--- title: "Wilderness EMT" description: "An EMT trained to provide extended emergency care in remote outdoor settings where help and hospitals are hours away." canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/wilderness-emt" last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z" --- # Wilderness EMT **Category:** Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · **SOC code:** 29-2042 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 29-2042.00 An EMT trained to provide extended emergency care in remote outdoor settings where help and hospitals are hours away. Also advertised as: WEMT; Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician; Expedition Medic; Backcountry Medic; Outdoor Program Medic. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $44,470 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $21.38/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $34,130 to $62,500, with the middle half between $37,960 and $50,100 - **Total US employment:** 180,510 - **Typical entry education:** Certificate - **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +5.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035) - **Annual job openings:** 13,800 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** not scored for this occupation ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 180,510 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $34,130 | | 25th | $37,960 | | 50th (median) | $44,470 | | 75th | $50,100 | | 90th | $62,500 | | Mean (average) | $46,830 | ### 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | HI | $66,410 | $60,400 | 560 | | AK | $57,440 | $56,116 | 310 | | NJ | $53,610 | $49,272 | 6,120 | | WA | $52,690 | $49,237 | 2,940 | | RI | $51,290 | $50,147 | 430 | | CT | $50,640 | $48,876 | 2,190 | | MA | $50,230 | $47,496 | 4,550 | | OR | $49,270 | $47,668 | 1,970 | | NY | $48,400 | $44,848 | 14,840 | | MD | $48,100 | $45,827 | 3,400 | | MN | $48,090 | $48,762 | 3,160 | | WY | $47,070 | $50,782 | 400 | | VI | $47,040 | No BEA price parity | 40 | | DE | $46,790 | $46,880 | 950 | | NH | $46,790 | $44,919 | 1,010 | 38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/wilderness-emt/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/wilderness-emt. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 181,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 192,500 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 10,600 jobs, or +5.8%. Faster than average: 5.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 13,800 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 - Assess and treat injuries and illnesses in remote outdoor settings - Manage environmental emergencies such as hypothermia and altitude illness - Improvise splints, litters, and shelters from available gear - Provide extended patient care during long evacuations - Coordinate with search and rescue teams and air ambulances - Stock and maintain expedition medical kits - Lead safety and risk management briefings for groups - Document incidents and patient care in the field ## 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 | 5.62 | | S — Social | 5.56 | | I — Investigative | 4.49 | | C — Conventional | 3.76 | | E — Enterprising | 2.53 | | 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 | 73.4 | | ISTJ | 70.0 | | ESTJ | 63.3 | | ESFJ | 60.9 | | ISFP | 60.2 | Best-fitting types: ISFJ, ISTJ. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Emergency Medical Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/emergency-medical-technician) — median $44,470 - [Paramedic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/paramedic) — median $60,600 - [Ambulance Driver and Attendant, Except Emergency Medical Technicians](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ambulance-driver-and-attendant) — median $35,450 - [Surgical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/surgical-assistant) — median $66,800 - [Registered Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/registered-nurse) — median $97,550 - [Licensed Practical Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/licensed-practical-nurse) — median $64,400 - [Cardiovascular Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cardiovascular-technologist-and-technician) — median $74,310 - [Acute Care Nurse](https://nuecareer.com/careers/acute-care-nurse) — median $97,550 - [Nursing Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nursing-assistant) — median $42,260 - [Respiratory Therapist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/respiratory-therapist) — median $82,280 ## 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/wilderness-emt