How much does a clinical research associate make?

The average clinical research associate salary in the United States is $62,966. Clinical research associate salaries typically range between $43,000 and $91,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for clinical research associates is $30.27 per hour. Clinical research associate salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Clinical research associates earn the highest average salary in California.

Clinical research associate salary

Q: What state pays Clinical Research Associates the most?

California pays Clinical Research Associates the most in the United States, with an average salary of $84,270 per year, or $40.51 per hour.

Q: How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a clinical research associate?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a clinical research associate if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in Nevada you should be paid close to $83,710 per year.

Q: Does clinical research pay well?

Yes, clinical research pays well. A clinical research associate, for example, averages around $92,188 a year. However, this can range from as high as $142,987 a year to as low as $76,543 a year. Factors such as experience, location, and company all impact the earning potential for a clinical researcher.

Q: Is being a clinical research associate worth it?

Yes, being a clinical research associate is worth it. Not only do clinical research associates (CRA) make good money, there is also a high demand for these positions. Compared to other health careers, you can become a CRA without formal educational experience.

Q: What does a clinical research associate get paid?

A clinical research associate gets paid around $87,000 a year. However, there's a good degree of variability in earning potential ranging from as high as $142,987 a year to as low as $21,543 a year. Factors such as experience and location.

Quoted expert

David Simon

Average clinical research associate salary

$62,966

$30.27 hourly rate

Entry-level clinical research associate salary

$43,000 yearly salary

Updated January 8, 2025

Understanding Clinical Research Associate Salaries

A Clinical Research Associate (CRA) plays a vital role in the healthcare industry, primarily responsible for monitoring clinical trials and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. As of October 2025, the average salary for a CRA is around $62,966, translating to approximately $30 per hour. This figure can vary significantly based on factors such as geographical location, level of experience, and the specific industry.

Salary by State

Some states tend to offer higher salaries for Clinical Research Associates. For instance, states like California and New York often report higher average salaries due to a greater demand for healthcare professionals and the cost of living. Additionally, industries such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology typically offer more competitive pay compared to other sectors.

Career Advancement Opportunities

As CRAs gain experience, they may transition into senior roles or specialize in certain therapeutic areas, which can lead to increased earning potential. Continuous education and certifications can further enhance job prospects and salary potential.

On this page

Clinical research associate salary by:

Let Zippi find your next clinical research associate job

Let Zippi find your next clinical research associate job

Where can a Clinical Research Associate earn more?

Compare salary by location

112k

92k

72k

52k

32k

Columbus, OH$90,116

Madison, WI$62,375

Compare salary by company

150k

130k

110k

90k

70k

50k

Meta$125,508

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings$79,602

Clinical research associate salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, Indeed, Glassdoor, Ziprecruiter, SalaryExpert and Comparably, the average salary for a clinical research associate typically falls between $62,966 and $86,723.

zippia

$62,966yearly

glassdoor[1]

$82,573yearly

indeed[2]

$77,855yearly

comparably[3]

$82,254yearly

Salary.com[4]

$78,627yearly

ZipRecruiter[5]

$85,838yearly

SalaryExpert[6]

$86,723yearly

Average clinical research associate salary by state

The average clinical research associate salary in California, Nevada, and Oregon are the highest in the U.S. The lowest average clinical research associate salary states are Arkansas, Tennessee, and Hawaii.

State view
County view

Average salary:

Highest paying states for clinical research associates

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	Oregon	$83,211	$40.01
2	California	$84,270	$40.51
3	Arizona	$76,267	$36.67
4	Rhode Island	$71,995	$34.61
5	Michigan	$73,372	$35.27
6	Connecticut	$75,590	$36.34
7	New Mexico	$71,706	$34.47
8	Utah	$74,264	$35.70
9	Nevada	$83,710	$40.25
10	Pennsylvania	$70,167	$33.73
11	Delaware	$79,165	$38.06
12	Washington	$82,020	$39.43
13	Massachusetts	$74,879	$36.00
14	Vermont	$70,240	$33.77
15	North Dakota	$68,382	$32.88
16	North Carolina	$66,993	$32.21
17	Minnesota	$68,155	$32.77
18	New Jersey	$66,644	$32.04
19	New Hampshire	$70,119	$33.71
20	Indiana	$66,813	$32.12
21	Maine	$62,970	$30.27
22	Montana	$64,066	$30.80
23	Virginia	$70,310	$33.80
24	Wyoming	$66,008	$31.73
25	Maryland	$71,530	$34.39
26	New York	$66,851	$32.14
27	Alaska	$70,466	$33.88
28	Kansas	$63,189	$30.38
29	Wisconsin	$63,487	$30.52
30	Texas	$63,086	$30.33
31	Georgia	$64,137	$30.84
32	Alabama	$63,600	$30.58
33	Florida	$59,916	$28.81
34	District of Columbia	$57,260	$27.53
35	Ohio	$58,596	$28.17
36	South Carolina	$63,072	$30.32
37	Idaho	$62,851	$30.22
38	South Dakota	$56,268	$27.05
39	Oklahoma	$60,061	$28.88
40	Hawaii	$50,515	$24.29
41	West Virginia	$53,829	$25.88
42	Louisiana	$54,537	$26.22
43	Illinois	$53,913	$25.92
44	Colorado	$49,177	$23.64
45	Mississippi	$56,606	$27.21
46	Tennessee	$51,436	$24.73
47	Kentucky	$54,358	$26.13
48	Missouri	$49,618	$23.85
49	Nebraska	$47,113	$22.65
50	Iowa	$52,224	$25.11
51	Arkansas	$51,664	$24.84

Top clinical research associate jobs near you

Highest paying cities for clinical research associates

The highest-paying cities for clinical research associates are San Francisco, CA, Las Vegas, NV, and Portland, OR.

Rank	City	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	San Francisco, CA	$90,116	$43.33
2	Las Vegas, NV	$83,174	$39.99
3	Portland, OR	$82,875	$39.84
4	Seattle, WA	$82,837	$39.83
5	Wilmington, DE	$79,579	$38.26
6	Phoenix, AZ	$76,770	$36.91
7	Hartford, CT	$75,590	$36.34
8	Boston, MA	$74,911	$36.01
9	Salt Lake City, UT	$73,744	$35.45
10	Albuquerque, NM	$72,158	$34.69
11	Philadelphia, PA	$70,773	$34.03
12	Raleigh, NC	$68,385	$32.88
13	New York, NY	$66,914	$32.17
14	Jersey City, NJ	$66,837	$32.13
15	Indianapolis, IN	$66,370	$31.91
16	Austin, TX	$64,057	$30.80
17	Atlanta, GA	$63,892	$30.72
18	Portland, ME	$63,790	$30.67
19	Kansas City, KS	$63,172	$30.37
20	Madison, WI	$62,375	$29.99

Clinical Research Associates are the most in-demand in these five cities:

Clinical research associate salary details

A clinical research associate's salary ranges from $43,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $91,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average clinical research associate salary graph, trends, and summary

What is a clinical research associate's salary?

Percentile	Annual salary	Monthly salary	Hourly rate
90th Percentile	$91,000	$7,583	$44
75th Percentile	$76,000	$6,333	$37
Average	$62,966	$5,247	$30
25th Percentile	$51,000	$4,250	$25
10th Percentile	$43,000	$3,583	$21

Highest paying clinical research associate jobs

The highest paying types of clinical research associates are clinical project manager, clinical research manager, and senior clinical research associate.

Job title	Annual salary	Monthly salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
Study Director	$82,066	$6,839	$39.45	6,789
Laboratory Manager	$74,314	$6,193	$35.73	43,321
Study Coordinator	$47,435	$3,953	$22.81	14,929
Clinical Project Manager	$100,510	$8,376	$48.32	153,837
Clinical Trial Coordinator	$50,720	$4,227	$24.38	64,859
Research Project Coordinator	$48,683	$4,057	$23.41	67,800

How would you rate the starting salaries for clinical research associates, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?

David Simon

Professor, Stonehill College

According to the American Institute of Physics Employment & Careers Report in Physics (available at aip.org/statistics/reports/employments-and-careers-physics), they are starting salaries for new physics Ph.D.'s range roughly from $40k - $65k for academic positions, $60k-$75k for government positions, and $85k-115$ in the private sector. Starting salaries for recent graduates with bachelor's degrees range from about $30k-$70k. In all employment areas, salaries grow at a reasonable rate with increased experience and seniority. The unemployment rate for graduates at both the bachelor's and Ph.D. levels have been well below 10% in recent years.

In most cases, academic positions have significantly lower starting salaries than industry, since the standard academic salary is for nine or ten months of teaching rather than for 12 months. However, the tradeoff is that academic jobs allow a greater degree of freedom in how you spend your time and what type of research you pursue. Furthermore, academic salaries can be supplemented by extra teaching, consultant work, or grant-funded summer salaries, which, in many cases, can raise a professor's total income to levels close to what would be earned in the industry. So, although salary is certainly a consideration, ultimately, the deciding factor for what type of career to pursue should be based on what type of work would make you happiest in the long term.

Top companies hiring clinical research associates now:

Which companies pay clinical research associates the most?

Clinical research associate salaries at Meta and Masimo are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average clinical research associate salary at companies like Dexcom and BD are highly competitive.

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate
1	Meta	$125,508	$60.34
2	Masimo	$102,384	$49.22
3	Dexcom	$94,320	$45.35
4	BD	$92,447	$44.45
5	Neuralink IT Solutions	$91,483	$43.98
6	Cordis	$89,953	$43.25
7	Boston Scientific	$88,871	$42.73
8	Abbott	$88,754	$42.67
9	Karyopharm	$88,545	$42.57
10	Parexel International	$87,761	$42.19
11	Pharmaceutical Research Associates, Inc.	$87,437	$42.04
12	Vaxart	$83,708	$40.24
13	Axogen	$82,677	$39.75
14	Integra LifeSciences	$82,603	$39.71
15	Novo Nordisk	$81,481	$39.17
16	Catalyst Pharmaceuticals	$81,394	$39.13
17	Level One Bank	$81,066	$38.97
18	Agilent Technologies	$81,022	$38.95
19	Merck	$79,906	$38.42
20	Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings	$79,602	$38.27

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$65,000$63,600$62,200$60,800$59,400$58,000

MaleFemale

Clinical Research Associate salary by industry

The average clinical research associate salary varies across industries:

The average clinical research associate salary in the pharmaceutical industry is $73,702, the highest of any industry.
The average clinical research associate salary in the finance industry is $73,073.
Clinical research associates in the professional industry earn an average salary of $58,495, the lowest of any industry.

Highest paying industries for clinical research associates

Rank	Industry	Average salary	Hourly rate
1	Pharmaceutical	$73,702	$35.43
2	Insurance	$73,073	$35.13
3	Health Care	$69,946	$33.63
4	Manufacturing	$69,095	$33.22
5	Professional	$58,495	$28.12

High paying clinical research associate jobs

Clinical research associate salary trends

The average clinical research associate salary has risen by $10,577 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average clinical research associate earned $52,389 annually, but today, they earn $62,966 a year. That works out to a 15% change in pay for clinical research associates over the last decade.

Compare clinical research associate salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average clinical research associate salary over time

Compare clinical research associate salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Clinical research associate salary by year

Year	Avg. salary	Hourly rate	% Change
2025	$63,000	$30.27	+6.4%
2024	$58,900	$28.33	+4.1%
2023	$56,500	$27.18	+3.9%
2022	$54,300	$26.11	-0.7%
2021	$54,700	$26.30	-0.3%

Recently added clinical research associate salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date added	Salary
Cedars-Sinai	Clinical Research Associate I-Dept of Orthopaedics	Los Angeles, CA	06/30/2025	$40,697
Abbott Laboratories	Clinical Research Associate LL	Alameda, CA	06/29/2025	$79,500
ZP Group	Clinical Research Associate	Sacramento, CA	06/29/2025	$100,000
Global Channel Management, Inc.	Remote Women's Fertility Clinical Research Associate III	Atlanta, GA	06/29/2025	$104,350
Cedars Sinai	Clinical Research Associate I-Dept of Orthopaedics	California, MD	06/28/2025	$40,697
University of Nebraska Medical Center	Clinical Research Associate I	Omaha, NE	06/28/2025	$38,025
Axogen	Clinical Research Associate II	Tampa, FL	06/27/2025	$81,737
Avispa Technology	Clinical Research Associate	Palo Alto, CA	06/26/2025	$73,045
Mount Sinai Health System	Clinical Research Associate I-Dac-Psychiatry	New York, NY	06/25/2025	$58,661
Avispa	Clinical Research Associate	Palo Alto, CA	06/25/2025	$73,045