Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code IRS
Cardiologists
Diagnose, treat, manage, and prevent diseases or conditions of the cardiovascular system. May further subspecialize in interventional procedures (e.g., balloon angioplasty and stent placement), echocardiography, or electrophysiology.
O*NET 29-1212.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $496,010
- Middle half earn $274,280 to $610,060. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 5 of 5
- Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Administer emergency cardiac care for life-threatening heart problems, such as cardiac arrest and heart attack.
- Advise patients and community members concerning diet, activity, hygiene, or disease prevention.
- Answer questions that patients have about their health and well-being.
- Calculate valve areas from blood flow velocity measurements.
- Compare measurements of heart wall thickness and chamber sizes to standards to identify abnormalities, using the results of an echocardiogram.
- Conduct electrocardiogram (EKG), phonocardiogram, echocardiogram, or other cardiovascular tests to record patients' cardiac activity, using specialized electronic test equipment, recording devices, or laboratory instruments.
- Conduct exercise electrocardiogram tests to monitor cardiovascular activity under stress.
- Conduct research to develop or test medications, treatments, or procedures that prevent or control disease or injury.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic66
- Investigative98
- Artistic2
- Social62
- Enterprising21
- Conventional50
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- physiologist · DE Physiologe/Physiologin · FR physiologiste
- general practitioner · DE Arzt für Allgemeinmedizin/Ärztin für Allgemeinmedizin · FR médecin généraliste
- specialised doctor · DE Facharzt/Fachärztin · FR médecin spécialiste
- nuclear medicine radiographer · DE Medizinisch-technischer Assistent Nuklearmedizin/Medizinisch-technische Assistentin Nuklearmedizin · FR technologue en médecine nucléaire
- clinical perfusion scientist · DE Fachassistent Herz-Kreislauf-Funktionsdiagnostik/Fachassistentin Herz-Kreislauf-Funktionsdiagnostik · FR perfusionniste clinique
- biomedical scientist · DE Biomedizintechniker/Biomedizintechnikerin · FR technicien de biologie médicale/technicienne de biologie médicale
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Biochemists and biomedical scientists (2113)68,000 employed
- Generalist medical practitioners (2211)197,900 employed
- Occupational therapists (2222)56,000 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “医師”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥971,300
- Middle half earn ¥666,600 to ¥1,338,000 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 145,170
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
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