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Medical Dosimetrists

US occupation · SOC 29-2036

Job titles people report: CMD (Certified Medical Dosimetrist), Dosimetrist, Medical Dosimetrist, Medical Physicist, Radiation Oncology Medical Physicist

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$147,470
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$132,080 – $167,030
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
3,410
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+5%
At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
Openings a year (projected)
200
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Bachelor's degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Generate radiation treatment plans, develop radiation dose calculations, communicate and supervise the treatment plan implementation, and consult with members of radiation oncology team.

Main tasks

  • Design the arrangement of radiation fields to reduce exposure to critical patient structures, such as organs, using computers, manuals, and guides.
  • Plan the use of beam modifying devices, such as compensators, shields, and wedge filters, to ensure safe and effective delivery of radiation treatment.
  • Identify and outline bodily structures, using imaging procedures, such as x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, or positron emission tomography.
  • Calculate the delivery of radiation treatment, such as the amount or extent of radiation per session, based on the prescribed course of radiation therapy.
  • Calculate, or verify calculations of, prescribed radiation doses.
  • Develop radiation treatment plans in consultation with members of the radiation oncology team.
  • Supervise or perform simulations for tumor localizations, using imaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, or positron emission tomography scans.
  • Create and transfer reference images and localization markers for treatment delivery, using image-guided radiation therapy.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Bachelor's degree
O*NET Job Zone 4
Considerable preparation
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 1 programme to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Health & Nursing

  • Medical Radiologic Technology/Science - Radiation Therapist

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Health & Nursing at the Major step.

Where many students take health & nursing

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk