Pharmacy Education and Careers
Pharmacy professional doctorates and technician awards both declined, while pharmacist and technician careers differed sharply in pay and openings.
Compare pharmacy education with pharmacy and pharmacy-technician careers. Use IPEDS degree and certificate trends, College Scorecard earnings, CIP–SOC links, BLS employment, wages and projections, Occupational Requirements Survey measures, and CareerOneStop licenses. Explain how the professional-degree path differs from technician credentials. Create one chart and avoid treating structural links as placements.
Education paths differ by credential
The pharmacist route centers on a professional-practice doctorate in pharmacy.
The technician route includes undergraduate certificates, diplomas, and associate degrees in pharmacy technology.
The federal CIP–SOC crosswalk links these fields to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, respectively.
These links describe structural preparation. They do not measure career entry, job placement, or employment probability.
Reported awards declined by 2023
Pharmacy professional doctorates numbered 14,459 in the year ending 2020 and 12,938 in the year ending 2023.
Technician certificates and diplomas moved from 3,687 to 3,286 over the same period.
Technician associate degrees moved from 1,300 to 1,239 over the same period.
These are revised IPEDS counts of first-major awards. They do not establish career entry or current program availability.
The chart’s downloadable rows retain the education path, credential group, and explicit series label.
Earnings differ sharply
College Scorecard reports a one-year median of $103,596 for the professional-doctorate benchmark.
Its four-year median is $137,101.
The technician certificate benchmark is $25,116 after one year and $35,961 after four years.
The technician associate-degree benchmark is $24,416 after one year and $37,439 after four years.
These national weighted medians inherit outcomes from broader pharmacy fields. They are not direct results for each exact program.
The available benchmark does not identify its Scorecard release date or earnings cohort year.
Employment, wages, and projections differ
BLS estimated 321,970 pharmacist jobs and 471,680 pharmacy-technician jobs in May 2025.
May 2025 median annual wages were $140,910 for pharmacists and $45,750 for pharmacy technicians.
BLS projects pharmacist employment to grow 4.6% from 2024 to 2034.
It projects pharmacy-technician employment to grow 6.4% over the same period.
Projected annual openings are 14,200 for pharmacists and 49,000 for pharmacy technicians during 2024–34.
Employment estimates and projected openings do not measure shortages, program placement, or individual hiring chances.
Licensing varies by occupation and jurisdiction
CareerOneStop linked pharmacists to 127 published licensing records across 53 jurisdictions in its October 2024 source update.
It linked pharmacy technicians to 54 published records across 44 jurisdictions.
These counts describe published licensing records, not licensed workers or universal requirements.
The records cannot establish curriculum compliance, board approval, or individual licensing eligibility.
Pharmacist doctorates fell by 11% while technician awards shifted, 2020–2023
Three panels show reported awards for award years ending in 2020 through 2023. Professional pharmacist doctorates moved from 14,459 to 12,938. Pharmacy technician certificates or diplomas moved from 3,687 to 3,286. Pharmacy technician associate degrees moved from 1,300 to 1,239. Each downloadable row retains the explicit series label, education path, and credential group.
| Education path and credential | IPEDS collection cycle | Reported awards | Cip6 | Cip Title | Coverage State | Credential Group | Education Path | Publication Date | Reference Period Label | Release Stage | Source Release Id |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pharmacy technician path — associate degree | 2020-21 | 1,300 | 51.0805 | Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. | observed | Associate degree | Pharmacy technician path | 2022-11-09 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 (revised August 2022) | revised | ipeds-c-2020-21-revised-2022-11-09 |
| Pharmacy technician path — certificate or diploma | 2020-21 | 3,687 | 51.0805 | Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. | observed | Certificate or diploma | Pharmacy technician path | 2022-11-09 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 (revised August 2022) | revised | ipeds-c-2020-21-revised-2022-11-09 |
| Professional pharmacist path — professional doctorate | 2020-21 | 14,459 | 51.2001 | Pharmacy. | observed | Professional doctorate | Professional pharmacist path | 2022-11-09 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020 (revised August 2022) | revised | ipeds-c-2020-21-revised-2022-11-09 |
| Pharmacy technician path — associate degree | 2021-22 | 1,136 | 51.0805 | Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. | observed | Associate degree | Pharmacy technician path | 2023-12-07 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 (revised September 2023) | revised | ipeds-c-2021-22-revised-2023-12-07 |
| Pharmacy technician path — certificate or diploma | 2021-22 | 3,756 | 51.0805 | Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. | observed | Certificate or diploma | Pharmacy technician path | 2023-12-07 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 (revised September 2023) | revised | ipeds-c-2021-22-revised-2023-12-07 |
| Professional pharmacist path — professional doctorate | 2021-22 | 14,611 | 51.2001 | Pharmacy. | observed | Professional doctorate | Professional pharmacist path | 2023-12-07 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 (revised September 2023) | revised | ipeds-c-2021-22-revised-2023-12-07 |
| Pharmacy technician path — associate degree | 2022-23 | 1,178 | 51.0805 | Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. | observed | Associate degree | Pharmacy technician path | 2024-11-22 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 (revised August 2024) | revised | ipeds-c-2022-23-revised-2024-11-22 |
| Pharmacy technician path — certificate or diploma | 2022-23 | 3,913 | 51.0805 | Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. | observed | Certificate or diploma | Pharmacy technician path | 2024-11-22 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 (revised August 2024) | revised | ipeds-c-2022-23-revised-2024-11-22 |
| Professional pharmacist path — professional doctorate | 2022-23 | 14,127 | 51.2001 | Pharmacy. | observed | Professional doctorate | Professional pharmacist path | 2024-11-22 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 (revised August 2024) | revised | ipeds-c-2022-23-revised-2024-11-22 |
| Pharmacy technician path — associate degree | 2023-24 | 1,239 | 51.0805 | Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. | observed | Associate degree | Pharmacy technician path | 2025-12-30 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 (revised September 2025) | revised | ipeds-c-2023-24-revised-2025-12-30 |
| Pharmacy technician path — certificate or diploma | 2023-24 | 3,286 | 51.0805 | Pharmacy Technician/Assistant. | observed | Certificate or diploma | Pharmacy technician path | 2025-12-30 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 (revised September 2025) | revised | ipeds-c-2023-24-revised-2025-12-30 |
| Professional pharmacist path — professional doctorate | 2023-24 | 12,938 | 51.2001 | Pharmacy. | observed | Professional doctorate | Professional pharmacist path | 2025-12-30 | Awards/degrees conferred by program (6-digit CIP code), award level, race/ethnicity, and gender: July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 (revised September 2025) | revised | ipeds-c-2023-24-revised-2025-12-30 |