Pharmacy Technician/Assistant Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Pharmacy Technician/Assistant maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 3,669 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median in-state published tuition is about $4,718.
Key Statistics
Pharmacy Technician/Assistant: what the data shows
Common questions about pharmacy technician/assistant degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a pharmacy technician/assistant degree?
A Pharmacy Technician/Assistant program is classified under NCES CIP 51.0805 in the Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services field family (51.08).
A program that prepares individuals, under the supervision of pharmacists, to prepare medications, provide medications and related assistance to patients, and manage pharmacy clinical and business operations. Includes instruction in medical and pharmaceutical terminology, principles of pharmacology and pharmaceutics, drug identification, pharmacy laboratory procedures, prescription interpretation, patient communication and education, safety procedures, record-keeping, measurement and testing techniques, pharmacy business operations, prescription preparation, logistics and dispensing operations, and applicable standards and regulations
IPEDS counted 7,541 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of pharmacy technician/assistant degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 51.08 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Anesthesiologist Assistant (CIP 51.0809)
- Chiropractic Technician/Assistant (CIP 51.0813)
- Clinical/Medical Laboratory Assistant (CIP 51.0802)
- Emergency Care Attendant (EMT Ambulance) (CIP 51.0810)
- Lactation Consultant (CIP 51.0815)
- Medical/Clinical Assistant (CIP 51.0801)
- Occupational Therapist Assistant (CIP 51.0803)
- Pathology/Pathologist Assistant (CIP 51.0811)
- Physical Therapy Assistant (CIP 51.0806)
- Radiologist Assistant (CIP 51.0814)
- Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant (CIP 51.0812)
- Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (CIP 51.0816)
How long does it take to get a pharmacy technician/assistant degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.0805 in our file:
- 1,189 Associate (19.6% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 3,669 Bachelor's (60.5% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 1,189 Master's (19.6% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 13 Doctorate (0.2% of IPEDS total)—varies by program
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What do you learn in pharmacy technician/assistant?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Writing, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Teachers, Postsecondary (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%). Bachelor's awards account for a majority of IPEDS completions for CIP 51.0805, but occupation data show multiple pathways.
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a pharmacy technician/assistant degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Pharmacy Technician/Assistant to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | 1,500,000 | — |
| Secondary School Teachers | 1,072,540 | $64,580 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a pharmacy technician/assistant degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services bachelor's program family: median debt $32,031, median earnings $68,559 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.97.
About 4.5% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $4,718 and median net price is $11,972.
We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$4,718 Median In-State Public
$16,346 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant majors are, on average, $4,718 for in-state public colleges, and $16,346 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
7,541 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Phoenix-Arizona | AZ | 85,991 |
| 2 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 3 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 4 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 58,267 |
| 5 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 58,267 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Pharmacy Technician/Assistant programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barstow Community College | CA | $1,104 |
| 2 | Antelope Valley Community College District | CA | $1,124 |
| 3 | Antelope Valley Community College District | CA | $1,124 |
| 4 | Lake Tahoe Community College | CA | $1,131 |
| 5 | Lake Tahoe Community College | CA | $1,131 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada College | CA | $32 |
| 2 | Canada College | CA | $32 |
| 3 | Infinity College | LA | $230 |
| 4 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $480 |
| 5 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $480 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant programs.
Graduation Rates
48.25% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
48.43% Average Graduation Rate
545 Institutions Reporting
33.01% - 61.68% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant programs across institutions.
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 51.08 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Anesthesiologist Assistant CIP 51.0809
- Chiropractic Technician/Assistant CIP 51.0813
- Clinical/Medical Laboratory Assistant CIP 51.0802
- Emergency Care Attendant (EMT Ambulance) CIP 51.0810
- Lactation Consultant CIP 51.0815
- Medical/Clinical Assistant CIP 51.0801
- Occupational Therapist Assistant CIP 51.0803
- Pathology/Pathologist Assistant CIP 51.0811
- Physical Therapy Assistant CIP 51.0806
- Radiologist Assistant CIP 51.0814
- Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant CIP 51.0812
- Speech-Language Pathology Assistant CIP 51.0816
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.0805 in the survey year used in our extract (6,060 total across levels below).
- 1,189 Associate (19.6% of IPEDS total)
- 3,669 Bachelor's (60.5% of IPEDS total)
- 1,189 Master's (19.6% of IPEDS total)
- 13 Doctorate (0.2% of IPEDS total)
Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.
Careers & Jobs
Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.
Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $64,987. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | $36,511 | 1,500,000 |
| Secondary School Teachers | $104,813 | 1,072,540 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
Program outcomes (College Scorecard)
National medians across bachelor's programs in the Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services CIP family (6 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduate.
- $32,031 median federal loan debt among completers
- $68,559 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.97 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 4.5% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)
Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.
Employment
Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.
Yearly Income for Common Jobs
$40,621 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant.
Age distribution for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
7,541 Total Degrees Awarded
1,385 Male (18.37%)
6,156 Female (81.63%)
Gender distribution of Pharmacy Technician/Assistant degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
3,098 Hispanic or Latino (41.08%)
1,714 White (22.73%)
1,375 Black or African American (18.23%)
432 Asian (5.73%)
250 Two or More Races (3.32%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Pharmacy Technician/Assistant degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Pharmacy Technician/Assistant field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Pharmacy Technician/Assistant majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant majors.
Skills Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.
Skill importance ratings for Pharmacy Technician/Assistant majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals, under the supervision of pharmacists, to prepare medications, provide medications and related assistance to patients, and manage pharmacy clinical and business operations. Includes instruction in medical and pharmaceutical terminology, principles of pharmacology and pharmaceutics, drug identification, pharmacy laboratory procedures, prescription interpretation, patient communication and education, safety procedures, record-keeping, measurement and testing techniques, pharmacy business operations, prescription preparation, logistics and dispensing operations, and applicable standards and regulations
In 2023, 7,541 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Pharmacy Technician/Assistant.
CIP Code
51.0805 - Pharmacy Technician/Assistant
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $32,031 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $68,559, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.97. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Pharmacy Technician/Assistant graduate.
Women earned 81.6% of 7,541 Pharmacy Technician/Assistant completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $64,987. The largest mapped role by headcount is Teachers, Postsecondary (1,500,000 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $4,718 in-state at public colleges and $16,346 at private institutions for programs in this field.
Data Sources
This page uses data from the following sources:
- College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
- Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
- Employment and wage data by occupation
- Latest data: May 2024
- Source: bls.gov/oes
- O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
- Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
- Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
- Source: onetcenter.org
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
- Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
- Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
- Demographic and workforce data
- Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Source: census.gov/acs
Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.
Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.
Methodology
Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.
All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.