---
title: "Massage Therapist"
description: "Perform therapeutic massages of soft tissues and joints. May assist in the assessment of range of motion and muscle strength, or propose client therapy…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/massage-therapist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Massage Therapist

**Category:** Healthcare Support · **SOC code:** 31-9011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 31-9011.00

Perform therapeutic massages of soft tissues and joints. May assist in the assessment of range of motion and muscle strength, or propose client therapy plans.

Also advertised as: BCMT (Board Certified Massage Therapist); Bodywork Therapist; Certified Massage Therapist (CMT); Clinical Massage Therapist; Licensed Massage Practitioner (LMP); Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT); Medical Massage Practitioner; MMT (Medical Massage Therapist).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $58,450 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $28.10/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $33,640 to $100,200, with the middle half between $43,480 and $78,320
- **Total US employment:** 98,790
- **Typical entry education:** Certificate
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +15.3% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 20,400 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 49/100 — 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 98,790 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $33,640 |
| 25th | $43,480 |
| 50th (median) | $58,450 |
| 75th | $78,320 |
| 90th | $100,200 |
| Mean (average) | $63,830 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AK | $134,930 | $131,820 | 570 |
| WA | $87,360 | $81,635 | 3,740 |
| OR | $86,970 | $84,142 | 2,250 |
| HI | $81,280 | $73,924 | 1,330 |
| NH | $80,360 | $77,147 | 270 |
| RI | $74,960 | $73,289 | 290 |
| ND | $74,140 | $83,342 | 100 |
| ME | $73,290 | $75,518 | 370 |
| MI | $70,960 | $73,750 | 2,410 |
| DC | $64,110 | $58,334 | 120 |
| MA | $63,390 | $59,939 | 2,830 |
| MN | $63,070 | $63,952 | 1,690 |
| NY | $62,630 | $58,033 | 4,500 |
| AZ | $62,400 | $61,980 | 2,530 |
| MD | $62,270 | $59,328 | 1,350 |

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

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 155,400 in the 2025–2035 base year to 179,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 23,700 jobs, or +15.3%. Much faster than average: 15.3% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 20,400 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:** Postsecondary nondegree award (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

## What the work involves

- Apply finger and hand pressure to specific points of the body.
- Confer with clients about their medical histories and problems with stress or pain to determine how massage will be most helpful.
- Maintain massage areas by restocking supplies or sanitizing equipment.
- Treat clients in professional settings or travel to clients' offices and homes.
- Maintain treatment records.
- Assess clients' soft tissue condition, joint quality and function, muscle strength, and range of motion.
- Refer clients to other types of therapists when necessary.
- Massage and knead muscles and soft tissues of the body to provide treatment for medical conditions, injuries, or wellness maintenance.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.4 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 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Biology — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Dynamic Strength — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Trunk Strength — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.3 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 Social (S), Realistic (R), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 5.75 |
| R — Realistic | 4.84 |
| I — Investigative | 3.79 |
| C — Conventional | 2.66 |
| A — Artistic | 2.23 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.10 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ISFP | 68.2 |
| ISFJ | 67.6 |
| ESFJ | 61.0 |
| ESFP | 59.5 |
| INFJ | 53.8 |

Best-fitting types: ISFP, ISFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Physical Therapist Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-assistant) — median $68,380
- [Recreational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/recreational-therapist) — median $61,960
- [Occupational Therapy Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-assistant) — median $72,300
- [Physical Therapist Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-aide) — median $35,240
- [Skincare Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/skincare-specialist) — median $45,330
- [Occupational Therapy Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-aide) — median $39,160
- [Respiratory Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/respiratory-therapist) — median $82,280
- [Radiation Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/radiation-therapist) — median $105,310
- [Registered Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/registered-nurse) — median $97,550
- [Licensed Practical Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/licensed-practical-nurse) — median $64,400

## 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/massage-therapist