According to recent reports from the U.S. Department of Labor the mean annual salary for medical transcriptionists is $33,530.

Wages vary based on experience, basis of payment (number of hours worked vs. number of lines transcribed) and whether they are corporate employees who work out of hospitals and other offices, or independent contractors working from home (See: Medical Transcriptionist Job Description). Independent contractors earn more, but receive fewer benefits and have more out-of-pocket expenses.

Here are the medical transcriptionist employment numbers by location, along with the average annual salary for each area:

Here are the average annual salaries for the highest-paying states:

Medical Transcriptionist Employment

The BLS also reports that there were approximately 105,200 medical transcriptionists working in the United States as of their latest reportings.

All figures courtesy of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Employment & Wages database.