According to the data obtained from the exclusive ADVANCE Salary Calculator for the past year, the average salary for speech-language pathologists has not changed since last year. Most clinicians still earn between $50,001 and $60,000 a year. Where do you fit in?

Unfortunately, the number of clinicians who entered their data into the Salary Calculator tool on our Web site (www.advance web.com/speech) has been declining over the past few years. In 2007 just over 2,900 people input their information. For this year's salary survey the total number of respondents was only 2,264.

To help us provide a better snapshot of salary information for the profession next year, we hope you'll take a few minutes now or in the coming months to set up a free account or update your existing information, which expires after 12 months. Using the Salary Calculator allows you to access personalized charts, including comprehensive salary breakdowns by region, job title and work setting.

It is not mandatory to complete all of the questions in the Salary Calculator. As a result, the results for each field vary, and percentages may not add up to 100. The following results of the 2008 ADVANCE Salary Survey are current as of Nov. 25.

More than one in five (21.8 percent) of 2,012 respondents reported earning between $40,001 and $50,000. Less than 6 percent have an income of under $20,000, while 3.3 percent earn $100,001 to $150,000 and less than 1 percent have an annual salary exceeding $150,000.

Among 2,215 respondents, most clinicians have either a master of arts (MA) degree (37.2 percent) or a master of science (MS) degree (54.9 percent). Less than 1 percent have earned a doctorate of speech-language pathology (SLPD), and only 0.2 percent hold a doctorate in education (EdD).

More than 80 percent of the survey participants hold a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), while nearly 11 percent have other or additional credentials. Dual certification in speech-language pathology and audiology is held by 1.2 percent of the respondents.

In terms of the correlation between education level and salary, individuals with an MA degree have a slight edge over those with an MS. MA holders earn $63,421, compared to $61,118 for those with an MS. The average salary for clinicians with an SLPD is $47,333, which marks a significant drop from last year, when holders of this degree averaged $53,500. Clinicians with an EdD earn $61,666 on average. Last year they were the top earners in the field at $76,333.

Men still are paid more than women in the profession, and the gap has widened. Male clinicians reported earning over $10,000 more a year ($65,522) than their female counterparts, who average $55,317. In 2007 the gender gap in salary was approximately $8,700, with women averaging $52,832 last year.

The field is still a young one, according to the survey results. More than half of the 2,264 respondents (54.8 percent) have one to five years of experience, a 0.2 percent decrease from last year. Nearly one-fifth (18.7 percent) of those who participated in the survey have been practicing six to 10 years, and roughly 4 percent have been in the profession between 26 and 30 years. Just 0.4 percent have been practicing 36 to 40 years.

Clinicians who reside in the Middle Atlantic and Pacific regions of the country continue to dominate the pay scale. The average salary for clinicians in the Middle Atlantic region (New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) exceeds last year's average of $58,128 by more than $2,000, bringing the average salary to $60,161. Those in the Pacific region (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington) make almost $9,000 more than they did last year ($56,216), with a new average salary of $65,666.

The third highest paid region is New England, where speech-language pathologists earn an average of $55,500. Most clinicians in the rest of the country make at least $50,000. Only the East North Central region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin) falls below that mark, with an average salary of $49,351.

The numbers for employment location have remained virtually identical to last year's. Nearly half (49.4 percent) of the 2,178 respondents work in suburban areas, compared to 32.4 percent in urban areas and 18.1 percent in rural settings.

More than 40 percent of the 2,183 survey respondents work in the schools, and 23.4 percent work in an outpatient clinic. A little over 8 percent provide services in a community or home health setting.

The top three job responsibilities among 2,176 respondents are evaluation and treatment (1,792), direct and indirect intervention services (995), and documentation of patient care services (853). The majority of survey respondents work a regular full week (93.8 percent), while 6.2 percent work overtime.

Employers pay for all benefits for 21.9 percent of 1,628 respondents. Sixty percent of respondents pay for some of their benefits. Only 7.2 percent indicated that they pay out of pocket for their health care needs. More than one in 10 are covered by the plan of a partner or spouse. Most respondents (95.4 percent) retained their health care benefits over the past year, while 4.6 percent lost them.

Thank you to all of those who participated in the 2008 ADVANCE Salary Survey by keeping their information up to date in our online Salary Calculator. We encourage all readers to take a few minutes now to enter or update their data so it will be included in our next salary survey. If any information changes over the coming year, you can update the data.

Our annual salary survey is the most downloaded feature on our Web site, so it's no secret that speech-language pathologists are interested in these statistics. Long-time readers might remember that in 2005-the year we first published salary survey results-we had nearly 6,000 respondents. More than 4,000 participated in 2006.

With your help we will be able to achieve these levels of participation again and provide the most accurate, comprehensive snapshot of salary information in the profession for 2009.

Jason Mosheim is a Senior Associate Editor for ADVANCE. He can be contacted at jmosheim@advanceweb.com.