---
title: "Respiratory Therapist"
description: "Assess, treat, and care for patients with breathing disorders. Assume primary responsibility for all respiratory care modalities, including the…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/respiratory-therapist"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Respiratory Therapist

**Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-1126 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-1126.00

Assess, treat, and care for patients with breathing disorders. Assume primary responsibility for all respiratory care modalities, including the supervision of respiratory therapy technicians. Initiate and conduct therapeutic procedures; maintain patient records; and select, assemble, check, and operate equipment.

Also advertised as: Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Respiratory Therapist; Certified Respiratory Therapist (CRT); Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT); Respiratory Care Practitioner (RCP); Respiratory Therapist (RT); Staff Respiratory Therapist; Staff Therapist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $82,280 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $39.56/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $63,660 to $118,050, with the middle half between $74,520 and $98,730
- **Total US employment:** 139,790
- **Typical entry education:** Associate's
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +12.1% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 8,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 53/100 — 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 139,790 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $63,660 |
| 25th | $74,520 |
| 50th (median) | $82,280 |
| 75th | $98,730 |
| 90th | $118,050 |
| Mean (average) | $87,300 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $111,950 | $101,864 | 430 |
| NY | $107,810 | $99,897 | 7,010 |
| CA | $104,820 | $94,671 | 18,650 |
| MA | $102,170 | $96,608 | 2,220 |
| WA | $101,130 | $94,503 | 1,860 |
| NJ | $100,810 | $92,652 | 3,350 |
| OR | $100,560 | $97,290 | 1,340 |
| MN | $98,710 | $100,090 | 1,250 |
| AK | $97,950 | $95,693 | 180 |
| NH | $95,940 | $92,104 | 360 |
| HI | $94,210 | $85,684 | 510 |
| DE | $91,080 | $91,255 | 500 |
| MD | $88,960 | $84,757 | 1,800 |
| RI | $86,900 | $84,963 | 260 |
| CO | $86,220 | $83,666 | 2,110 |

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

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 139,600 in the 2024–2034 base year to 156,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 16,800 jobs, or +12.1%. Much faster than average: 12.1% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 8,800 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:** Associate's degree (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 |
| --- | --- |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 82.8% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 11.7% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 5.2% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 0.4% |

## What the work involves

- Monitor patient's physiological responses to therapy, such as vital signs, arterial blood gases, or blood chemistry changes, and consult with physician if adverse reactions occur.
- Set up and operate devices, such as mechanical ventilators, therapeutic gas administration apparatus, environmental control systems, or aerosol generators, following specified parameters of treatment.
- Work as part of a team of physicians, nurses, or other healthcare professionals to manage patient care by assisting with medical procedures or related duties.
- Read prescription, measure arterial blood gases, and review patient information to assess patient condition.
- Explain treatment procedures to patients to gain cooperation and allay fears.
- Educate patients and their families about their conditions and teach appropriate disease management techniques, such as breathing exercises or the use of medications or respiratory equipment.
- Maintain charts that contain patients' pertinent identification and therapy information.
- Determine requirements for treatment, such as type, method and duration of therapy, precautions to be taken, or medication and dosages, compatible with physicians' orders.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.1 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 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Biology — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral 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
- 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
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — 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 Realistic (R), Social (S), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 5.03 |
| S — Social | 4.88 |
| I — Investigative | 4.73 |
| C — Conventional | 3.93 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.68 |
| 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 | 75.0 |
| ISTJ | 74.7 |
| ISTP | 63.8 |
| ESTJ | 62.3 |
| ISFP | 60.4 |

Best-fitting types: ISFJ, ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Cardiovascular Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cardiovascular-technologist-and-technician) — median $74,310
- [Paramedic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/paramedic) — median $60,600
- [Acute Care Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/acute-care-nurse) — median $97,550
- [Radiation Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/radiation-therapist) — median $105,310
- [Critical Care Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/critical-care-nurse) — median $97,550
- [Physical Therapist Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-assistant) — median $68,380
- [Physical Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist) — median $102,760
- [Occupational Therapy Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-assistant) — median $72,300
- [Registered Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/registered-nurse) — median $97,550
- [Physical Therapist Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-aide) — median $35,240

## 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/respiratory-therapist