---
title: "Speech-Language Pathology Assistant"
description: "Assist speech-language pathologists in the assessment and treatment of speech, language, voice, and fluency disorders. Implement speech and language…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/speech-language-pathology-assistant"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Speech-Language Pathology Assistant

**Category:** Healthcare Support · **SOC code:** 31-9099 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 31-9099.01

Assist speech-language pathologists in the assessment and treatment of speech, language, voice, and fluency disorders. Implement speech and language programs or activities as planned and directed by speech-language pathologists. Monitor the use of alternative communication devices and systems.

Also advertised as: Communication Assistant; Speech Assistant; Speech Paraeducator; Speech Pathologist Assistant; Speech Therapy Assistant; Speech-Language Assistant; Speech-Language Pathologist Assistant (SLPA); Speech-Language Pathologists Assistant (SLPA).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $48,430 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.28/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $34,770 to $71,470, with the middle half between $39,470 and $59,710
- **Total US employment:** 109,740
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +4.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 14,100 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 33/100 — 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 109,740 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $34,770 |
| 25th | $39,470 |
| 50th (median) | $48,430 |
| 75th | $59,710 |
| 90th | $71,470 |
| Mean (average) | $50,810 |

### 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 | $73,590 | $66,960 | 400 |
| WA | $62,040 | $57,974 | 3,140 |
| AK | $61,300 | $59,887 | 120 |
| MA | $58,340 | $55,164 | 1,680 |
| DE | $57,760 | $57,871 | 110 |
| NY | $56,510 | $52,362 | 5,470 |
| KS | $54,830 | $60,876 | 240 |
| NM | $52,170 | $56,576 | 450 |
| ID | $52,160 | $54,621 | 220 |
| NV | $50,790 | $50,801 | 1,280 |
| AZ | $49,940 | $49,604 | 3,070 |
| OK | $49,940 | $56,851 | 540 |
| WY | $49,940 | $53,878 | 180 |
| IN | $49,900 | $53,467 | 590 |
| SC | $49,730 | $53,046 | 860 |

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

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 113,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 119,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 5,500 jobs, or +4.8%. Faster than average: 4.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 14,100 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:** High school diploma or equivalent (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 | 57.7% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 23.3% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 14.1% |
| Master's Degree | 4.8% |

## What the work involves

- Document clients' progress toward meeting established treatment objectives.
- Collect and compile data to document clients' performance or assess program quality.
- Perform support duties, such as preparing materials, keeping records, maintaining supplies, and scheduling activities.
- Implement treatment plans or protocols as directed by speech-language pathologists.
- Assist speech-language pathologists in the remediation or development of speech and language skills.
- Assist speech-language pathologists in the conduct of client screenings or assessments of language, voice, fluency, articulation, or hearing.
- Select or prepare speech-language instructional materials.
- Prepare charts, graphs, or other visual displays to communicate clients' performance information.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.0 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.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- English Language — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Therapy and Counseling — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral 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
- Speech Recognition — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — 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), Conventional (C), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 5.48 |
| C — Conventional | 5.00 |
| I — Investigative | 4.37 |
| A — Artistic | 2.65 |
| R — Realistic | 2.47 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.53 |

### 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 | 73.3 |
| INFJ | 63.7 |
| ESFJ | 63.5 |
| ISFP | 56.6 |
| ENFJ | 56.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Speech-Language Pathologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/speech-language-pathologist) — median $97,870
- [Occupational Therapy Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-aide) — median $39,160
- [Occupational Therapy Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapy-assistant) — median $72,300
- [Audiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/audiologist) — median $95,780
- [Psychiatric Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/psychiatric-technician) — median $45,130
- [Occupational Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-therapist) — median $100,330
- [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
- [Physical Therapist Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-aide) — median $35,240
- [Physical Therapist Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-assistant) — median $68,380
- [Medical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-assistant) — median $45,690

## 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/
- **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/speech-language-pathology-assistant