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Boston Career Explorer

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical

Pharmacists

Dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use. May advise physicians and other health practitioners on the selection, dosage, interactions, and side effects of medications.

Also called: Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (CPS), Community Pharmacist, Hospital Pharmacist, Inpatient Pharmacist, Pharm D (Pharmacy Doctor)

Compare with my current job (Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$139,660
$67.14/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
5,280
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+4.5%
340 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Doctoral or professional degree

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$127,550$134,840$139,660$158,770$168,390

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Review prescriptions to assure accuracy, to ascertain the needed ingredients, and to evaluate their suitability.
  • Collaborate with other health care professionals to plan, monitor, review, or evaluate the quality or effectiveness of drugs or drug regimens, providing advice on drug applications or characteristics.
  • Work in hospitals or clinics or for Health Management Organizations (HMOs), dispensing prescriptions, serving as a medical team consultant, or specializing in specific drug therapy areas, such as oncology or nuclear pharmacotherapy.
  • Provide information and advice regarding drug interactions, side effects, dosage, and proper medication storage.
  • Provide specialized services to help patients manage conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, smoking cessation, or high blood pressure.
  • Analyze prescribing trends to monitor patient compliance and to prevent excessive usage or harmful interactions.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Moderate exposure61 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 60
  • Language-model AIOE 60
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 64

Observed AI use today: Some (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for pharmacists is moderate, and AI tools are used for some of this work today. Tools can help with checking prescriptions for accuracy and flagging drug interactions. They are less able to replace working with doctors and nurses on drug plans, or coaching patients through conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure.

Likely to change

  • Checking prescriptions for accuracy
  • Looking up drug interaction information

Still relies on people

  • Advising doctors and care teams on drug plans
  • Coaching patients to manage ongoing conditions

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Physician Assistants

    Your medication knowledge and patient counseling carry over to diagnosing and treating patients, with similar pay and a faster-growing field in Massachusetts.

    Pay difference
    +$2,750 median
    AI exposure
    Moderate
    MA growth
    +18.2%
    To get started
    Master's degree

  • Optometrists

    You already use drug knowledge and test review; optometrists use pharmaceutical agents and analyze test results to build treatment plans for eye care.

    Pay difference
    +$15,310 median
    AI exposure
    Moderate
    MA growth
    +3.6%
    To get started
    Doctoral or professional degree

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

3 programs near Boston (plus 2 graduate)

Related occupations

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