---
title: "Clinical Neuropsychologist"
description: "Assess and diagnose patients with neurobehavioral problems related to acquired or developmental disorders of the nervous system, such as…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-neuropsychologist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Clinical Neuropsychologist

**Category:** Life, Physical, and Social Science · **SOC code:** 19-3039 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 19-3039.03

Assess and diagnose patients with neurobehavioral problems related to acquired or developmental disorders of the nervous system, such as neurodegenerative disorders, traumatic brain injury, seizure disorders, and learning disabilities. Recommend treatment after diagnosis, such as therapy, medication, or surgery. Assist with evaluation before and after neurosurgical procedures, such as deep brain stimulation.

Also advertised as: Aviation Neuropsychologist; Board Certified Clinical Neuropsychologist; Clinical Neuropsychologist; Neuropsychology Medical Consultant; Pediatric Clinical Neuropsychologist; Pediatric Neuropsychologist; Staff Psychologist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $110,840 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $53.29/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $54,990 to $168,520, with the middle half between $68,850 and $147,240
- **Total US employment:** 18,820
- **Typical entry education:** Master's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +2.3% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,500 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 27/100 — 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 18,820 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $54,990 |
| 25th | $68,850 |
| 50th (median) | $110,840 |
| 75th | $147,240 |
| 90th | $168,520 |
| Mean (average) | $111,210 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $157,540 | $142,287 | 1,600 |
| KY | $149,990 | $166,362 | 300 |
| NV | $146,850 | $146,881 | 100 |
| OK | $141,290 | $160,844 | 90 |
| VA | $140,640 | $139,104 | 510 |
| IA | $138,420 | $157,722 | 60 |
| TN | $138,070 | $150,288 | 200 |
| AZ | $137,510 | $136,585 | 240 |
| SC | $136,990 | $146,124 | 140 |
| AL | $136,070 | $153,192 | 110 |
| HI | $135,680 | $123,400 | 160 |
| UT | $135,200 | $136,754 | 110 |
| MO | $134,890 | $148,529 | 250 |
| FL | $134,690 | $130,243 | 910 |
| NJ | $132,220 | $121,520 | 370 |

27 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 42 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-neuropsychologist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/clinical-neuropsychologist.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 60,000 in the 2025–2035 base year to 61,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 1,400 jobs, or +2.3%. Slower than average: 2.3% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,500 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:** Internship/residency.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 91.7% |
| Doctoral Degree | 8.3% |

## What the work involves

- Interview patients to obtain comprehensive medical histories.
- Write or prepare detailed clinical neuropsychological reports, using data from psychological or neuropsychological tests, self-report measures, rating scales, direct observations, or interviews.
- Conduct neuropsychological evaluations such as assessments of intelligence, academic ability, attention, concentration, sensorimotor function, language, learning, and memory.
- Diagnose and treat conditions involving injury to the central nervous system, such as cerebrovascular accidents, neoplasms, infectious or inflammatory diseases, degenerative diseases, head traumas, demyelinating diseases, and various forms of dementing illnesses.
- Provide education or counseling to individuals and families.
- Distinguish between psychogenic and neurogenic syndromes, two or more suspected etiologies of cerebral dysfunction, or between disorders involving complex seizures.
- Diagnose and treat neural and psychological conditions in medical and surgical populations, such as patients with early dementing illness or chronic pain with a neurological basis.
- Consult with other professionals about patients' neurological conditions.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.5 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
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Psychology — importance 5.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Therapy and Counseling — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Biology — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.3 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 Investigative (I), Social (S), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 7.00 |
| S — Social | 5.69 |
| C — Conventional | 3.49 |
| R — Realistic | 2.82 |
| A — Artistic | 2.40 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.07 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| INFJ | 63.7 |
| INFP | 61.4 |
| INTP | 60.3 |
| INTJ | 60.2 |
| ISFP | 56.5 |

Best-fitting types: INFJ, INFP, INTP, INTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Neuropsychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/neuropsychologist) — median $110,840
- [Psychiatrist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/psychiatrist) — median $281,870
- [Neurologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/neurologist) — median $248,560
- [Clinical Nurse Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-nurse-specialist) — median $97,550
- [Pediatrician, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pediatrician-general) — median $210,040
- [Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/advanced-practice-psychiatric-nurse) — median $97,550
- [Clinical Psychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-psychologist) — median $100,580
- [General Internal Medicine Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/general-internal-medicine-physician) — median $256,560
- [Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation-physician) — median $265,930
- [Psychiatric Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/psychiatric-technician) — median $45,130

## 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/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **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/clinical-neuropsychologist