The Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet (KEWDC) expects a 27% increase in respiratory therapy jobs between 2010 and 2020.
In 2011, the KEWDC designated the field of respiratory therapy as being the eighth fastest growing occupation in the state that generally required an associate’s degree. According to the Committee on the Accreditation for Respiratory Care, over 91% of Kentucky’s respiratory therapist graduates found jobs in 2012. Of the 100 new jobs expected to become available each year, 60% of them are predicted to come from growth in the field.
The KEWDC indicated that 2,320 respiratory therapists were employed in Kentucky in 2010. This state had the highest concentration of respiratory therapy jobs in the country in 2013 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The BLS reported that over one third of the state’s respiratory therapists were employed in three nonmetropolitan areas in 2013. These areas had the second to fourth greatest concentration of respiratory therapy jobs of any nonmetropolitan area in the country:
The KEWDC provides 2013 salary information for respiratory therapists. The average annual respiratory therapist salary in Kentucky was $46,081. Entry-level respiratory therapists averaged $37,636 while experienced ones made $50,429 a year on average. Salary data for Kentucky cities that had average salaries higher than the state’s average are shown below:
The BLS provides 2013 salary data for some of Kentucky’s larger cities. This information is shown in the following table: