Salary Range

• Cardiovascular technologists were earning $23.91 per hour on average as of May 2009, equaling $49,730 per year, according to the BLS. The middle 50 percent of cardiovascular technologists were earning $16.19 to $30.27 per hour, or $33,680 to $62,950 per year. The bottom 10 percent had pay rates at or below $12.47 per hour, and the top 10 percent were earning $36.65 per hour or more, or $76,220 per year or more.
  
  

Types of Employment

• According to the BLS, nearly 80 percent of cardiovascular technologists worked in hospitals in 2008, earning an average of $23.48 per hour in 2009, or $48,830 per year. A large number also worked for doctors' offices, making $53,000 per year on average. Those employed in outpatient care centers, ambulatory health care services and specialty hospitals, such as those providing long-term acute care, were earning roughly $49,000 per year on average. Medical and diagnostic laboratories paid cardiovascular technologists an average salary of $54,740 in 2009.
  
  

Employment Per Capita

• Florida had the most cardiovascular technologists per capita by state in 2009, and their average salary was $19.46 per hour, or $40,480 per year. Gainesville had the largest concentration of cardiovascular technologists by metro area, but the pay rate was lower than the statewide average, at $16.72 per hour, or $34,770 per year.
  
  

Highest-Paying Locations

• The highest-paying states for cardiovascular technologists in 2009 were on the east and west coasts. Massachusetts ranked at the top, with cardiovascular technologists there earning $30.64 per hour on average, or $63,720 per year. Rounding out the top five were New Jersey, where the average salary was $63,140 per year, Oregon at $61,560, Washington at $60,860 and Connecticut at $60,290. The highest-paying metro area was the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area in California, where their average pay was $35.39 per hour, or $73,620 per year.