---
title: "Pediatrician, General"
description: "Diagnose, treat, and help prevent diseases and injuries in children. May refer patients to specialists for further diagnosis or treatment, as needed."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/pediatrician-general"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Pediatrician, General

**Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-1221 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-1221.00

Diagnose, treat, and help prevent diseases and injuries in children. May refer patients to specialists for further diagnosis or treatment, as needed.

Also advertised as: Developmental Pediatrician; Emergency Room Pediatrician (ER Pediatrician); General Pediatrician; Group Practice Pediatrician; Medical Doctor (MD); Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician; Pediatric Physician; Physician.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $210,040 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $100.98/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $91,470 to $338,500, with the middle half between $138,290 and $273,700
- **Total US employment:** 39,390
- **Typical entry education:** Doctorate
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +0.8% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 43/100 — 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 39,390 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $91,470 |
| 25th | $138,290 |
| 50th (median) | $210,040 |
| 75th | $273,700 |
| 90th | $338,500 |
| Mean (average) | $212,110 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LA | $502,720 | $569,932 | 40 |
| ID | $297,680 | $311,726 | 60 |
| NH | $273,410 | $262,478 | 210 |
| MT | $273,260 | $288,721 | 50 |
| WI | $269,790 | $286,721 | 350 |
| AK | $267,390 | $261,228 | 60 |
| IA | $262,440 | $299,036 | 230 |
| SD | $257,610 | $290,802 | 80 |
| ME | $245,920 | $253,395 | 130 |
| OK | $236,780 | $269,549 | 280 |
| ND | $234,950 | $264,110 | 90 |
| AZ | $233,950 | $232,377 | 1,230 |
| MN | $226,660 | $229,829 | 890 |
| PA | $226,440 | $232,075 | 1,120 |
| OR | $224,690 | $217,384 | 620 |

35 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 50 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/pediatrician-general/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/pediatrician-general.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 46,400 in the 2024–2034 base year to 46,800 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 400 jobs, or +0.8%. Slower than average: 0.8% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,200 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:** 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 | 78.3% |
| Doctoral Degree | 20.4% |
| First Professional Degree | 1.3% |

## What the work involves

- Treat children who have minor illnesses, acute and chronic health problems, and growth and development concerns.
- Examine patients or order, perform, and interpret diagnostic tests to obtain information on medical condition and determine diagnosis.
- Explain procedures and discuss test results or prescribed treatments with patients and parents or guardians.
- Refer patient to medical specialist or other practitioner when necessary.
- Prescribe or administer treatment, therapy, medication, vaccination, and other specialized medical care to treat or prevent illness, disease, or injury in infants and children.
- Examine children regularly to assess their growth and development.
- Advise patients, parents or guardians, and community members concerning diet, activity, hygiene, and disease prevention.
- Monitor patients' conditions and progress and reevaluate treatments as necessary.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.0 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.

- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 5.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Therapy and Counseling — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Biology — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 5.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — 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 Expression — 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 Social (S), Investigative (I), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 6.64 |
| I — Investigative | 6.18 |
| R — Realistic | 3.64 |
| C — Conventional | 3.58 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.54 |
| A — Artistic | 1.88 |

### 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 | 58.3 |
| ISFP | 56.9 |
| INFJ | 56.5 |
| ESFJ | 52.5 |
| INFP | 52.0 |

Best-fitting types: not scored.

## Related occupations

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

- [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
- [Family Medicine Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/family-medicine-physician) — median $244,180
- [Emergency Medicine Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/emergency-medicine-physician) — median $335,550
- [Obstetrician and Gynecologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/obstetrician-and-gynecologist) — median $292,910
- [Neurologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/neurologist) — median $248,560
- [Psychiatrist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/psychiatrist) — median $281,870
- [Cardiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cardiologist) — median $496,010
- [Nurse Practitioner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nurse-practitioner) — median $132,300
- [Allergist and Immunologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/allergist-and-immunologist) — median $265,930

## 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/pediatrician-general