CCollegeMatcher

Paramedics

US occupation · SOC 29-2043

Job titles people report: Critical Care Paramedic, Firefighter Paramedic, First Responder, Flight Paramedic

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$60,600
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$49,660 – $73,470
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
100,610
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+5.7%
At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
Openings a year (projected)
4,300
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Postsecondary nondegree award
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

Administer basic or advanced emergency medical care and assess injuries and illnesses. May administer medication intravenously, use equipment such as EKGs, or administer advanced life support to sick or injured individuals.

Main tasks

  • Perform emergency cardiac care, such as cardioversion and manual defibrillation.
  • Perform emergency invasive intervention before delivering patient to an acute care facility.
  • Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel.
  • Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures.
  • Comfort and reassure patients.
  • Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings.
  • Operate equipment, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs), external defibrillators, or bag valve mask resuscitators, in advanced life support environments.
  • Perform emergency pharmacological interventions.

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

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Postsecondary nondegree award
Work experience in a related job: less than 5 years
O*NET Job Zone 3
Medium preparation
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Interests it suits

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

  • Social: helping, teaching and caring for people
  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
  • Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas

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

  • Emergency Medical Technology/Technician (EMT Paramedic)

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