Also called: Heart Doctor
Diagnoses and treats heart and blood vessel disease.
Reads echocardiograms and EKGs, sees patients with chest pain or irregular heartbeats, and may thread a tiny catheter through an artery to open a blockage with a stent. Interventional cardiologists are on call for heart attacks.
BLS top-codes many physician wages; figures are estimates for attending physicians after residency (residents earn about $65k-$80k while training).
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, 3-year internal medicine residency, then a 3-year cardiology fellowship.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Pre-Medicine.
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years).
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI already reads EKGs and echoes well, trimming non-invasive reading work; procedures and complex heart decisions stay with cardiologists.
Classes: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 29-1212.
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.