Therapist vs staff occupational therapist

The differences between therapists and staff occupational therapists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a staff occupational therapist has an average salary of $73,477, which is higher than the $55,943 average annual salary of a therapist.

The top three skills for a therapist include social work, patients and group therapy sessions. The most important skills for a staff occupational therapist are patients, rehabilitation, and physical therapy.

Therapist vs staff occupational therapist overview

	Therapist	Staff Occupational Therapist
Yearly salary	$55,943	$73,477
Hourly rate	$26.90	$35.33
Growth rate	17%	14%
Number of jobs	159,770	138,949
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age	41	40
Years of experience	-	12

Therapist vs staff occupational therapist salary

Therapists and staff occupational therapists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Therapist	Staff Occupational Therapist
Average salary	$55,943	$73,477
Salary range	Between $39,000 And $80,000	Between $56,000 And $96,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Pacifica, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Childhelp	New York University
Best paying industry	Government	Health Care

Differences between therapist and staff occupational therapist education

There are a few differences between a therapist and a staff occupational therapist in terms of educational background:

	Therapist	Staff Occupational Therapist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common major	Psychology	Occupational Therapy
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	Duke University

Therapist vs staff occupational therapist demographics

Here are the differences between therapists' and staff occupational therapists' demographics:

	Therapist	Staff Occupational Therapist
Average age	41	40
Gender ratio	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%	Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.0% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 11.3% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 6.4% Asian, 9.3% White, 75.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	12%	14%

Differences between therapist and staff occupational therapist duties and responsibilities

Therapist example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator and BiPAP's and create or update care plans per patient needs.
Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
Provide on-call crisis intervention as well as standard treatment, rehabilitation and support services with some interventions requiring specialize therapy services.
Develop and implement an effective curriculum of DBT inform group and art therapy classes specifically tailor for chemically dependent patients.
Provide trauma-inform individual psychotherapy, TREM group treatment protocol, and EMDR.
Utilize current brain base therapeutic techniques to teach clients adaptive skills to utilize in daily lives.

Staff occupational therapist example responsibilities.

Achieve advance clinical competency in UE splinting.
Implement ADL techniques and fabricate adaptive equipment for increase modified independence.
Provide accurate assessments/evaluation on rehabilitation patients.
Work contingent for Beaumont home care and at SNF's.
Perform screens & evaluations for upper & lower extremity splints.
Fabricate and modify a variety of hand and elbow splints.

Therapist vs staff occupational therapist skills

Common therapist skills

Social Work, 23%
Patients, 12%
Group Therapy Sessions, 8%
Crisis Intervention, 7%
Mental Health, 4%
Patient Care, 3%

Common staff occupational therapist skills

Patients, 27%
Rehabilitation, 12%
Physical Therapy, 10%
Occupational Therapy, 7%
COTA, 4%
Direct Patient Care, 4%

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Therapist
Therapist vs Staff Occupational Therapist

Updated January 8, 2025

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