---
title: "Occupational Therapist"
description: "Assess, plan, and organize rehabilitative programs that help build or restore vocational, homemaking, and daily living skills, as well as general…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapist"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Occupational Therapist

**Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-1122 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-1122.00

Assess, plan, and organize rehabilitative programs that help build or restore vocational, homemaking, and daily living skills, as well as general independence, to persons with disabilities or developmental delays. Use therapeutic techniques, adapt the individual's environment, teach skills, and modify specific tasks that present barriers to the individual.

Also advertised as: Assistive Technology Trainer; Certified Hand Therapist (CHT); Early Intervention Occupational Therapist; Home Health Occupational Therapist; Industrial Rehabilitation Consultant; Occupational Therapist (OT); Pediatric Occupational Therapist (Pediatric OT); Pediatrics and Acute Care Occupational Therapist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $100,330 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $48.24/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $71,690 to $131,950, with the middle half between $82,510 and $116,670
- **Total US employment:** 162,450
- **Typical entry education:** Master's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +13.8% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 10,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 52/100 — 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 162,450 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $71,690 |
| 25th | $82,510 |
| 50th (median) | $100,330 |
| 75th | $116,670 |
| 90th | $131,950 |
| Mean (average) | $101,280 |

### 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 | $124,510 | $112,455 | 13,810 |
| OR | $112,310 | $108,658 | 1,170 |
| NV | $110,520 | $110,543 | 1,080 |
| DC | $109,170 | $99,335 | 540 |
| WA | $107,670 | $100,614 | 3,340 |
| MD | $106,980 | $101,926 | 2,390 |
| CO | $106,720 | $103,559 | 3,390 |
| AR | $106,360 | $122,341 | 2,160 |
| TX | $106,140 | $109,358 | 13,400 |
| OK | $104,300 | $118,735 | 1,180 |
| GA | $104,010 | $108,014 | 3,650 |
| AK | $103,680 | $101,291 | 410 |
| AZ | $103,660 | $102,963 | 2,680 |
| NJ | $103,410 | $95,042 | 6,290 |
| HI | $102,870 | $93,560 | 390 |

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

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 160,000 in the 2024–2034 base year to 182,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 22,100 jobs, or +13.8%. Much faster than average: 13.8% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 10,200 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:** 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:** 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 |
| --- | --- |
| Master's Degree | 86.4% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 13.6% |

## What the work involves

- Test and evaluate patients' physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.
- Complete and maintain necessary records.
- Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate persons with disabilities because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.
- Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental or physical capabilities.
- Evaluate patients' progress and prepare reports that detail progress.
- Train caregivers in providing for the needs of a patient during and after therapy.
- Lay out materials such as puzzles, scissors and eating utensils for use in therapy, and clean and repair these tools after therapy sessions.
- Consult with rehabilitation team to select activity programs or coordinate occupational therapy with other therapeutic activities.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.9 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.

- Service Orientation — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 4.0 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
- Time Management — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Therapy and Counseling — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — 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 Social (S), Investigative (I), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 6.08 |
| I — Investigative | 4.23 |
| R — Realistic | 3.57 |
| C — Conventional | 3.12 |
| A — Artistic | 3.07 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.83 |

### 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 | 66.8 |
| INFJ | 64.7 |
| INFP | 61.5 |
| ISFJ | 60.8 |
| ENFJ | 59.4 |

Best-fitting types: ISFP, INFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Occupational Therapy Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-assistant) — median $72,300
- [Occupational Therapy Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-aide) — median $39,160
- [Physical Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist) — median $102,760
- [Physical Therapist Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-assistant) — median $68,380
- [Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation-physician) — median $265,930
- [Recreational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/recreational-therapist) — median $61,960
- [Psychiatric Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/psychiatric-technician) — median $45,130
- [Clinical Nurse Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/clinical-nurse-specialist) — median $97,550
- [Rehabilitation Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rehabilitation-counselor) — median $46,850
- [Low Vision Therapist, Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/low-vision-therapist-orientation-and-mobility-specialist-and-vision-rehabilitation-therapist) — median $100,330

## 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/occupational-therapist