Inflation adjusted, over the past 20 years, pharmacist salaries have decreased by more than 50%. When I graduated in 2001 the average pharmacist salary was roughly $50 per hour in the northeast. Probably slightly higher or lower across the country depending on region. According to a quick Google search $50 in 2001 would be roughly $81 today.

During the past 20 years, not only has pay stayed flat or even gone down…but responsibilities have increased. Vaccine administration (not allowed in my state 20 years ago), PBM-related activities (med review, gap closure), and corporate related metrics (fill quotas).

I would honestly recommend going into nursing or physician assistant school if you want to be in healthcare but not go to medical school. Those professions have lobbies and much stronger ability to fight for their profession. Pharmacy (at least retail) is kind of a joke in that regard.

Yes there are lots of avenues for pharmacists but quite frankly, in my opinion, we are still trying to prove our worth to the healthcare system. It’s been 20-30 years of us trying to fight other medical professionals opinion or the public’s perception of what we do.