As of May 2008, there were nearly 49,000 diagnostic medical sonographers in the United States, according to the United States Department of Labor. Employment in this field continues to rise each year, as more and more hospitals and other medical facilitates embrace this form of diagnostic imagine. Once used almost exclusively by OB-GYNs to monitor the fetus during pregnancy, sonography today is used in a number of areas of medicine. As the field grows, more colleges are beginning programs to help potential sonographers learn more about the field with an intense medical education. There are both two-year and four-year programs available, and although the cost of education can be high, the diagnostic medical sonography technician salary you can expect may make you forget all about what you’re paying in tuition and fees.

The average annual salary of a diagnostic medical sonography technician as of May 2008 was $62,600, and on the rise, giving sonographers an average wage of over $30 per hour. The middle 50% of people in this career make from $52,570 to $61,980 annually, and the top sonographers have salaries that approach six digits. Considering that this career field can start with just a two-year education, that’s a lot of money.

Of course, location plays a huge role in the amount of money you can expect to make. The states with the highest average incomes in 2008 were Oregon at $76,570, Washington at $75,320, Connecticut at $74,260, Massachusetts at $73,690, and Alaska at $73,290. You may have to go where the jobs are, however. As of 2008, the highest employment concentration was in Florida, with other high concentrations found in Connecticut, New Jersey, Alabama, and Tennessee. In all of these states, annual salary was about $49,000. If you want to make the most money possible in this career, check out opportunities in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California area, where diagnostic medical sonography technicians make a whopping $95,170 on average. Other cities with high average annual salaries for this job include Worcester in Massachusetts and San Jose, Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, and San Francisco, all in California.

The average salary you can expect also depends on where you work. By far, the largest employers of diagnostic medical sonography technicians are hospitals and doctor’s offices, but you can also find work through other sources. As in many industries, the highest-paid sonographers, with an average annual salary of just over $78,000, work for the government. Other places where the jobs in this field are high-paying include employment services, office administrative services, company/enterprise managements, and colleges, universities, and other professional schools. Even at a general medical or surgical hospital, however, the average wage for diagnostic medical sonography technicians is over $62,000.

You’ll also be rewarded with a higher salary for staying with a company for a long time, staying registered as a sonographer by taking annual classes, and becoming a specialist by focusing on one type of sonography. No matter what career decisions you make, though, this is one job you can expect to be high-paying well into the future.