employers
- 1 year
- Median experience asked
How much does a sterile processing technician make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $26.00 an hour, from 302 US job postings by 115 employers that state pay. That is about $55,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 302 US sterile processing technician job postings: median $55,000 a year ($26.00 an hour), middle half $48,000 to $64,000.
- Median: $55,000 ($26.00/hr)
- 25th percentile: $48,000
- 75th percentile: $64,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $30K–$40K | 5.3% |
| $40K–$50K | 28.5% |
| $50K–$60K | 33.4% |
| $60K–$70K | 13.9% |
| $70K–$80K | 12.6% |
| $80K–$90K | 3.0% |
| $90K–$100K | 2.3% |
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 | $26.00 | $22.87–$30.13 | 288 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $55,000 | $48K–$64K | 302 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Medical Equipment Preparers (31-9093) at $48,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for a sterile processing technician?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying sterile processing technician jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sterile Processing Technician (general) | $26.00/hr | 273 | 104 |
Skills employers ask for in sterile processing technician job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 20% |
| Attention to detail | 13% |
| Sterile processing | 11% |
| Organizational skills | 9% |
| Sterilization | 9% |
| Decontamination | 9% |
| Customer service | 9% |
| Interpersonal skills | 8% |
| Infection control | 7% |
| Problem-solving | 6% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set sterile processing technicians apart
- Sterile processing771.7× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Decontamination589.1× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Sterilization199.3× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Surgical instrumentation455.4× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Infection control21× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Medical terminology9.2× as often as in all postings · 5%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a sterile processing technician job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a sterile processing technician do?
Employers post these jobs as Sterile Processing Tech, Sterilization Technician, Certified Sterile Processing Technician, Sterile Processing Supervisor, Sterile Processing Tech II and other titles.
The closest official occupation is Medical Equipment Preparers (31-9093.00). Its most important tasks:
- Examine equipment to detect leaks, worn or loose parts, or other indications of disrepair.
- Check sterile supplies to ensure that they are not outdated.
- Record sterilizer test results.
- Organize and assemble routine or specialty surgical instrument trays or other sterilized supplies, filling special requests as needed.
- Operate and maintain steam autoclaves, keeping records of loads completed, items in loads, and maintenance procedures performed.
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 sterile processing technician?
Among 677 postings that state a minimum, the median is 1 year. 1% say 0 years and 52% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 677 US sterile processing technician job postings: median 1 year, and 52% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 4% |
| 1 yr | 49% |
| 2 yrs | 31% |
| 3-4 yrs | 13% |
| 5-7 yrs | 5% |
| 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 a sterile processing technician: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Sterile Processing Technician | 158 (34.4%) |
| Sterile Processing Tech | 78 (17.0%) |
| Sterilization Technician | 35 (7.6%) |
| Certified Sterile Processing Technician | 32 (7.0%) |
| Sterile Processing Supervisor | 31 (6.8%) |
| Sterile Processing Tech II | 25 (5.5%) |
| Sterile Processing Technician II | 24 (5.2%) |
| Central Sterile Technician | 21 (4.6%) |
| Sterile Processing Tech I | 19 (4.1%) |
| Certified Sterile Processing Tech | 17 (3.7%) |
| Sterile Processing Manager | 16 (3.5%) |
| Central Sterile Tech | 14 (3.0%) |
| Sterile Processing Technician I | 14 (3.0%) |
| Dental Sterilization Technician | 13 (2.8%) |
| Sterile Processing Coordinator | 10 (2.2%) |
| Sterile Processing Educator | 10 (2.2%) |
| Sterile Processing Technician Certified | 9 (2.0%) |
| Sterile Process Tech | 9 (2.0%) |
| Supervisor Sterile Processing | 9 (2.0%) |
| Sterile Processing Technician III | 9 (2.0%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Sterile Processing Technician compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterile Processing Technician | $26.00/hr | 1 year | 2,241 | – |
| Surgical Technologist | $35.17/hr | 1 year | 5,504 | 15 |
| Pharmacy Technician | $23.66/hr | 1 year | 23,772 | 17 |
| Dental Assistant | $24.00/hr | 1 year | 8,639 | 11 |
| Laboratory Technician | $22.84/hr | 2 years | 3,224 | 18 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Surgical Technologist | 15 | $35.17/hr |
| Pharmacy Technician | 17 | $23.66/hr |
| Dental Assistant | 11 | $24.00/hr |
| Laboratory Technician | 18 | $22.84/hr |
| Patient Services Representative | 15 | $21.50/hr |
| Neurodiagnostic Technologist | 15 | – |
Applying for sterile processing technician jobs?
- Sterile processing 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 sterile processing technician 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 38 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 36 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.