Medical Coder Salary Calculator

1. Choose hourly rate or annual salary and enter your base pay before overtime.
2. Enter regular hours, weeks worked, and any average overtime hours with the multiplier your employer pays.
3. Read your gross pay per year, month and week, then the BLS percentile. Enter a second offer to compare two jobs.

What each result tells you:

The default is the BLS median rate of $24.59 an hour, which comes to $51,147.20 for a 40 hour week over 52 weeks.

A medical coder salary calculator is a tool that works out gross pay from a rate and a schedule, then measures the rate against official wage statistics for the work.

BLS has no code for medical coders alone. Coders belong to code 29-2072, Medical Records Specialists, and the BLS definition says the code includes medical coders. These workers compile and maintain patient records and classify diagnoses, procedures and services into the numerical coding system of the healthcare industry.

Every figure on this page is the wage for medical records specialists as a whole. That group contains coders and other records staff. Health information technologists and medical registrars have a different code, 29-9021, and a separate page on this site.

The tool adds no premium for credentials, coding specialty, remote work or years of service. BLS publishes no national multipliers for those, so the calculator does not invent them.

The calculator totals straight-time pay and overtime pay for the year, then finds where your base rate falls among the BLS wage percentiles.

1. Rate. The hourly rate is used directly. A salary is divided by regular hours times weeks.
2. Overtime. Overtime hours are paid at the rate times your multiplier. Federal law sets a minimum of time and one-half after 40 hours in a workweek for covered, nonexempt employees. The overtime pay calculator covers a single pay period in detail.
3. Periods. Monthly pay is the annual total divided by 12. Weekly pay is the annual total divided by weeks worked.
4. Benchmark. A rate of $27.00 falls between the median of $24.59 and the 75th percentile of $31.17. Interpolation puts it near the 59th percentile.

BLS wages cover straight-time pay only. Overtime pay and non-production bonuses are excluded. Incentive pay and production bonuses are included, so a coder paid partly on output keeps that pay in the rate.

A hospital coder earns $27.00 an hour for 40 hours a week, all year. Month-end backlogs add an average of 2 overtime hours a week at time and one-half.

1. Straight-time pay: $27.00 x 40 x 52 = $56,160.00.
2. Overtime rate: $27.00 x 1.5 = $40.50 an hour.
3. Overtime pay: $40.50 x 2 x 52 = $4,212.00.
4. Annual gross: $60,372.00. Monthly gross: $5,031.00. Weekly gross: $1,161.00.
5. Base rate against BLS: +$2.41 an hour over the median, or +9.8%.

Her straight-time pay of $56,160.00 sits $2,960 under the hospital median of $59,120 that BLS reports for this occupation.

Medical records specialists, the BLS group that includes medical coders, earned a median of $24.59 an hour in May 2025, or $51,140 a year. The mean was $27.30 an hour, or $56,790 a year.

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 29-2072 Medical Records Specialists, national estimates. Read on 2026-10-02. BLS published a dollar figure for every percentile of this occupation.

The range is wide. The 90th percentile of $81,150 is 2.2 times the 10th percentile of $37,000. The mean sits $5,650 above the median, which shows a long upper tail.

Employer Type

Hospitals employ 28 percent of medical records specialists and paid a median of $59,120 a year. Offices of physicians employ 18 percent and paid $47,120. The hospital median is $12,000 higher.

Highest Paying Industries

Insurance carriers and colleges pay hourly means above $31.50. The top figure of $37.95 carries a relative standard error of 14 percent, so treat it with caution.

State

The District of Columbia shows the highest mean wage at $38.58 an hour, with a relative standard error of 11.5 percent. California follows at $32.80. Florida has the most jobs, 21,490.

Certification

BLS says employers may prefer to hire specialists who have certification, or expect it soon after hiring. BLS publishes no wage by credential, so the tool shows one national distribution.

Remote Work

BLS notes that this is one of the few health-related occupations with no direct hands-on patient care, and specialists typically work at a computer. BLS publishes no separate wage for remote coders.

Health information technologists and medical registrars earn $8.11 an hour more than medical records specialists at the median, $32.70 against $24.59. BLS lists that occupation as an advancement path for records specialists who complete a higher certification or a degree.

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

The medical records specialist median is $7,040 below the $58,180 median for health technologists and technicians and $160 above the $50,980 median for all occupations.

Comparing a Physician Office with a Hospital

Enter each rate with the same hours. At 40 hours a week, $28.25 an hour pays $9,880.00 more a year than $23.50 and moves the rate from the 43rd to the 64th percentile.

Converting a Salaried Offer

A salary of $62,000 for a 40 hour week equals $29.81 an hour, near the 70th percentile. The hourly vs salary guide explains what changes when overtime no longer applies.

Weighing a Certificate Program

Enter the 25th percentile rate of $20.91 and the median to see a realistic early pay range for a full-time year.

Pricing Contract Work

Set the weeks to the weeks you expect to be paid. The BLS percentiles cover wage and salary employees, not self-employed contractors.

Medical records specialists typically need a postsecondary certificate to enter the occupation. Some qualify with a high school diploma, and others need an associate degree. Programs cover medical terminology, health data standards, and classification and coding systems.

BLS projects employment to grow 8 percent from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations. That is 15,600 new jobs, for a total of 216,300. About 14,000 openings are projected each year.

BLS adds a caution. Wider adoption of artificial intelligence tools that make the coding process more efficient may affect the demand for these workers.

1. Treating the BLS Figure as Coders Only

The data covers all medical records specialists. Coders are part of the group, and the figures cannot be split.

2. Using the Health Information Technologist Wage

That occupation has a different code and a median of $32.70 an hour. It is not the coder benchmark.

3. Quoting the Mean as Typical Pay

The mean of $56,790 is pulled up by high earners. The median of $51,140 describes the middle worker.

4. Dividing a Salary by 40 Hours When You Work 45

Longer weeks lower the real hourly rate. Enter true hours to get a fair percentile.

5. Relying on a Small-Sample Figure

Some industry and state means carry large standard errors. Prefer the national percentiles.

The gross pay arithmetic is exact, and the benchmark is a sample estimate. BLS lists a relative standard error of 0.4 percent for the mean wage and 1.1 percent for employment in this occupation.

Medical records specialists, the BLS group that includes medical coders, earned a median of $24.59 an hour in May 2025. The 25th percentile was $20.91 and the 75th percentile was $31.17.

The mean annual wage for medical records specialists was $56,790 in May 2025, and the median was $51,140. BLS publishes no figure for coders alone.

Code 29-2072, Medical Records Specialists. The BLS definition states that the code includes medical coders. It excludes health information technologists and medical registrars, code 29-9021, and file clerks.

Twenty-two dollars an hour is below the national median. It sits near the 32nd percentile and equals $45,760.00 over a 2,080 hour year.

Thirty dollars an hour is above the median. It sits near the 71st percentile nationally and equals $62,400.00 over a 2,080 hour year.

The 90th percentile wage for medical records specialists is $39.01 an hour, or $81,150 a year. One in ten earns more than that before overtime.

Yes, at the median. BLS reports $59,120 a year in hospitals and $47,120 in offices of physicians for medical records specialists in May 2025.

BLS publishes no wage by work location type. The tool therefore applies no remote premium. Compare the actual rates in the offers you hold.

The District of Columbia has the highest mean wage at $38.58 an hour in the BLS May 2025 data, with a large standard error. California, Washington, New York and Hawaii follow.

Yes. BLS projects 8 percent growth for medical records specialists from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,000 openings each year. BLS notes that artificial intelligence tools may affect demand.

• BLS OEWS Profiles, May 2025 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Choose May 2025 and select 29-2072 Medical Records Specialists for the national wage percentiles, mean wage, employment, and industry and state tables. Read 2026-10-02.
• BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Medical Records Specialists (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Duties, entry education, training, median pay by industry and the 2025 to 2035 outlook. Read 2026-10-02.
• BLS OEWS frequently asked questions (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Defines wages as straight-time gross pay without overtime or shift differentials, and names who the survey covers. Read 2026-10-02.
• Overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division). Time and one-half the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek for covered, nonexempt employees. Read 2026-10-02.