According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020 the median annual salary for Montana-based healthcare administrators was $90,370. Those in the top ten percent of the field could make $142,690 a year.
According to Montana State University, the majority of Montana counties face shortages in primary care providers—particularly in rural areas. The state also has one of the oldest physician populations in the country… which means waves of retirement will further impact access to care for the widespread population.
That’s a state of affairs that medical and healthcare managers are going to be called on to solve, which is sure to drive demand and salary levels for skilled administrators even higher over the coming years.
Occupational Forecast for Hospital and Medical Office Administrators in Montana
With just over 50 public hospitals in the state, as reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the medical community here is necessarily tight-knit. But the demands that will be coming in the near future are going to necessitate significant expansion in the number of medical office administrators, particularly in Western Montana, where the Census Bureau has found population growth rates as high as 25 percent.
That trend is part of what is leading the state Department of Labor and Industry to predict a 15.7 percent increase in the number of healthcare administration jobs in the state between 2018 and 2028. That come out to 150 openings per year in the field, a combination of new positions with turnover in existing roles.
Healthcare Administration Salaries by City
75th percentile salaries for these professionals are in the six figure range in Billings, Missoula, and even rural East Central, Southwest, and West Montana. Those get even more impressive in the 90th percentile, with rural West Montana offering over $132,000, Billings offering over $160,000, and rural Southwestern Montana offering over $170,000.
Billings
- 25th percentile: $81,980
- Median: $98,930
- 90th percentile: $162,030
Missoula
- 25th percentile: $68,150
- Median: $83,820
- 90th percentile: $137,600
The majority of Montana’s 1,670 medical and health services managers work in the rural areas of the state, where pay levels are often comparable to the more populous areas:
2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Medical and Health Services Managers.
Job growth projections sourced from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry and published in the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Long Term Occupational Projections (2018-2028) database – https://projectionscentral.com/Projections/LongTerm.
Salary figures and job market projections represent state data, not school-specific information.
Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed August 2021.