What is the average salary of a surgical first assistant?

A surgical assistant, also known as a surgical technologist, earns a median pay of $41,790 per year or around $20.09 per hour, although some earn more and some earn less, according to the United States Department of Labor Statistics (BLS). The highest-paid 10 percent of surgical assistants in the field earned more than $60,240 in 2012 while the lowest 10 percent earned less than $29,710.

The need for surgical assistants and surgical technologists is expected to rise by around 30 percent by 2022, notes the BLS. This will add 29,300 more jobs to the already 98,500 jobs for surgical technologists in the national workforce.