---
title: "Assistive Technology Professional"
description: "Matches people with disabilities to devices such as power wheelchairs, communication aids and adapted computers, then sets them up and trains users."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/assistive-technology-professional"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Assistive Technology Professional

**Category:** Community and Social Service · **SOC code:** 21-1015 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 21-1015.00

Matches people with disabilities to devices such as power wheelchairs, communication aids and adapted computers, then sets them up and trains users.

Also advertised as: Assistive Technology Specialist; ATP; Rehabilitation Technology Specialist; Seating and Mobility Specialist; AT Specialist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $46,850 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $22.52/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $35,060 to $77,170, with the middle half between $38,770 and $59,260
- **Total US employment:** 94,740
- **Typical entry education:** Master's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +2.2% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 8,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 29/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 94,740 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $35,060 |
| 25th | $38,770 |
| 50th (median) | $46,850 |
| 75th | $59,260 |
| 90th | $77,170 |
| Mean (average) | $51,820 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WY | $67,640 | $72,974 | 70 |
| ND | $63,050 | $70,875 | 210 |
| AK | $61,590 | $60,171 | 130 |
| KY | $58,540 | $64,930 | 790 |
| WA | $58,050 | $54,246 | 5,440 |
| CT | $56,340 | $54,377 | 2,410 |
| GA | $55,000 | $57,117 | 740 |
| OR | $54,970 | $53,183 | 1,630 |
| ID | $54,550 | $57,124 | 820 |
| AL | $54,040 | $60,840 | 540 |
| PR | $53,180 | No BEA price parity | 290 |
| ME | $51,150 | $52,705 | 330 |
| VT | $50,030 | $51,073 | 310 |
| TX | $49,990 | $51,506 | 1,840 |
| NJ | $49,730 | $45,706 | 1,630 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/assistive-technology-professional/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/assistive-technology-professional.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 96,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 99,000 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,200 jobs, or +2.2%. Slower than average: 2.2% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 8,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Master's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

## What the work involves

- Assess clients' functional needs and goals
- Recommend devices for mobility, communication and computer access
- Fit and configure wheelchairs, seating and controls
- Document medical necessity for insurance and funding sources
- Train users, families and caregivers on equipment
- Coordinate with therapists, physicians and suppliers
- Adjust or replace equipment as needs change
- Keep current on new assistive devices and software

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Therapy and Counseling — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Social (S), Investigative (I), Enterprising (E).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 6.80 |
| I — Investigative | 4.15 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.56 |
| C — Conventional | 3.26 |
| A — Artistic | 2.98 |
| R — Realistic | 2.54 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ENFJ | 75.6 |
| ESFJ | 70.8 |
| ESFP | 69.1 |
| ENFP | 66.5 |
| INFJ | 61.7 |

Best-fitting types: ENFJ, ESFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Rehabilitation Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rehabilitation-counselor) — median $46,850
- [Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mental-health-and-substance-abuse-social-worker) — median $60,280
- [Mental Health Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mental-health-counselor) — median $60,320
- [Healthcare Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/healthcare-social-worker) — median $67,880
- [School Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/school-social-worker) — median $59,550
- [Occupational Therapy Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-aide) — median $39,160
- [Psychiatric Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/psychiatric-technician) — median $45,130
- [Clinical Psychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-psychologist) — median $100,580
- [Recreational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/recreational-therapist) — median $61,960
- [Social and Community Service Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/social-and-community-service-manager) — median $80,390

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank 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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/assistive-technology-professional