---
title: "Neurologist"
description: "Diagnose, manage, and treat disorders and diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, with a primarily nonsurgical focus."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/neurologist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Neurologist

**Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-1217 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-1217.00

Diagnose, manage, and treat disorders and diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, with a primarily nonsurgical focus.

Also advertised as: Adult and Pediatric Neurologist; Adult Neurologist; General Neurologist; Neurologist; Pediatric Neurologist; Physician.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $248,560 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $119.50/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $83,370 to $450,780, with the middle half between $155,990 and $357,990
- **Total US employment:** 10,590
- **Typical entry education:** Doctorate
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +6.4% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 36/100 — 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 10,590 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $83,370 |
| 25th | $155,990 |
| 50th (median) | $248,560 |
| 75th | $357,990 |
| 90th | $450,780 |
| Mean (average) | $267,630 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| VT | $434,730 | $443,792 | 40 |
| AZ | $409,610 | $406,856 | 80 |
| MN | $381,670 | $387,007 | 310 |
| TX | $360,640 | $371,575 | 660 |
| CA | $357,080 | $322,507 | 1,090 |
| CO | $356,250 | $345,699 | 120 |
| AK | $354,760 | $346,584 | 100 |
| SC | $352,680 | $376,196 | 40 |
| WI | $342,520 | $364,015 | 130 |
| KY | $338,850 | $375,836 | 230 |
| DC | $332,000 | $302,090 | 50 |
| WA | $327,140 | $305,701 | 180 |
| NC | $325,550 | $345,133 | 180 |
| FL | $322,750 | $312,095 | 520 |
| CT | $320,680 | $309,507 | 120 |

14 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 29 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/neurologist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/neurologist.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 11,400 in the 2025–2035 base year to 12,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 700 jobs, or +6.4%. Faster than average: 6.4% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 300 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.

### 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 | 63.7% |
| Doctoral Degree | 29.2% |
| Master's Degree | 4.8% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 2.4% |

## What the work involves

- Examine patients to obtain information about functional status of areas, such as vision, physical strength, coordination, reflexes, sensations, language skills, cognitive abilities, and mental status.
- Perform or interpret the outcomes of procedures or diagnostic tests, such as lumbar punctures, electroencephalography, electromyography, and nerve conduction velocity tests.
- Order or interpret results of laboratory analyses of patients' blood or cerebrospinal fluid.
- Prescribe or administer medications, such as anti-epileptic drugs, and monitor patients for behavioral and cognitive side effects.
- Identify and treat major neurological system diseases and disorders, such as central nervous system infection, cranio spinal trauma, dementia, and stroke.
- Develop treatment plans based on diagnoses and on evaluation of factors, such as age and general health, or procedural risks and costs.
- Inform patients or families of neurological diagnoses and prognoses, or benefits, risks and costs of various treatment plans.
- Communicate with other health care professionals regarding patients' conditions and care.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — 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 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.8 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
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Biology — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Therapy and Counseling — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.1 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), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 7.00 |
| S — Social | 5.02 |
| R — Realistic | 4.10 |
| C — Conventional | 3.69 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.39 |
| A — Artistic | 2.08 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| INTJ | 68.0 |
| ISTJ | 65.1 |
| ISTP | 62.9 |
| INTP | 60.3 |
| INFJ | 58.3 |

Best-fitting types: INTJ, ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Pediatric Surgeon](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pediatric-surgeon) — median $559,030
- [Cardiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cardiologist) — median $496,010
- [Orthopedic Surgeon, Except Pediatric](https://nuecareer.com/careers/orthopedic-surgeon) — median $358,550
- [General Internal Medicine Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/general-internal-medicine-physician) — median $256,560
- [Pediatrician, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pediatrician-general) — median $210,040
- [Psychiatrist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/psychiatrist) — median $281,870
- [Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation-physician) — median $265,930
- [Emergency Medicine Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/emergency-medicine-physician) — median $335,550
- [Clinical Neuropsychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-neuropsychologist) — median $110,840
- [Neuropsychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/neuropsychologist) — median $110,840

## 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/neurologist