CCollegeMatcher

Radiologists

US occupation · SOC 29-1224

Job titles people report: Attending Physician, Diagnostic Radiologist, Interventional Neuroradiologist, Interventional Radiologist, Musculoskeletal Specialty Radiologist (MSK Specialty Radiologist), Neuroradiologist, Nuclear Medicine Physician, Nuclear Medicine Specialist, Physician, Radiologist

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$420,860
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$216,800 – $506,010
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
26,770
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+3.4%
Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
Openings a year (projected)
700
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Doctoral or professional 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

Diagnose and treat diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques, such as x rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasounds. May perform minimally invasive medical procedures and tests.

Main tasks

  • Prepare comprehensive interpretive reports of findings.
  • Perform or interpret the outcomes of diagnostic imaging procedures including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), nuclear cardiology treadmill studies, mammography, or ultrasound.
  • Document the performance, interpretation, or outcomes of all procedures performed.
  • Communicate examination results or diagnostic information to referring physicians, patients, or families.
  • Obtain patients' histories from electronic records, patient interviews, dictated reports, or by communicating with referring clinicians.
  • Review or transmit images and information using picture archiving or communications systems.
  • Confer with medical professionals regarding image-based diagnoses.
  • Recognize or treat complications during and after procedures, including blood pressure problems, pain, oversedation, or bleeding.

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

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Doctoral or professional degree
Training once hired: internship/residency
O*NET Job Zone 5
Extensive preparation
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

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
  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 20 programmes 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

  • Medicine
  • Osteopathic Medicine/Osteopathy

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.

Other fields

Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.

Medical Residency/Fellowship Programs

  • Diagnostic Radiology/Nuclear Medicine Combined Specialty Program
  • Nuclear Medicine Residency Program
  • Nuclear Medicine Residency/Fellowship Programs, Other
  • Radiation Oncology Residency Program
  • Radiation Oncology Residency/Fellowship Programs, Other
  • Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program
  • Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency Program
  • Abdominal Radiology Fellowship Program
10 more programmes
  • Diagnostic Radiologic Physics Residency Program
  • Medical Nuclear Physics Residency Program
  • Musculoskeletal Radiology Fellowship Program
  • Neuroradiology Fellowship Program
  • Nuclear Radiology Fellowship Program
  • Pediatric Radiology Fellowship Program
  • Radiologic Physics Residency Program
  • Therapeutic Radiologic Physics Residency Program
  • Vascular and Interventional Radiology Fellowship Program
  • Radiology Residency/Fellowship Programs, Other

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