Pharmacy Technician
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Pharmacy Technician occupation series (code 0661), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
Pharmacy Technician is a mid-sized federal occupation: 7,658 employees (0.4% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family. At an average salary of $70,794 it pays below the federal average of $117,339, and headcount grew 0.3% from the prior period.
- Employees
- 7,658
- Share of workforce
- 0.4%
- Avg salary
- $70,794
- Avg tenure
- 9.5 yrs
FedScope read on Pharmacy Technician (dense series)
As of the June 2026 reporting window, 7,658 people work in the Pharmacy Technician occupation (OPM code 0661) across federal agencies, 0.4% of the 1,953,300-strong federal civilian workforce. Headcount moved up by 0.3% from the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.
Pharmacy Technician pays $70,794 per year on average, moving up 0.0% from the prior period (a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change). Employees in this role stay an average of 9.5 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.
Code 06, the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, is where the federal government classifies Pharmacy Technician alongside 44 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Pharmacy Technician postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family.
Within the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, Pharmacy Technician ranks #10 of 45 by headcount, accounting for 2.3% of the family's combined 339,162 employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (22nd percentile) of pay among Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Pharmacy Technician pay compares to the federal average of $117,339
Occupation Average
$70,794
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-39.7%
Where Pharmacy Technician ranks on lean federal pay
Its average salary of $70,794 is higher than 27% of federal occupation series (146 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Pharmacy Technician sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; Pharmacy Technician ranks higher than 27%.
Related Occupations in Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse | 106,218 | $132,267 | 10.2 yrs |
| Medical Support Assistance | 39,856 | $58,279 | 8.2 yrs |
| Medical Officer | 34,687 | $301,569 | 11.6 yrs |
| General Health Science | 17,434 | $133,765 | 11.9 yrs |
| Practical Nurse | 16,755 | $75,898 | 10.4 yrs |
| Pharmacist | 14,529 | $167,390 | 11.1 yrs |
| Nursing Assistant | 14,498 | $55,851 | 7.8 yrs |
| Health Aid and Technician | 12,490 | $61,276 | 10.8 yrs |
| Health System Specialist | 7,966 | $110,534 | 15.9 yrs |
| Medical Technologist | 6,123 | $117,456 | 12.2 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Pharmacy Technician outside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (7,658 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($70,794 here).
Key takeaways
- Pharmacy Technician pays below the federal average by 39.7% ($70,794 vs $117,339 federal-wide), at the 27th percentile for pay among 541 tracked occupation series.
- A mid-sized federal occupation by headcount: 7,658 employees, 0.4% of the federal civilian workforce, and headcount grew 0.3% from the prior period.
- According to OPM FedScope June 2026, Pharmacy Technician ranks #63 of 663 federal occupation series by headcount (the same employee_count ordering as our occupations directory).
- Within the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, Pharmacy Technician ranks #10 of 45 by headcount, accounting for 2.3% of the family's combined 339,162 employees.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.