Also called: Diagnostic Radiologist
A physician who reads X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasounds to diagnose disease.
Sits in a dark reading room scrolling through hundreds of images a day, spotting a tiny lung nodule, a hidden fracture, or a brain bleed, then dictating a report to the doctor. Many now work remotely, reading scans from home for hospitals far away.
Estimate; BLS top-codes physician wages. One of the highest-paid specialties.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 14 years after high school. Bachelor's, medical school, a 1-year internship, a 4-year radiology residency, usually plus a fellowship.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Biology, Physics, Pre-Medicine.
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years). Strong demand as imaging volume grows.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI pre-reads scans and flags nodules, bleeds and fractures, so each radiologist covers more studies; the final call and liability stay human.
Classes: AP Biology, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus.
Official data: O*NET occupation 29-1224.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.