--- title: "Vascular Surgeon" description: "Surgeon who treats diseases of the arteries and veins outside the heart and brain, using open operations and catheter-based endovascular procedures." canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/vascular-surgeon" last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z" --- # Vascular Surgeon **Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-1242 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-1242.00 Surgeon who treats diseases of the arteries and veins outside the heart and brain, using open operations and catheter-based endovascular procedures. Also advertised as: Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon; Endovascular Surgeon; Peripheral Vascular Surgeon; Vascular Surgery Attending. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $358,550 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $172.38/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $84,170 to $659,290, with the middle half between $180,610 and $530,700 - **Total US employment:** 14,100 - **Typical entry education:** Doctorate - **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +4.0% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035) - **Annual job openings:** 400 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** not scored for this occupation ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 14,100 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $84,170 | | 25th | $180,610 | | 50th (median) | $358,550 | | 75th | $530,700 | | 90th | $659,290 | | Mean (average) | $373,570 | ### 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | MO | $842,800 | $928,020 | Not published by BLS | | WV | $597,740 | $667,888 | 120 | | WI | $572,060 | $607,960 | 290 | | MT | $560,820 | $592,551 | Not published by BLS | | AZ | $558,970 | $555,211 | 110 | | NH | $555,670 | $533,452 | 80 | | WA | $553,310 | $517,049 | 290 | | MS | $544,130 | $625,775 | Not published by BLS | | MN | $537,830 | $545,350 | 320 | | OK | $530,070 | $603,429 | 30 | | NE | $507,770 | $563,544 | 200 | | VA | $478,710 | $473,483 | 170 | | GA | $474,820 | $493,099 | 490 | | FL | $473,750 | $458,110 | 580 | | IL | $426,580 | $426,759 | 170 | 23 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 38 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/vascular-surgeon/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/vascular-surgeon. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 15,500 in the 2025–2035 base year to 16,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 600 jobs, or +4.0%. About as fast as average: 4.0% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 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:** 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. ## What the work involves - Repair abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms with open surgery or endovascular stent grafts - Perform bypass, angioplasty and stenting to restore blood flow to the legs - Remove plaque from carotid arteries to prevent strokes - Create and maintain arteriovenous fistulas and grafts for dialysis access - Treat deep vein thrombosis, venous insufficiency and varicose veins - Interpret vascular ultrasound, CT angiography and angiograms - Manage chronic vascular disease with medication, risk factor control and surveillance ## 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 Investigative (I), Realistic (R), Social (S). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | I — Investigative | 6.50 | | R — Realistic | 5.33 | | S — Social | 4.96 | | C — Conventional | 3.91 | | E — Enterprising | 2.36 | | A — Artistic | 1.48 | ### 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 | 73.2 | | ISTP | 70.1 | | INTJ | 66.1 | | ISFJ | 62.8 | | ESTJ | 57.3 | Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISTP. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Orthopedic Surgeon, Except Pediatric](https://nuecareer.com/careers/orthopedic-surgeon) — median $358,550 - [Pediatric Surgeon](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pediatric-surgeon) — median $559,030 - [Ophthalmologist, Except Pediatric](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ophthalmologist) — median $300,080 - [Anesthesiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/anesthesiologist) — median $391,490 - [Urologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/urologist) — median $265,930 - [Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon](https://nuecareer.com/careers/oral-and-maxillofacial-surgeon) — median $352,220 - [Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation-physician) — median $265,930 - [Dermatologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dermatologist) — median $328,730 - [Neurologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/neurologist) — median $248,560 - [Podiatrist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/podiatrist) — median $160,300 ## 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/vascular-surgeon