What’s the average pay for a speech–language pathologist?

Most readily-found sources of speech–language pathologists' (SLPs) wage norms are inaccurate and unreliable. 

• In this article, we describe why most wage norms you'll find for SLPs online are wrong.
• And here (below) we'll focus on what you can do instead!

When trying to figure out what you should be paid as an SLP, there are only two accurate SLP wage data sources: ours and ASHA's. All other available SLP wage data sources make either or both of the critical errors described here. Using accurate wage data sources, and understanding what you're looking at will help you avoid mis-estimating your own pay by tens of thousands of dollars, if not $50,000+ (we're not joking; it happens all the time).

Bad news first: This won't be quick! But it'll be accurate. And getting your money right is worth the time.

1) Make sure you understand SLP contracts.

You won't even be able to interpret the data you find correctly without understanding these two things first:

• SLP contracts, and how they vary. It impacts how pay is listed.
• 1099 vs W2. This also impacts what pay. By a lot.

Once you understand those things, we recommend you proceed with W2 wage norms when in doubt. Meaning—if the data you're looking at differentiates 1099 and W2, great. If it doesn't, assume everything is W2 and adjust up for 1099 at the end.

2) Know what norms you need.

• Location: What city or state are you looking at?

  Optional, but knowing your local Cost of Living Index (COLI) will help a lot too, because you can use that to adjust up or down from nationwide data.

• Experience: How many years are you into your career?
• Setting: What setting will you be working in?

These are the three things that impact pay the most, and both our and ASHA's data can be divided up by these factors.

— Write down your location, experience, setting(s).

3) Check ASHA's data first

Find ASHA's wage data here. Their dataset isn't very big. But at least it's not wrong!

— Then, write down the numbers you get from that.

4) Use our data next

We collect wage data correctly but haven't collected a ton of it yet. As of mid-2026, we have 1008 respondents (n = 1008, 2025–2026).

• Here, we describe our dataset so you understand it and make adjustments as-needed.
• Here, you can look up whatever wage data you need.

UPDATE: By late 2026, our dataset will get a lot bigger because we're going to merge in employer-reported pay, and we have a lot more employer-reported wages than SLP-reported. And we know how to get accurate employer-reported wages, unlike the mess you'll find on Indeed. So stay tuned for that!

— Then, write down the numbers you get from that.

5) Use local job post data with caveats

It's not that you can't use Indeed, LinkedIn, or Google Jobs. It's that you can only use some of their data if you want it to be accurate. Here's how to do that:

• Use datapoints from individual job posts NOT aggregate data like this. That data is wrong. The reasons are described here.
• When looking at individual job posts that match your criteria decided earlier (setting, location), use annual salaried job posts only. Ignore all the hourly and per-visit data, because it's inaccurate.
• If your city doesn't have any, or much, data, you can consider using using data from other cities and states that have a similar Cost of Living Index (COLI) to your city. This is less-accurate, but a reasonable workaround when you have nothing else to go off of.

— Then, write down the numbers you get from that.

6) Ask fellow SLPs

Asking SLPs what they're paid is the most accurate data you'll get *if* you know how to throw out the unusable data. Tips:

• Ignore hourly and visit rates reported by fellow SLPs. One SLP on a $70/hr contract working full-time can make the exact same as another SLP on a $40/hr contract working full-time, due to contract variability alone. Hourly rates mean nothing when you don't know precise contract detail and practice norms too, which are too hard to collect.
• Instead, ask SLPs what they make per year. Trust these numbers, only.
• Then don't forget what you did in step (2). A California SLP won't make the same as a Kansas SLP, and a school-based Kansas SLP won't make the same as a SNF Kansas SLP. An experienced SLP won't make the same as somebody with only a year under their belt. Ask people who are in the same situation as you or adjust up/down, knowing that experience, location, setting all make a huge difference.

— Then, write down the numbers you get from that.

Now what?

Now you should have a set of numbers. They won't all be the same, but together they should paint a clear picture for you for what you should be paid!

If you'd like our field to have better wage data, share your wage data here. Our dataset is, and always will be fully open-access! We update our SLP Pay page regularly with new data, so visit a couple times per year to find the most up-to-date SLP wage data available.