---
title: "Surgical Assistant"
description: "Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons. May, in accordance with state laws, help surgeons to make incisions and close surgical sites…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/surgical-assistant"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Surgical Assistant

**Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-9093 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-9093.00

Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons. May, in accordance with state laws, help surgeons to make incisions and close surgical sites, manipulate or remove tissues, implant surgical devices or drains, suction the surgical site, place catheters, clamp or cauterize vessels or tissue, and apply dressings to surgical site.

Also advertised as: Certified Surgical Technician (Certified Surgical Tech); CRNFA (Certified Registered Nurse First Assistant); CSA (Certified Surgical Assistant); CSFA (Certified Surgical First Assistant); GI Technician (Gastrointestinal Technician); RNFA (Registered Nurse First Assistant); Scrub Technician (Scrub Tech); Surgical First Assistant.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $66,800 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $32.11/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $39,690 to $107,610, with the middle half between $50,170 and $88,010
- **Total US employment:** 22,270
- **Typical entry education:** Certificate
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +6.1% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,400 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 63/100 — 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 22,270 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $39,690 |
| 25th | $50,170 |
| 50th (median) | $66,800 |
| 75th | $88,010 |
| 90th | $107,610 |
| Mean (average) | $72,710 |

### 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 | $123,390 | $112,274 | 90 |
| AZ | $111,170 | $110,422 | Not published by BLS |
| CO | $107,440 | $104,258 | Not published by BLS |
| NV | $100,820 | $100,841 | 230 |
| NJ | $90,710 | $83,369 | Not published by BLS |
| SC | $85,580 | $91,286 | 480 |
| KY | $84,600 | $93,834 | 480 |
| TN | $81,640 | $88,865 | 750 |
| OR | $80,450 | $77,834 | 220 |
| IL | $80,210 | $80,244 | 2,300 |
| VA | $78,910 | $78,048 | 1,000 |
| WI | $78,030 | $82,927 | 810 |
| NH | $77,670 | $74,564 | 130 |
| OH | $77,450 | $83,482 | 970 |
| MN | $75,950 | $77,012 | 360 |

30 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 45 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/surgical-assistant/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/surgical-assistant.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 24,400 in the 2025–2035 base year to 25,900 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 1,500 jobs, or +6.1%. Faster than average: 6.1% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,400 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:** Postsecondary nondegree award (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.

## What the work involves

- Monitor and maintain aseptic technique throughout procedures.
- Maintain an unobstructed operative field, using surgical retractors, sponges, or suctioning and irrigating equipment.
- Pass instruments or supplies to surgeon during procedure.
- Gather, arrange, or assemble instruments or supplies.
- Assist members of surgical team with gowning or gloving.
- Prepare and apply sterile wound dressings.
- Determine availability of necessary equipment or supplies for operative procedures.
- Coordinate or participate in the positioning of patients, using body stabilizing equipment or protective padding to provide appropriate exposure for the procedure or to protect against nerve damage or circulation impairment.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 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
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — 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
- Active Learning — 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.

- Coordination — importance 3.4 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
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Biology — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Finger Dexterity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — 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), Conventional (C), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 5.70 |
| C — Conventional | 4.40 |
| S — Social | 3.84 |
| I — Investigative | 3.45 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.78 |
| 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 83.8 |
| ISFJ | 80.7 |
| ESTJ | 71.2 |
| ISTP | 68.6 |
| ESFJ | 60.6 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Surgical Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/surgical-technologist) — median $64,650
- [Anesthesiologist Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/anesthesiologist-assistant) — median $135,880
- [Paramedic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/paramedic) — median $60,600
- [Emergency Medical Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/emergency-medical-technician) — median $44,470
- [Cardiovascular Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cardiovascular-technologist-and-technician) — median $74,310
- [Respiratory Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/respiratory-therapist) — median $82,280
- [Medical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-assistant) — median $45,690
- [Ophthalmic Medical Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ophthalmic-medical-technician) — median $45,570
- [Nursing Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nursing-assistant) — median $42,260
- [Licensed Practical Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/licensed-practical-nurse) — median $64,400

## 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/surgical-assistant