In this article, we look at what salary a cardiovascular technologist in the United States gets. We also examine the trend in cardiovascular technologist salary over the years and see what the future holds for this allied health profession.

Cardiovascular technologists

Cardiovascular technologists are a group of allied health professionals who assist physicians in the diagnosis, monitoring and management of cardiac diseases. Depending on their training and area of specialization, they may be echocardiographers, electrocardiographers or EKG technicians, vascular technologists or cardiology technologists. See our article “Cardiovascular Technologist Schools” to get a better idea of these different titles that come under cardiovascular technology.

With a progressively higher incidence of heart ailments on the rise and a squeeze on healthcare spending, cardiovascular technology jobs are increasing. There is consensus that the demand for cardiovascular technologists except electrocardiographers will grow at a rate higher than the average for all occupations over the next eight to ten years.

How has the cardiovascular technologist salary trended over the last few years?

We now look at the trend in the salary of cardiovascular technologists over the period 1999-2010. These have been taken from the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The table shows the trend in numbers of employed cardiovascular technologists and their average wages. As can be seen their number increased from 41,490 in 1999 to 48,720 in 2010. In the same period, their mean annual salary increased over 50% from $33,280 to $50,720. Similar increase is seen in the mean hourly wage too. As of 2010, the average mean hourly wage of cardiovascular technologists stood at $24.38 while the median wage was $23.75. For individual cardiovascular technologists, the factors that determine their wages are:

a. Education

There are primarily three levels of post-secondary training available in various cardiovascular technology disciplines. The one-year certificate programs are the shortest and the four-year bachelor’s programs are the longest. Those with higher qualifications naturally command a higher salary.

b. Experience

The next factor that determines a cardiovascular technologist’ salary is their years of experience. It is estimated that the average salary doubles for every six to eight years of experience.

c. Certification and skill level

At present, certification or licensing for cardiovascular technologists is voluntary, but it is expected that the profession will soon be regulated by state licensing. Many certifying bodies for cardiovascular technicians exist. The prominent ones are the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS) and Cardiovascular Credentialing International (CCI). There are more than a dozen different credentials available for cardiovascular technologists. Credentialing requirements for cardiology technologists usually includes a test and formal academic qualifications and professional work experience. Certification is regarded as a sign of proficiency and dedication to the field and employers encourage this by paying higher wages.

Expected trend

It is widely held that the cutting edge field of cardiovascular technology will continue to grow at an impressive pace. As such, average cardiovascular technologist salary too is expected to grow by around 10% annually for the next eight to ten years. This must be good news for aspiring cardiovascular technologists.