Careers
Stretch Therapist Salary: What the Data Actually Shows
Search “stretch therapist salary” and you will get a confident national number from three or four job boards. Those numbers are modelled — inferred from job postings and self-reported profiles. Here is the part none of them tell you: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a stretch therapist salary, because there is no stretch therapist occupation code.
That is not a technicality. It means every “average stretch therapist salary” you have read is an estimate built on top of a job that federal statistics do not separately measure. We think you are better served by the real thing: the two occupations BLS does measure that stretch practitioners actually come from and get paid under, published state by state, with the gaps left visible.
The two numbers worth knowing
Nationally, in the most recent BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release:
- Massage Therapists (SOC 31-9011) — annual median $58,450, annual mean $63,830, across 98,790 employed.
- Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors (SOC 39-9031) — annual median $47,160, annual mean $52,420, across 322,930 employed.
Most working stretch practitioners sit inside one of those two payroll categories. Which one usually depends on your licence: hands-on practitioners with a massage licence tend to be counted in the first, and practitioners working out of a gym floor in the second. The gap between them — roughly $11,000 a year at the median — is the single clearest argument for adding a credential rather than staying a generalist trainer.
Why these two occupations, and what the gaps mean
Two things to understand before you read the tables.
These are proxies, and we label them as such. Neither table is titled “stretch therapist” because neither measures that job. They are the nearest measured occupations. Treat them as the floor and the shape of the market in your state, not as a quote for your salary.
Blank cells are honest. BLS suppresses any estimate that fails its confidentiality or reliability screens — typically where too few employers report in a state. Where that happens you will see “Not published,” not a zero and not a number borrowed from the state next door. Vermont’s massage therapist figures are suppressed in the current release, for example. An aggregator would fill that cell. We would rather you knew it was empty.
Massage therapists by state
Sorted by annual median, highest first. This is the closer proxy for licensed, hands-on stretch practitioners.
| State | Annual median | Annual mean | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | $134,930 | $121,350 | 570 |
| Washington | $87,360 | $87,460 | 3,740 |
| Oregon | $86,970 | $82,160 | 2,250 |
| Hawaii | $81,280 | $122,580 | 1,330 |
| New Hampshire | $80,360 | $79,270 | 270 |
| Rhode Island | $74,960 | $80,470 | 290 |
| North Dakota | $74,140 | $74,810 | 100 |
| Maine | $73,290 | $73,300 | 370 |
| Michigan | $70,960 | $65,040 | 2,410 |
| District of Columbia | $64,110 | $76,020 | 120 |
| Massachusetts | $63,390 | $73,100 | 2,830 |
| Minnesota | $63,070 | $69,720 | 1,690 |
| New York | $62,630 | $67,860 | 4,500 |
| Arizona | $62,400 | $65,250 | 2,530 |
| Maryland | $62,270 | $65,420 | 1,350 |
| Connecticut | $62,260 | $64,710 | 700 |
| Virginia | $62,220 | $72,490 | 2,730 |
| Utah | $62,130 | $65,980 | 1,840 |
| Missouri | $62,050 | $67,760 | 1,500 |
| Wyoming | $61,980 | $60,190 | 150 |
| Colorado | $61,060 | $68,380 | 3,950 |
| North Carolina | $60,650 | $66,630 | 2,460 |
| Illinois | $60,490 | $60,440 | 4,950 |
| Idaho | $60,420 | $63,230 | 170 |
| Kentucky | $59,790 | $65,060 | 780 |
| Texas | $59,370 | $65,060 | 8,630 |
| Delaware | $58,870 | $63,340 | 230 |
| Pennsylvania | $58,300 | $62,910 | 2,990 |
| Wisconsin | $58,070 | $61,060 | 1,520 |
| South Carolina | $58,000 | $56,750 | 1,840 |
| Iowa | $57,710 | $62,140 | 540 |
| Ohio | $55,990 | $57,920 | 1,760 |
| Indiana | $55,590 | $60,880 | 1,480 |
| Nebraska | $53,950 | $63,020 | 270 |
| Montana | $53,540 | $59,660 | 200 |
| Nevada | $53,540 | $60,240 | 1,620 |
| South Dakota | $52,000 | $48,790 | 180 |
| Georgia | $50,820 | $54,950 | 1,700 |
| New Jersey | $50,150 | $53,420 | 2,890 |
| Tennessee | $50,070 | $57,350 | 1,230 |
| Kansas | $49,990 | $56,420 | 780 |
| Florida | $49,680 | $53,730 | 9,280 |
| Alabama | $48,930 | $55,840 | 600 |
| West Virginia | $46,600 | $48,410 | 250 |
| California | $45,970 | $55,630 | 14,600 |
| Mississippi | $40,490 | $51,420 | 230 |
| Arkansas | $39,990 | $44,680 | 430 |
| New Mexico | $37,840 | $50,130 | 360 |
| Oklahoma | $36,630 | $52,990 | 520 |
| Louisiana | $36,480 | $38,140 | 890 |
| Vermont | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| United States | $58,450 | $63,830 | 98,790 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, SOC 31-9011. Retrieved 2026-08-23. Cells marked “Not published” are suppressed by BLS.
Exercise trainers and group fitness instructors by state
Sorted by annual median, highest first. This is the closer proxy for practitioners working inside a gym or studio.
| State | Annual median | Annual mean | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $64,620 | $72,370 | 9,200 |
| Connecticut | $61,580 | $66,870 | 2,850 |
| New Jersey | $59,870 | $65,470 | 11,350 |
| Oregon | $58,510 | $60,470 | 4,800 |
| California | $57,990 | $62,890 | 43,600 |
| Nevada | $57,960 | $58,100 | 3,010 |
| Vermont | $57,300 | $59,960 | 710 |
| Washington | $50,830 | $61,800 | 9,270 |
| Wyoming | $50,250 | $57,570 | 560 |
| Colorado | $49,900 | $56,400 | 10,500 |
| Idaho | $49,780 | $52,410 | 2,360 |
| New Hampshire | $49,360 | $54,120 | 1,500 |
| Hawaii | $48,290 | $54,980 | 990 |
| Arizona | $47,980 | $52,540 | 7,010 |
| Maryland | $47,420 | $54,110 | 8,650 |
| Tennessee | $47,380 | $48,380 | 5,080 |
| Georgia | $47,150 | $50,460 | 7,500 |
| New York | $47,090 | $60,770 | 20,140 |
| Maine | $47,060 | $53,380 | 1,140 |
| Illinois | $46,800 | $53,300 | 19,830 |
| North Carolina | $46,450 | $48,270 | 10,670 |
| Alaska | $46,210 | $45,860 | 800 |
| Rhode Island | $45,640 | $52,990 | 990 |
| Michigan | $45,520 | $47,990 | 6,050 |
| Kentucky | $45,280 | $46,580 | 1,990 |
| Pennsylvania | $45,250 | $46,620 | 11,580 |
| Utah | $44,800 | $49,360 | 6,830 |
| New Mexico | $44,680 | $43,080 | 1,030 |
| Oklahoma | $44,520 | $44,960 | 2,300 |
| Louisiana | $44,410 | $42,450 | 2,290 |
| Delaware | $44,340 | $50,560 | 1,210 |
| Wisconsin | $44,200 | $44,300 | 6,330 |
| Montana | $43,940 | $47,870 | 1,420 |
| South Carolina | $43,630 | $43,370 | 5,130 |
| Minnesota | $43,620 | $46,190 | 7,010 |
| Arkansas | $42,140 | $42,310 | 1,390 |
| Texas | $40,880 | $44,880 | 19,260 |
| Virginia | $40,820 | $46,030 | 12,100 |
| South Dakota | $40,070 | $42,850 | 950 |
| District of Columbia | $39,210 | $55,190 | 1,480 |
| Alabama | $39,180 | $39,330 | 2,680 |
| Florida | $38,800 | $44,630 | 18,070 |
| West Virginia | $38,120 | $39,520 | 500 |
| North Dakota | $37,760 | $41,180 | 680 |
| Missouri | $36,450 | $41,870 | 5,060 |
| Ohio | $36,370 | $40,250 | 9,040 |
| Iowa | $36,160 | $38,290 | 2,510 |
| Kansas | $35,900 | $40,730 | 4,510 |
| Indiana | $34,960 | $37,330 | 5,360 |
| Nebraska | $31,440 | $37,940 | 2,410 |
| Mississippi | $30,540 | $37,390 | 1,260 |
| United States | $47,160 | $52,420 | 322,930 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, SOC 39-9031. Retrieved 2026-08-23. Cells marked “Not published” are suppressed by BLS.
What a stretch session actually bills at
Salary tables describe employees. They do not describe what the service earns, and for stretch therapy that distinction is where the money is.
A 25-minute assisted stretch session bills at $45–$75. Inside a membership it typically lands at $45–$48; as a single drop-in, around $65. That is the number that decides your income, because it sets the ceiling on what any employer can pay you and the floor on what you can charge if you deliver it yourself.
Run it forward. A practitioner delivering six billable sessions a day, five days a week, at $48 inside a membership is generating roughly $1,440 a week in service revenue — before any split. Whether you see that as wage, commission, or margin depends entirely on whether you are staff or the operator.
That is also why the gym-side economics matter to a practitioner: a stretch programme adding $10,000–$25,000 per month to an existing facility is the reason a facility can afford to pay a specialist rather than a floor trainer. Understanding the operator’s arithmetic is how you negotiate against it.
What CNU practitioners have actually billed
Everything above this line is public data anyone can pull. This section is not, and it is the part worth reading twice.
These are documented stretch therapy revenue figures from CNU-certified practitioners and licensees, self-reported by the businesses themselves. Read the column heading carefully: this is gross stretch therapy service revenue, not take-home pay. A gym owner collecting $75,000 through a stretch programme is not paying themselves $75,000. We are showing you what the service generates, because that is the number that determines what it can pay anyone.
| Practitioner / business | Location | Gross stretch revenue | Run rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayn Toppin — Guide Personal Training | Northampton, MA | $175,218 | — |
| Dr. John & Debbie Dabbs — NC REPS | Eden, NC | $75,000 | $7,500/mo |
| Bill Tokmajian — Motivate Fitness | Lower Gwynedd Twp, PA | $56,783 | — |
| David Bender — Contemporary Athlete | Clifton Park, NY | $54,000 | ~$9,800/mo |
| Matt Thoma & Scott Wilson — Results by Design | Louisville, KY | $50,000+ | $8,800+/mo |
| Kim Foster — independent practitioner | — | $39,400 | $6,700/mo |
| Tim Lyons Jr. — Legacy Personal Training | Scottsdale, AZ | $19,631 | ~$2,200/mo |
Self-reported by the businesses named. Gross stretch therapy service revenue, not salary or take-home pay. Periods vary and are noted where known: Bender is January–15 June 2026 (5.5 months); Results by Design is since certifying in January 2026; Lyons is since September 2025. Figures marked with a plus sign are the practitioner’s own current floor rather than a closed total, so those businesses have passed the number shown. These are documented individual outcomes, not averages and not a projection of what any particular practitioner will earn.
The row to study is Kim Foster. Every other line is a business with an existing client base bolting stretch onto it. Foster is an independent practitioner, and $6,700 a month run rate against the BLS national massage therapist median of $58,450 a year is the entire argument for the delivery-model point below: same skill, different economics.
For scale, CNU has certified 200+ practitioners across 46+ active locations, and the typical time from certification to first revenue is 30–60 days.
What actually moves the number
Three things, roughly in order of effect:
Credential. The median gap between the two occupations above is about $11,000. A recognised certification is the mechanism for moving from the lower category into the higher one, and it is the thing a hiring manager can verify.
Geography. The spread across states is far wider than the spread across job titles. Read your own row before you read the national figure.
Delivery model. Employee, contractor, or operator are three different income curves off the same skill. The session rate is fixed by the market; how much of it reaches you is not.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average stretch therapist salary?
There is no official figure, because BLS does not publish a stretch therapist occupation. The two closest measured occupations have national annual medians of $58,450 (massage therapists) and $47,160 (exercise trainers and group fitness instructors). Any single “stretch therapist salary” you see quoted is modelled from job postings, not measured.
Do you need a licence to be a stretch therapist?
Requirements vary by state and by what you actually do with your hands. Practitioners who work under a massage licence are regulated as massage therapists; practitioners delivering assisted stretching in a fitness setting are generally not separately licensed. Check your own state board before you take clients.
Does certification increase what you earn?
It moves two levers. It is the credential that supports being paid in the higher of the two occupational categories, and it supports a higher session rate because the service is priced as a specialism rather than as trainer time.
How current is this data?
These figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release for May 2025, the most recent available. BLS publishes annually. We refresh this page at each release rather than carrying stale numbers.