Trends in health physics salaries and employment: 1980

A salary questionnaire was distributed to health physicists in July 1980 as part of the July 1980 Health Physics Society Newsletter and as a handout at the 1980 Health Physics Society Annual Meeting in Seattle. 752 responses were obtained over a span of 3 months. Mean annual salary was correlated with a series of variables including experience (time in the field), academic background, employer type, region, sex and licensure status. The data supported the following conclusions: (a) Mean annual salary for the health physics personnel responding to the survey was $29,400. (b) Individuals in the southeast and southcentral states had below-average salaries, whereas individuals in the northeast and Rocky Mountain states had above-average salaries. The difference between these extreme annual means was often in the range of 5000-$8000, and should exert considerable impact on recruiting success. (c) Industrial and consulting positions carry higher-than-average salaries, whereas academic and governmental positions tend to be somewhat below average. (d) Women in health physics are a small but growing minority which tends to have lower-than-average salaries. (e) Recent demand for trained health physicists seems to have caused starting salaries to rise somewhat more rapidly than continuing salaries, in general.