08/31/2026
If you haven’t read the new paper from Julie Cavallario, Cailee Welch Bacon, and Chad Starkey on athletic training compensation, you should.
I think it’s one of the most important pieces of literature to come out for the future of the profession in a long time.
It asks a pretty uncomfortable question: Are we part of the problem or part of the solution?
The paper gets into stagnant salaries, negotiation, benchmarking, salary transparency, and the systems that have helped keep compensation where it is.
One recommendation really stood out to me: salary information has to reach employers, not just athletic trainers.
That’s a big part of what AT Finder can become.
AT Finder can be a vessel to help solve that problem by creating more visibility around what employers are paying, what competing organizations are offering, where jobs are sitting open, and where the market is starting to move.
Because another part of this conversation matters too:
The supply-and-demand equation is changing.
I see it every week. Jobs stay open. Positions get reposted. Employers are competing for the same athletic trainers, and entire settings are increasingly competing for the same workforce.
That creates leverage.
If employers can see the market more clearly, they can build better positions. If athletic trainers can see it more clearly, they can make better decisions and negotiate from a stronger position.
That’s where I see AT Finder fitting in:
More transparency. Better market information. Better decisions on both sides.
I wrote more about the paper, what I think it gets right, and why the changing labor market may finally start putting real pressure on athletic training salaries.
Plus: 102 new athletic trainer jobs. 71% include salary information.
Among them:
💰 Seattle Children’s: $88,786–$133,180
💰 Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist: $68,000–$103,000
💰 Army Reserve H2F in Honolulu: $95,000–$120,000
💰 Donna ISD: up to $89,377
💰 Moore Wellness Systems near Cincinnati: $65,000–$70,000
And there are a few salaries this week that deserve a much harder conversation.