Medical Billing and Coding Salary by State and Percentile (BLS 2025)

Key takeaway: In May 2025 BLS reported a median annual wage of $51,140 for medical records specialists, the occupation that includes billers and coders. The 10th percentile was $37,000 and the 90th was $81,150. State medians range widely. These figures describe the whole occupation. They do not predict what any one person will earn.

Compare this path to the job you have now with the 10th and 25th percentiles, not the median and not the 90th. BLS does not publish pay by credential, by remote vs on-site, or by “new graduate.” When a school quotes a round number with no agency and year, treat it as marketing.

National wage percentiles

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 29-2072 (Medical Records Specialists), national cross-industry estimates. A percentile is the wage below which that share of workers fall. Employment in the snapshot: 194,720.

How to read this if you are starting out

The median is the middle worker in the occupation, including people with a decade in a hospital coding shop. If you are leaving a $16-an-hour retail job, the useful comparison is the 10th percentile hourly wage of $17.79 and the 25th percentile annual wage of $43,490.

If you already work in a clinic as a medical assistant and you are adding coding, you may land higher than a true beginner because you already read charts. BLS still will not give you a separate number for that. Do not let anyone invent one.

What moves pay

• Setting. Hospitals and large health systems generally pay more than small practices. BLS publishes industry breakdowns for the occupation on its own site.
• Credentials and specialty. Inpatient (CCS-level) and specialty coding are described across the industry as sitting in the upper percentiles. BLS does not publish pay by credential, so that remains industry observation, not a table.
• Experience. New coders, including CPC-As, usually start near the lower percentiles.
• Location. State medians differ by tens of thousands of dollars. A high median in a high-cost state can buy less than a mid median in a cheaper one.

“Up to $60,000” is often the 75th percentile

• “Up to $60,000” is often the 75th percentile wearing makeup. The 75th percentile in May 2025 was $64,820. That is not a starting offer.
• Mean is not typical. The mean of $56,790 sits above the median because the top end pulls it. Prefer the median and the percentiles.
• City wages are usually missing. BLS does not publish this occupation for every metro. When we do not have a city figure, we say so and show the state. We do not estimate.
• Remote pay is not a separate BLS series. See remote medical coding jobs.

Median wage by state

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2025, SOC 29-2072.

Click any state for the full percentile table, employment, and the schools in that state. Figures are BLS OEWS May 2025. Some states suppress a cell when the sample is too small; those rows will show as unavailable rather than guessed.

A five-minute exercise before you enroll

1. Write down what you earn now, hourly if you can.
2. Write down the 10th and 25th percentile wages on this page.
3. Write down a school’s total published program price, including manuals (see program cost).
4. Look at your state’s row in the table, not only the national median.
5. Decide whether the gap is worth the months of study for you. Our is it worth it guide walks through the non-money trade-offs too.

That is a payback sketch you finish yourself. We will not fill in line one and call it a guarantee.