9 Jobs Related to Radiology and What Each One Pays

Medical imaging supports a cluster of related careers rather than a single job, and they differ enormously in pay, size and entry requirement. Some are reached in two years at community college cost, one takes thirteen years and a medical degree, and several are small enough that geography decides whether they are realistic. Every figure below is a median annual wage for May 2024 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with employment counts for 2024 and projections running to 2034.

What Are the 9 Jobs Related to Radiology?

1. Radiologic and MRI Technologist

Median pay of $78,980 a year, about $37.97 an hour, across 272,000 jobs with five percent projected growth adding roughly 12,900 positions. The typical entry requirement is an associate's degree.

This is the entry point and by far the largest of the group. Radiologic and MRI technologists perform X-ray, computed tomography and magnetic resonance examinations, and the size of the occupation is what makes it employable almost anywhere. The route in is set out in how to become a radiologic technician.

2. Diagnostic Medical Sonographer

Median pay of $89,340 a year across 90,000 jobs with thirteen percent projected growth adding around 11,700 positions, from an associate's degree.

Diagnostic medical sonographers use ultrasound rather than ionizing radiation, which appeals to people uneasy about radiation exposure. This is the strongest growth projection in the imaging family and the combination of pay, growth and a two-year entry makes it one of the best-value credentials in healthcare, covered in diagnostic medical sonographer careers and ultrasound technician pay.

3. Nuclear Medicine Technologist

Median pay of $97,020 a year across 20,000 jobs with three percent projected growth adding about 600 positions, from an associate's degree.

Nuclear medicine technologists administer radioactive tracers and image how organs function rather than how they look. The pay is strong and the field is small, which concentrates roles in larger hospitals and cancer centers. The trade is examined in nuclear medicine technologist versus radiologic technologist.

4. Radiation Therapist

Median pay of $101,990 a year across 19,200 jobs with two percent projected growth adding roughly 400 positions, from an associate's degree.

Radiation therapists deliver prescribed radiation treatment to cancer patients rather than producing diagnostic images, seeing the same people daily across courses lasting weeks. It is the highest-paid associate degree route here and the scarcest, and the comparison sits in radiation therapist versus radiology technician.

5. Cardiovascular Technologist and Technician

Median pay of $67,260 a year across 64,700 jobs with three percent projected growth adding around 1,900 positions, from an associate's degree.

Cardiovascular technologists and technicians image and monitor the heart and blood vessels, working in catheterization laboratories, echocardiography and vascular studies. Pay sits at the lower end of this group and the work is closely tied to cardiology rather than to general imaging.

6. Medical Dosimetrist

Median pay of $138,110 a year across 4,800 jobs with three percent projected growth, from a bachelor's degree.

Medical dosimetrists calculate how radiation treatment should be delivered, designing plans that reach a tumour while sparing surrounding tissue. It is the highest-paid role here outside medicine and one of the smallest occupations tracked, commonly entered by experienced radiation therapists who add a bachelor's degree and specialized training.

7. Radiologist

Median wage equal to or greater than $239,200 a year for physicians and surgeons across 839,000 jobs with three percent projected growth, from a doctoral or professional degree plus internship and residency.

Radiologists are physicians who interpret images and increasingly perform image-guided procedures. The training runs roughly thirteen years, and the role is described in what a radiologist does with the distinction from technologist work in radiology versus radiography.

8. Biomedical Engineer

Median pay of $106,950 a year across 22,200 jobs with five percent projected growth adding around 1,100 positions, from a bachelor's degree.

Bioengineers and biomedical engineers design, develop and support the equipment imaging departments rely on. It is the route for people drawn to the technology rather than to patient care, and it leads into manufacturer roles, hospital engineering and research.

9. Health Information Technologist and Medical Registrar

Median pay of $67,310 a year across 41,900 jobs with fifteen percent projected growth, from an associate's degree.

Health information technologists and medical registrars manage the systems and data that clinical records and imaging archives run on. This is the fastest-growing occupation in the group and the least clinical, and it connects to the credential path in health information technology certifications.

Which of These Pays Best for the Time Invested?

Ranking by pay alone puts radiologist first and dosimetrist second, and neither is reachable quickly.

Ranking by pay relative to training tells a more useful story. Radiation therapy at $101,990 and nuclear medicine at $97,020 are both reached through a two-year associate degree, which makes them the strongest returns per year of study in this group.

Sonography at $89,340 sits slightly lower and combines that with the best growth projection at thirteen percent, which makes it arguably the best overall risk-adjusted choice.

General radiography at $78,980 pays less than all three and offers something they do not, which is 272,000 jobs and the ability to add further credentials while working.

Health information technology at $67,310 has the weakest pay in the group and the strongest growth at fifteen percent, and it is the only option here that does not involve direct patient care.

The broader comparison against other short credentials sits in high paying careers without a degree.

What Do These Roles Pay Beyond the Median?

A median describes the midpoint and hides most of what determines an individual's earnings, and four factors move the number consistently across this group.

Setting is the largest. Hospital roles carry shift differentials for nights and weekends, on-call payments and overtime, which routinely lift annual earnings well above the published base. Outpatient and clinic roles pay less and offer conventional hours instead.

Geography moves pay as much as experience does. Metropolitan areas with higher living costs pay more, and some rural facilities offer premiums to fill posts that are otherwise difficult to staff, so the same credential can be worth materially different amounts a few hours apart.

Credential stacking is the lever an individual controls. A technologist holding two or three modality credentials is rosterable across more of a department, which is worth more to an employer than seniority alone and is the most reliable way to move up within a band.

Contract and travel work pays a premium for filling temporary gaps, and it is common across every clinical role listed here. It raises earnings sharply for a defined period at the cost of relocation and holding licenses in several states.

Experience matters least of the four in the early years, which surprises people arriving from other industries. Two technologists with the same credentials and different lengths of service are usually paid similarly, and the one with an extra modality is not.

Which Have the Most Openings?

Scale matters as much as salary, because a high median in a tiny occupation may mean relocating to find any post at all.

Radiologic technology dominates with 272,000 jobs, roughly three times the next largest imaging occupation, which is why it is employable in almost any town with a hospital.

Sonography follows at 90,000 jobs, and cardiovascular technology at 64,700, both large enough to offer real choice in most metropolitan areas.

Health information technology at 41,900 and biomedical engineering at 22,200 are moderate, and both are less geographically constrained than clinical imaging because some roles are office-based or remote-capable.

Nuclear medicine at 20,000 and radiation therapy at 19,200 are small, concentrated in larger hospitals and cancer centers, and openings are driven by turnover rather than growth.

Medical dosimetry at 4,800 is the smallest by a wide margin, and it is realistically a destination reached from within the field rather than an entry target.

What Does Each One Do Day to Day?

Pay and job counts describe the market, and the working day describes whether someone will actually enjoy it.

Radiologic technologists work at pace across a high volume of short examinations, moving between rooms, wards and theatres, meeting most patients briefly and handling a great deal of physical work.

Sonographers spend twenty to forty minutes with each patient, holding a probe and building the diagnostic images in real time. The work is more analytical than radiography because the sonographer is finding the images rather than capturing a standard view, and repetitive strain is the recognized occupational risk.

Nuclear medicine technologists run a small number of long studies, administering tracers, waiting for uptake and imaging afterwards, with substantial calculation and documentation attached to handling radioactive material.

Radiation therapists treat the same patients daily across courses lasting weeks, which builds real relationships and carries the emotional weight of oncology work alongside the highest precision requirement in the group.

Cardiovascular technologists work closely with cardiology, in catheterization laboratories where procedures are underway and in echocardiography where the work resembles sonography.

Dosimetrists work at a computer rather than with patients, designing treatment plans in collaboration with physicists and oncologists.

Radiologists work in reading rooms interpreting studies, with interventional radiologists as the procedural exception.

Biomedical engineers and health information technologists work with equipment and systems respectively, and both are largely removed from direct patient contact.

What Do These Careers Have in Common?

Most are entered through an accredited associate degree, which is the defining feature of the imaging family and the reason it attracts career changers.

Certification is national and separate from state licensing in the clinical roles. The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists primary eligibility pathway requires an associate's degree or higher plus completion of an approved educational program in the specific discipline, with ethics and examination requirements on top.

Program accreditation is the single most consequential decision in every clinical route here, because graduating from an unaccredited program can leave someone unable to certify. The search process is covered in how to find an accredited radiology program near you.

Credentials are portable across states even where licensing rules differ, which is unusual and valuable.

Most of these roles involve shift work in hospital settings, with nights, weekends and on-call rotations carrying differentials that lift actual earnings above the published medians.

What Are the Entry Requirements Side by Side?

Comparing the qualifications directly makes the practical differences clearer than the salary figures do.

Six of the nine are entered through an associate degree. Radiologic technology, sonography, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy, cardiovascular technology and health information technology all list an associate's degree as the typical entry-level education.

Two require a bachelor's degree. Medical dosimetry and biomedical engineering both sit at that level, and dosimetry is usually reached after clinical experience rather than straight from a degree.

One requires a doctoral or professional degree plus internship and residency, which is the physician route into radiology.

Clinical certification applies to the imaging and therapy roles and is separate from the degree, requiring completion of an approved program in the specific discipline alongside ethics and examination requirements.

Program availability varies enormously and does not track the size of the occupation neatly. Radiography programs are widespread, sonography programs are competitive, and nuclear medicine and radiation therapy programs are scarce enough that relocation is frequently required.

The practical filter for most people is therefore not which job pays best but which accredited program is reachable, which is why the accreditation search should happen before the career decision feels final.

How Do You Move Between Them?

Movement is much easier in some directions than others, and knowing which saves years.

Adding a modality within radiologic technology is the easiest move. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, mammography and interventional credentials are all reachable through a postprimary pathway while working, and employers frequently fund them.

Switching primary discipline is harder. Moving from radiography into nuclear medicine, radiation therapy or sonography means completing a separate approved program rather than adding a credential, so it is a return to study rather than a lateral step.

Moving toward planning and physics is the natural progression from radiation therapy, with dosimetry as the destination, and it requires a bachelor's degree plus specialized training.

Moving out of clinical work entirely is available to everyone in this group, into education, equipment applications, informatics, radiation safety and management, and most of those expect a bachelor's degree completed part time along the way.

Moving into medicine means starting over, since none of these credentials shortens the route to a medical degree. The progression options are mapped in how to build a radiology career and the different levels of radiology careers, with the wider set of destinations in what you can do with a degree in radiography.

Outside healthcare entirely, industrial radiography applies the same physics to inspecting welds and structures, described in what an industrial radiographer does.

How Secure Are These Careers?

Security in this group comes from three separate sources, and they do not all point the same way.

Demand fundamentals are strong across the board. An aging population and the expanding role of imaging in diagnosis drive volume in every clinical role here, and neither factor is cyclical in the way that discretionary sectors are.

Occupation size is the second factor and it varies enormously. A large occupation such as radiologic technology offers many possible employers within commuting distance, which is a practical form of security that a high salary in a tiny field does not provide.

Automation exposure is the third and it is unevenly distributed. Image interpretation is where automated tools are advancing fastest, and that is physician work rather than technologist work. Acquisition requires positioning real patients physically, treatment delivery requires a qualified person present, and equipment maintenance requires hands on hardware.

Health information technology is the most exposed of the group to software change and also the fastest growing, which reflects the fact that the growth is coming from the same technological shift.

Credential portability adds a further layer. National certification travels across state lines even where licensing rules differ, so a downturn in one local market does not strand someone.

The practical conclusion is that the most secure position is not the highest-paid one but the one that combines a large occupation with multiple credentials, which is why adding modalities matters more than choosing perfectly at the start.

Which One Should You Choose?

Choose sonography if you want the best combination of pay, growth and geographic availability from a two-year credential, and if working without ionizing radiation matters to you.

Choose radiologic technology if optionality matters most. It pays less than several alternatives and it opens more doors than any of them, and the full assessment sits in is radiology tech a good career and what radiographers make.

Choose radiation therapy or nuclear medicine if the higher pay outweighs the scarcity of posts and you are willing to relocate for both training and work.

Choose biomedical engineering or health information technology if the technology rather than the patient contact is the appeal, and if you are prepared to complete a bachelor's degree.

Choose medicine only if the length of the route is genuinely acceptable, because thirteen years is the real cost of the highest figure on this page.

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People Also Asked

Q: Which radiology-related job pays the most?

A: Radiologist, by a wide margin, with physicians and surgeons showing a median wage equal to or greater than $239,200 in May 2024. Outside medicine, medical dosimetry leads at $138,110, followed by biomedical engineering at $106,950 and radiation therapy at $101,990. The important qualification is that dosimetry has only 4,800 jobs nationally and radiation therapy 19,200, so both are difficult to enter and often require relocating.

Q: What is the easiest imaging career to get into?

A: Radiologic technology, because it has by far the most programs, the most jobs and the widest geographic spread. It requires an accredited associate degree and national certification, typically two years of study. Sonography is comparable in length and has fewer programs, so admission is more competitive. Health information technology is the least clinical route and is also reachable through an associate degree, with the strongest growth projection of the group.

Q: Do all of these jobs require working with radiation?

A: No. Diagnostic medical sonography uses ultrasound rather than ionizing radiation, and health information technology and biomedical engineering involve little or no direct exposure. Radiologic technology, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy and cardiovascular imaging all involve radiation to varying degrees, with monitoring, shielding and dose limits in place. Occupational risk is low when protocols are followed, and it requires permanent attention rather than occasional care.

Ready to Choose an Imaging Career?

The imaging family offers unusually good pay for two-year credentials, and the right choice depends on whether you optimize for salary, for growth or for the number of employers within reach.

Metaintro tracks live postings across every role on this page alongside the pay attached, which turns a national median into something local and concrete. Create a free Metaintro profile to see which of these are actually hiring near you.