Clinical Lab Scientist Salary Calculator

1. Set the pay type to hourly rate or annual salary. Enter your base pay, the hours you work at that rate each week and your paid weeks per year.
2. Add the pay extras that apply to you: shift differential, on-call pay and overtime. Every extra comes from your own offer letter or pay stub. Leave a field blank if it does not apply.
3. Read your total annual gross pay, then see where your base rate sits in the BLS wage table for all clinical laboratory technologists and technicians.

What each result tells you:

The presets are examples, not typical wages. The first one is a day-shift scientist paid $36.00 an hour for 40 hours a week. That is $74,880.00 a year, about the 66th percentile for all clinical laboratory technologists and technicians. BLS publishes no wage figure for clinical lab scientists alone, so every percentile here describes the combined group.

A clinical lab scientist salary is the gross yearly pay of a laboratory professional who performs and checks medical tests. It is base pay plus any shift differential, on-call pay and overtime.

The job has several names. BLS says clinical laboratory technologists are also known as medical laboratory scientists. O*NET lists Clinical Laboratory Scientist (CLS), Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) and Medical Technologist (MT) as job titles under code 29-2011. For wages, BLS merges that code with technicians into one group, 29-2010.

The route details come from the ASCP Board of Certification page for the MLS credential, read on 2026-10-02. The page lists more routes and an application fee of $260. Check it before you apply, because requirements change.

This tool is for laboratory staff weighing an offer. It is not a pay quote from any employer.

The calculator builds total pay from your base rate and your own extras, then places the base rate alone in the BLS wage distribution for all clinical laboratory technologists and technicians.

1. Convert. An hourly rate is multiplied by regular hours and weeks. A salary is divided by them to get the base rate.
2. Add shift differential. Differential pay = rate per hour x share of hours x paid hours in the year.
3. Add on-call pay. On-call pay = on-call hours per week x on-call rate x weeks.
4. Add overtime. Overtime pay = overtime hours per week x base hourly rate x multiplier x weeks.
5. Find the band. The base rate is checked against the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile wages.
6. Interpolate. W1 and W2 are the two BLS wages around your base rate. P1 and P2 are their percentiles.

The wage table below blends two jobs. BLS states that code 29-2010 includes medical and clinical laboratory technologists (29-2011) and medical and clinical laboratory technicians (29-2012).

Source: BLS OEWS, national estimates, May 2025. Read on 2026-10-02.

BLS publishes no wage figure for clinical lab scientists. The table above covers all clinical laboratory technologists and technicians in code 29-2010. BLS annual wages equal the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

A scientist in a hospital core lab earns $38.40 an hour for 40 hours a week. Evening shifts pay $3.25 more, and they are 60% of her hours. She takes blood bank call 10 hours a week at $3.00 an hour and averages 3 overtime hours a week. A reference lab offers $41.00 an hour.

Her base rate is near the 73rd percentile of the combined group. That group includes technicians, so the rank is not a rank among scientists. Her extras add $14,601.60 a year. The reference lab offer adds $5,408.00 in base pay and is above the 75th percentile of $39.16. She should ask whether it pays a differential at all.

Industry

The employer type shifts the average. Private general hospitals employ 36% of the combined group and have the highest median among the largest employers.

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Read on 2026-10-02.

The five industries with the highest annual mean wage for clinical laboratory technologists and technicians. Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Read on 2026-10-02.

State

State means range widely. New York leads at $93,610, against a national mean of $67,350.

The five states with the highest annual mean wage for clinical laboratory technologists and technicians. Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Read on 2026-10-02.

Shift

BLS notes that laboratory staff in facilities that are always open may work nights, weekends or holidays. A differential on those hours raises total pay. It is left out of BLS wages.

Licence and Certification

BLS says employers may prefer certified staff, and that in some states a licence requires certification. Neither source gives a pay premium, so the tool has no such multiplier.

Hours

Use the salary to hourly calculator for a quick check of a salaried rate on a longer week.

BLS does not publish separate pay for scientists and technicians. Both sit in one wage table, so the official data cannot show the pay gap between them. The roles differ in education and duties.

Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook and ASCP Board of Certification. Read on 2026-10-02.

BLS adds that some technicians advance to technologist positions after more education and experience. ASCP Route 2 is built for that step. The medical lab technician salary calculator in the related tools covers the technician side of the same table.

Comparing a Hospital Lab with a Reference Lab

Enter each offer with its own shift and call. A higher base rate with no differential can pay less in total than a lower rate on evenings.

Pricing a Night Shift

A $4.00 differential on every hour of a full-time year adds $8,320.00. Set the share lower if you rotate.

Checking a Salaried Offer

A $78,000 salary over 2,080 hours is $37.50 an hour, about the 70th percentile of the combined group. For other salary questions, use the general salary calculator.

Planning the Step from Technician

Enter your current rate, then the rate offered after certification as a scientist. The second offer row shows the yearly difference in base pay.

Budgeting

Results are gross pay. See the gross vs net income guide for what is taken out.

1. Reading the Median as a Scientist Median

The $62,930 median blends technologists and technicians. BLS gives no median for scientists alone.

2. Typing the Night Rate as Base Pay

A night rate includes the differential. BLS wages do not. Enter the day rate as base pay and the add-on in the differential field.

3. Treating Call Hours as Overtime

Standby hours are paid at the standby rate. Only hours you are called in to work belong in base or overtime hours.

4. Comparing Offers on Different Hours

A 36-hour offer and a 40-hour offer differ by 10% a year at the same rate. Compare the hourly rate, or set the same hours for both.

5. Using a National Figure for a Local Market

The New York mean is $93,610 and the national mean is $67,350. One number cannot price every market. The overtime pay calculator helps with weeks that mix rates.

The pay arithmetic is exact for the numbers you enter. The percentile is an estimate, and it describes all clinical laboratory technologists and technicians, not clinical lab scientists alone.

BLS wages are straight-time gross pay. They exclude overtime pay and shift differentials. The tool therefore compares your base rate only and reports the extras apart.

No official figure exists for clinical lab scientists alone. BLS reports a median of $30.26 an hour, or $62,930 a year, for clinical laboratory technologists and technicians combined in May 2025. The top 10 percent of that group earned more than $100,990.

Yes, the titles describe the same role. O*NET lists Clinical Laboratory Scientist, Medical Laboratory Scientist and Medical Technologist as job titles under one code, 29-2011 Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists.

The BLS wage survey reports the two 2018 SOC codes, 29-2011 and 29-2012, as one group numbered 29-2010. The profile page states this directly. As a result, no separate wage table exists for either job.

BLS says clinical laboratory technologists typically earn a bachelor degree in medical technology or a related life science. Technicians typically complete an associate degree program.

The most direct path, Route 1, is a bachelor degree plus a NAACLS-accredited Medical Laboratory Scientist program completed within the last 5 years. Other routes combine a bachelor degree with MLT certification or with years of clinical laboratory experience.

Among the largest employers of the combined group, private general hospitals had the highest median at $69,190 in May 2025. Medical and diagnostic laboratories had a median of $58,320.

New York has the highest mean annual wage for the combined group at $93,610. Oregon follows at $83,990. These are means for technologists and technicians together.

A base rate of $32.00 an hour is about the 55th percentile for clinical laboratory technologists and technicians combined. The median is $30.26 and the 75th percentile is $39.16.

No. BLS wages exclude shift differentials and overtime pay. The tool ranks your base rate only and shows differential pay in the total.

BLS projects 3% growth for clinical laboratory technologists and technicians from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations. It expects about 20,800 openings a year.

No. It runs in your browser and sends nothing to a server. Saved results stay on your own device.

• BLS OEWS Profiles, May 2025 national estimates (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Select 29-2010 Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians. Read 2026-10-02.)
• BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Duties, education, licences, pay by industry and 2025 to 2035 outlook. Read 2026-10-02.)
• ASCP Board of Certification: Medical Laboratory Scientist, MLS(ASCP) (American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Certification. Eligibility routes and fee. Read 2026-10-02.)
• O*NET OnLine: 29-2011.00 Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. Reported job titles. Read 2026-10-02.)
• BLS technical notes for the May 2025 OEWS estimates (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Defines the wage: straight-time gross pay, excluding overtime and shift differentials; 2,080-hour year. Read 2026-10-02.)