Clinical Research Coordinator.
Louisville.
$53,000
median salary, 9% below the national average
$42,000 to $67,000. Last updated August 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
Louisville is 12% cheaper than the national average. For Clinical Research Coordinators, that shakes out to a median of $53,000, with the full range spanning $42,000 to $67,000. Therapeutic area and trial phase drive the biggest pay differences. Know the range before you walk in. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for Clinical Research Coordinator in Louisville, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $82,500 for Social Science Research Assistants (SOC 19-4061) in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN metropolitan area, based on 570 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$48,950
25th percentile
$53,050
Median
$82,500
75th percentile
$106,590
90th percentile
$136,090
Workers surveyed
570
Why this differs from the estimate above. The Orbyt estimate of $53,000 is 36% lower than this published figure. That is usually not an error in either number: BLS reports by occupation code, and Social Science Research Assistants covers a different population than the Clinical Research Coordinator title as it is typically advertised. Both are shown, unreconciled, so you can judge which one describes the job you mean.
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Social Science Research Assistants (SOC 19-4061) rather than Clinical Research Coordinator specifically. The Louisville range at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.
View the BLS source for SOC 19-4061Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $48,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$34,000
to $42,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$45,000
to $56,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$58,000
to $69,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$66,000
to $82,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $11,000 to the total package.
Base
$53,000
Equity
$6,000
Bonus
$4,000
Signing
$1,000
Estimated total: $64,000
How Louisville compares.
Louisville, KY
$53,000
Cost of living: 12% below average
National Average
$58,000
Louisville is $5,000 below
Clinical Research Coordinator salary by city.
Salary by role in Louisville.
What you should know.
The Clinical Research Coordinator landscape in Louisville is not what most salary sites will tell you. Louisville is home to UPS Worldport, the world's largest automated package handling facility, making it a logistics and supply chain powerhouse. The city also has strong healthcare and bourbon distillery industries. Its central location and affordable cost of living make it attractive for distribution and operations roles. Therapeutic area and trial phase drive the biggest pay differences. Oncology, gene therapy, and Phase I trials pay the most due to protocol complexity. ACRP or SoCRA certification adds 8 to 12% above non-certified coordinators. Academic medical centers and large CROs in biotech hubs offer the highest salaries.
Entry-level CRCs start at $48,000 to $55,000 with a science degree. Certified CRCs with three to five years of experience earn $65,000 to $80,000. Senior CRCs or clinical research managers can reach $85,000 to $110,000 overseeing multi-site trials and regulatory submissions. In Louisville, your dollars stretch further. Cost of living runs 12% below the national average, which means even a median salary buys a stronger lifestyle.
Base salary is not the full picture. CRCs receive benefits including tuition reimbursement, certification exam fees, and conference attendance stipends. CRO-employed coordinators may receive project completion bonuses of $2,000 to $5,000. Some pharmaceutical sponsors offer annual merit increases of 3 to 6%. And on the tax side: kentucky has a flat 4% state income tax. Louisville has an occupational tax of about 2.2%. The combined rate is moderate, and the low cost of living offsets the local tax. When someone quotes you $53,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Leverage UPS and the logistics corridor when negotiating. Supply chain and operations professionals command premiums in Louisville's distribution heavy economy. The range for Clinical Research Coordinators in Louisville runs from $42,000 to $67,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
Common questions.
Clinical Research Coordinator salary in other cities.
Other salaries in Louisville.
Related salary pages
Jump to nearby roles and cities most relevant to Clinical Research Coordinators in Louisville.
Related tools.
Do you work as a clinical research coordinator in Louisville?
Your individual figure is never published. Submissions appear only as aggregate percentiles, and nothing is shown for a role and city until at least five people have reported. It is stored against your account, which is what keeps the dataset clean.
Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Clinical Research Coordinator Salary in Louisville, KY." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/clinical-research-coordinator/louisville
Want this data on your site? Embed the salary widget. One script tag, free forever.
Related tools