2026 Medical Coding and Billing Salary Report

Introduction

Every year, tens of thousands of medical records specialists — a term that encompasses medical coders, billers, auditors, practice managers, and compliance officers — take AAPC's annual salary survey to provide an overview of compensation and income trends within the industry. If you participated in our latest survey, we sincerely thank you.

From here, we hope you will explore how credentials, location, education, employer type, and other factors impact your income potential.

Career profile of a medical records specialist

Medical records specialist — a term used to describe a variety of positions tasked with managing patient revenue in the various healthcare settings — ranks high in job opportunities and career advancement potential. Medical records specialists can encompass many occupations such as medical coders, medical billers, compliance officers, health information management technicians, revenue cycle management specialists, clinical documentation experts, auditors, and risk adjustment coders. The income range for medical records specialists is competitive and far exceeds the required financial and time investment compared with preparing for many other professions. What's more, working with healthcare providers in the medical field offers a career path rich in personal reward.

*The 2026 salary report is based on 2025 data. Although AAPC is a global company, only U.S. participant data was considered in this report to provide more accurate U.S. dollar salary results.

More certifications, higher pay

Additional factors

In addition to competitive incomes and standard employment benefits, many employers also offer paid continuing education. Full or partial coverage of continuing education is particularly valuable, given the correlation between income and AAPC credentials.

Other variables that weigh into the income equation include experience, the types and number of credentials, specialty/medical field, employer type, and location.

Income trends based on credential

AAPC members have established a reputation of excellence within the healthcare industry. This is attributed to quality training, certification, and on-the-job experience. Incomes increase year over year, underscoring the value of medical coding certification as a measure of proficiency.

The biggest income increases over the past five years (from 2020 to 2025) go to the Certified Inpatient Coder (CIC^®) with a 41.9 percent overall increase.

*Formerly Certified Professional Coder-Instructor (CPC-I)

2025 incomes based on work experience

2025 Salary Survey respondents report a median 13.7 years in the industry. With medical coding experience comes career advancement opportunities into high-paying healthcare business roles, such as practice management, medical auditing, compliance, and clinical documentation improvement specialist.

Medical records specialists with a master’s degree earn 33.4 percent more on average than those with no postsecondary education, according to AAPC's 2025 Salary Survey. This income hike, however, has more to do with the professional’s role and job title than it does with education.

If you have your sights set on revenue cycle management, a four- or six-year degree program may be a wise decision. Regardless of education, however, there are several paths a certified medical coder who bypasses college or university can take to leadership and its financial rewards.

2025 Wages by State

Click on the state name to learn how remote work, certification, education, and experience influence salary for that geographic area.

Income trends based on location

Respondents to AAPC’s 2025 Salary Survey reported income losses of greater than 10 percent in three states, Hawaii (-10.8 percent), Mississippi (-10.3 percent), and North Dakota (-17.3 percent).

The three states reporting the biggest gains in 2025 are Delaware (15.0 percent), Louisiana (4.3 percent), and Minnesota (4.0 percent). Other states with 3 percent or greater improved incomes are Montana and Utah.

States with 3%+ salary increases

Health systems, individual hospitals, and physician practices

The American Hospital Association reports that there are over 397 U.S. health systems, and that 68 percent of U.S. hospitals are part of these health systems. There are 6,093 hospitals and 4,157 of them are in health systems that also include physician groups, urgent care clinics, and rehabilitation centers. As the largest employer type, the health system pays medical records specialists an average of $67,657 a year, which is approximately 27 percent more income than the medical office of a solo physician or small physician group.

Medical records specialists employed by individual hospitals earn the second highest income at $65,396 per year, followed by those employed by large physician group practices (50 or more physicians), earning $65,224, then medium group practices (11-49 physicians) earning $59,088, and finally, solo physicians or small physician group practices (2-10 physicians) earning $53,246.

Salaries by practice size

Other employers

Besides physician offices, hospitals, and health systems, other organizations relying on billing and coding staff include ambulatory surgery centers, walk-in clinics, assisted living and long-term care facilities, home health agencies, hospice groups, telehealth companies, labs, and imaging centers.

Other employers not related to direct patient care include software and durable medical equipment vendors, insurance companies, government agencies, educational institutions, billing companies, risk adjustment vendors, healthcare consulting firms, and some law offices.

Trends by employer type

Only 10 percent of respondents to AAPC’s 2025 Salary Survey report working for small physician practices in 2025. This number represents a notable shift from 22.4 percent in 2010. More than 43 percent of medical coders, billers, and other healthcare business professionals now work for the largest employer types, which include health systems, inpatient and outpatient hospitals, inpatient-only hospitals, and outpatient-only hospitals.

How COVID-19 influenced remote work

The COVID-19 pandemic beginning in early 2020 propelled the widespread adoption of remote work. Rapid global spread and infection of a little-understood virus at the time shuttered onsite transactions for countless businesses of every size and form as the epidemiology and infectious disease community scrambled to learn more about the disease. This forced businesses to carefully rethink how to manage everyday duties without sacrificing quality. 

Throughout the pandemic, employers learned how to perform business functions in ways that not only reduced disease spread (of all types of infections), but also reduced office overhead and operation costs. This in turn created a sought-after employee benefit in the form of remote work. 

What 2025 data tells us about remote work

Employers of medical coders, billers, and other healthcare business professionals are part of the remote work trend, as shown by a whopping 64.8 percent of the AAPC 2025 Salary Survey respondents reporting that they work remotely full time. As recently as 2017, approximately 70 percent of medical records specialists worked exclusively at an onsite office.

More than a convenience

A remote position can provide employees with even more savings than the paycheck itself. Consider that remote work cuts down on commuting costs, the need to buy business attire, and the temptation to spend money for lunches out. Remote work may also lead to improved work-life balance with reduced commute times.

Yearly growth projected at 7%

U.S. governmental data also indicate that opportunities for medical records specialists continue to grow. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS):

• The BLS projects job growth for medical records specialists to grow 7 percent from 2024-34, which is much faster than the average for all occupations at 3.1 percent.

• On average each year, approximately 14,200 openings for medical records specialists are projected over the next decade due to the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or retire.

Factors fueling growth

An increasing share of the population is entering older age groups, which typically require more medical services. As a result, more medical records specialists will be needed to convert related health information into standardized codes to be used for insurance reimbursement and other purposes.

Additional records, coupled with widespread use of electronic health records by healthcare providers, will support demand for specialists to code and maintain the associated information in all areas of the healthcare industry.

As payers focus more on data drivers of health outcomes and expenditures and further implement pay for performance models, medical coders will become increasingly important in revenue cycle management.

Medical records specialist incomes vs. incomes across all industries and education levels

Nationwide, medical record specialists, which include medical coders and billers, earned a median annual income of $65,007 in 2025. This is slightly above par with median 2nd-quarter incomes across the country in all industries at $62,192, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Keep in mind that the number for all industries number includes the incomes of people with advanced education degrees.

We see a sharp distinction in state economies when we look at median individual incomes across the country. The range between the highest and lowest single-earner income across all industries is 117.4 percent (New York at $115,076 and Mississippi at $52,936).