Starting Salaries for
When I completed massage school in 1997, no one talked much about starting salaries for massage therapy. It was pretty much assumed that you would be going into practice for yourself and setting your own rates, unless you worked at a spa or some such place. |
With the rise of massage clinics, massage franchises, and chiropractors hiring massage therapists, more new massage therapists seem to be expecting a job. My definition of a salary is what you get paid when you work for someone else, so that's what this article is about. How much you can make as a self-employed massage therapist is an entirely different question.
I did some Internet research for this article, and many available articles about the subject mix up salary and self-employment income. Salary.com estimates that the starting salary for massage therapy is from $41,000 to $58,000 a year.
As a new massage therapist, DO NOT BELEIVE those numbers. An experienced massage therapist with a high fee and a thriving private practice can make $41,000 to $58,000 a year after expenses. More likely, that number is gross income for a self-employed massage therapist who has a lot of clients, and it doesn't take into account office rent and other business expenses.
Let's look at reality as far as what you can make as someone's employee. At the low end, I know of two national massage franchises that pay $15/hour for non-insurance billable massage plus tips. One pays $30/hour for insurance-billable massage; I don't know about the other.
Remember that you are only making that amount if you are doing massage. No clients = no massage = less pay. Employers are legally required to make sure that you receive at least minimum wage for the hours you are at work, although some seem to get around this requirement.
As for what chiropractors, spas, and other such businesses pay, it's going to vary greatly depending on the part of the country, though in general it seems to range from about $20-$40/hour of massage, plus tips.
Keep in mind when thinking about starting salaries for massage therapy that most massage therapists can do about 20 hours a week of massage over the long term. Yes, I know some do more hours. They are either exceptionally physically capable or, more likely, burn out quickly and quit massage.
As a new massage therapist, let's say you can find a position where, on average, you make $25/hour of massage and you do 20 hours a week. That's $500/week or $26,000/year, assuming no vacations. Raise that rate to $30/hour, and you'll looking at $31,200/year.
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