It’s not just the medical coding salary outlook that makes coding a desirable field to consider entering into.

The job opportunity outlook for this field is also very bright.

To get a good look at both the salary and the job forecast, we’ll turn to an expert resource: the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The BLS provides statistics on almost every known occupational field, including coding.

According to the BLS, medical coding and billing specialists are classified within the category of “medical records and health information technicians.” Medical coders–or “coding specialists”–can provide a wide range of services depending upon their work setting. In general though, they assign codes to care and services received by patients for the purpose of reimbursement (1).

To provide salary reports, the BLS uses data gathered over a period of time. The downside is that their information might not be up-to-date for today. But looking back can tell us a whole lot about what we can expect in the future.

According to the BLS, here’s what the medical coding salary looked like in May 2008 for the coders included in their survey (1):

– Those who fell within the top 10 percent of earnings made more than $50, 060

– Those who fell within the lowest 10 percent or earnings made less than $20, 440

– Those who fell within the middle 50 percent in this field earned between $24,290 and $39,490.

Among other factors that made a difference in salary, work setting had a big impact.

Coders who were employed by the government had the highest average earnings ($42,760), while those working in physician’s offices earned the least ($26,210) (1).

But salary is only one of the things to think about, when it comes to choosing a profession. Job outlook is also very important. And for coding and billing specialists, there’s good news.

In the near future, the need for coding professionals is expected to grow much faster than the average. Over the next five years, opportunities in the medical coding field are expected to increase by more than 20 percent (1).