---
title: "Medical Assistant"
description: "Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-assistant"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Medical Assistant

**Category:** Healthcare Support · **SOC code:** 31-9092 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 31-9092.00

Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician.

Also advertised as: Certified Medical Assistant (CMA); Chiropractor Assistant; Clinical Medical Assistant; Doctor's Assistant; Health Assistant; Ophthalmic Assistant; Ophthalmological Assistant; Optometric Assistant.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $45,690 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $21.97/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $36,050 to $59,310, with the middle half between $38,470 and $49,180
- **Total US employment:** 817,870
- **Typical entry education:** Certificate
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +12.5% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 112,300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 41/100 — 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 817,870 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $36,050 |
| 25th | $38,470 |
| 50th (median) | $45,690 |
| 75th | $49,180 |
| 90th | $59,310 |
| Mean (average) | $46,120 |

### 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 | $59,290 | $55,404 | 19,500 |
| AK | $52,560 | $51,349 | 2,140 |
| DC | $51,050 | $46,451 | 2,260 |
| MN | $50,480 | $51,186 | 10,580 |
| OR | $50,410 | $48,771 | 11,840 |
| CA | $49,660 | $44,852 | 117,060 |
| MA | $49,460 | $46,768 | 14,880 |
| WI | $48,680 | $51,735 | 13,810 |
| HI | $48,410 | $44,029 | 3,890 |
| CO | $48,400 | $46,967 | 13,160 |
| NH | $48,020 | $46,100 | 3,000 |
| NY | $48,000 | $44,477 | 40,710 |
| ME | $47,580 | $49,026 | 4,480 |
| CT | $47,430 | $45,777 | 10,250 |
| NE | $47,370 | $52,573 | 2,380 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-assistant/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/medical-assistant.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 811,000 in the 2024–2034 base year to 912,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 101,200 jobs, or +12.5%. Much faster than average: 12.5% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 112,300 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## 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.

### 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-Secondary Certificate | 44.7% |
| High School Diploma | 20.5% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 17.5% |
| Some College Courses | 17.2% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 0.1% |

## What the work involves

- Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height.
- Prepare treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean.
- Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.
- Perform general office duties, such as answering telephones, taking dictation, or completing insurance forms.
- Clean and sterilize instruments and dispose of contaminated supplies.
- Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records.
- Help physicians examine and treat patients, handing them instruments or materials or performing such tasks as giving injections or removing sutures.
- Schedule appointments for patients.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.4 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 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- English Language — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — 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
- Administrative — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — 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 Conventional (C), Social (S), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.75 |
| S — Social | 4.80 |
| R — Realistic | 4.06 |
| I — Investigative | 3.80 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.98 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ISFJ | 84.8 |
| ISTJ | 77.5 |
| ESTJ | 73.2 |
| ESFJ | 71.5 |
| ISTP | 51.9 |

Best-fitting types: ISFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Surgical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/surgical-assistant) — median $66,800
- [Ophthalmic Medical Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ophthalmic-medical-technician) — median $45,570
- [Registered Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/registered-nurse) — median $97,550
- [Licensed Practical Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/licensed-practical-nurse) — median $64,400
- [Cardiovascular Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cardiovascular-technologist-and-technician) — median $74,310
- [Physical Therapist Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-aide) — median $35,240
- [Nursing Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nursing-assistant) — median $42,260
- [Dental Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dental-assistant) — median $48,070
- [Medical Records Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-records-specialist) — median $51,140
- [Ophthalmic Medical Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ophthalmic-medical-technologist) — median $50,290

### Medical Assistant compared with

- [CNA vs Medical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cna-vs-medical-assistant) — side by side on BLS wage percentiles, projected growth, openings and entry requirements
- [Registered Nurse vs Medical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/registered-nurse-vs-medical-assistant) — side by side on BLS wage percentiles, projected growth, openings and entry requirements
- [LPN vs Medical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/lpn-vs-medical-assistant) — side by side on BLS wage percentiles, projected growth, openings and entry requirements

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 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, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 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 30.3 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/medical-assistant