--- title: "Interventional Cardiologist" description: "Cardiologist who treats heart and vascular disease with catheter-based procedures such as coronary stenting, heart attack intervention and valve…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/interventional-cardiologist" last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z" --- # Interventional Cardiologist **Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-1212 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-1212.00 Cardiologist who treats heart and vascular disease with catheter-based procedures such as coronary stenting, heart attack intervention and valve replacement. Also advertised as: Invasive Cardiologist; Interventional Cardiology Physician; Cath Lab Cardiologist; Structural Heart Cardiologist. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $496,010 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $238.47/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $107,190 to $712,130, with the middle half between $274,280 and $610,060 - **Total US employment:** 17,290 - **Typical entry education:** Doctorate - **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +4.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035) - **Annual job openings:** 500 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** not scored for this occupation ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 17,290 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $107,190 | | 25th | $274,280 | | 50th (median) | $496,010 | | 75th | $610,060 | | 90th | $712,130 | | Mean (average) | $454,940 | ### 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | WA | $656,330 | $613,318 | 200 | | MO | $648,070 | $713,600 | 150 | | NE | $646,300 | $717,290 | 170 | | WI | $636,580 | $676,529 | 200 | | TN | $610,080 | $664,069 | 560 | | GA | $610,070 | $633,556 | 1,150 | | IN | $588,890 | $630,983 | 140 | | PA | $579,120 | $593,531 | 640 | | KY | $558,180 | $619,106 | Not published by BLS | | AL | $519,480 | $584,849 | 130 | | IL | $517,850 | $518,068 | 340 | | OH | $504,260 | $543,536 | 760 | | NY | $492,040 | $455,926 | 2,260 | | CT | $488,940 | $471,904 | 320 | | VA | $461,450 | $456,411 | 810 | 21 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 36 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/interventional-cardiologist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/interventional-cardiologist. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 18,500 in the 2025–2035 base year to 19,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 900 jobs, or +4.8%. Faster than average: 4.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 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:** Doctoral or professional 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. ## What the work involves - Perform diagnostic cardiac catheterization and coronary angiography - Open blocked coronary arteries with balloon angioplasty and stents - Treat heart attacks with emergency catheter procedures - Replace or repair heart valves through catheters - Treat peripheral artery disease with endovascular procedures - Use intravascular imaging and pressure wires to guide treatment - Discuss treatment options with heart team surgeons and patients ## 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), Realistic (R), Social (S). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | I — Investigative | 6.87 | | R — Realistic | 5.35 | | S — Social | 5.01 | | C — Conventional | 4.00 | | E — Enterprising | 2.28 | | A — Artistic | 1.15 | ### 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) | | --- | --- | | ISTJ | 72.2 | | ISTP | 68.4 | | INTJ | 65.1 | | ISFJ | 64.0 | | ESTJ | 56.7 | Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISTP. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Cardiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cardiologist) — median $496,010 - [Pediatric Surgeon](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pediatric-surgeon) — median $559,030 - [General Internal Medicine Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/general-internal-medicine-physician) — median $256,560 - [Anesthesiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/anesthesiologist) — median $391,490 - [Urologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/urologist) — median $265,930 - [Emergency Medicine Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/emergency-medicine-physician) — median $335,550 - [Radiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/radiologist) — median $420,860 - [Neurologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/neurologist) — median $248,560 - [Ophthalmologist, Except Pediatric](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ophthalmologist) — median $300,080 - [Orthopedic Surgeon, Except Pediatric](https://nuecareer.com/careers/orthopedic-surgeon) — median $358,550 ## 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/interventional-cardiologist