Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code RCI

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

Produce ultrasonic recordings of internal organs for use by physicians. Includes vascular technologists.

Also called: RDMS (Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer), Staff Sonographer, Ultrasound Technician (Ultrasound Tech), Ultrasound Technologist (Ultrasound Tech), Cardiovascular Sonographer, Echo Tech (Echocardiographic Technician), Echosonographer Technologist (Echo Technologist), Medical Sonographer.

O*NET 29-2032.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $96,590; Middle half earn $80,430 to $106,930. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +13% · Much faster than average; 90,000 jobs in 2024, projected 101,700. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Diagnostic medical sonographers".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Process and code film from procedures and complete appropriate documentation.
Observe screen during scan to ensure that image produced is satisfactory for diagnostic purposes, making adjustments to equipment as required.
Decide which images to include, looking for differences between healthy and pathological areas.
Operate ultrasound equipment to produce and record images of the motion, shape, and composition of blood, organs, tissues, or bodily masses, such as fluid accumulations.
Observe and care for patients throughout examinations to ensure their safety and comfort.
Provide sonogram and oral or written summary of technical findings to physician for use in medical diagnosis.
Select appropriate equipment settings and adjust patient positions to obtain the best sites and angles.
Determine whether scope of exam should be extended, based on findings.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
Critical Thinking3.6 / 5
Writing3.3 / 5
Monitoring3.3 / 5

Knowledge areas

Physics4.5 / 5
Medicine and Dentistry4.5 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.2 / 5
Biology4.0 / 5
English Language3.7 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.3 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

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.

Realistic81
Investigative63
Artistic5
Social52
Enterprising9
Conventional68

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)

radiographer · DE Röntgentechniker/Röntgentechnikerin · FR technicien en imagerie médicale et radiologie thérapeutique/technicienne en imagerie médicale et radiologie thérapeutique
diagnostic radiographer · DE Medizinisch-technischer Assistent für radiologische Diagnostik/Medizinisch-technische Assistentin für radiologische Diagnostik · FR technicien en imagerie médicale diagnostique/technicienne en imagerie médicale diagnostique
nuclear medicine radiographer · DE Medizinisch-technischer Assistent Nuklearmedizin/Medizinisch-technische Assistentin Nuklearmedizin · FR technologue en médecine nucléaire
therapeutic radiographer · DE Fachassistent Strahlentherapie/Fachassistentin Strahlentherapie · FR technicien en radiothérapie/technicienne en radiothérapie
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)

Occupational therapists (2222)56,000 employed
Podiatrists (2256)16,200 employed
Medical radiographers (2254)44,200 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.

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.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
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.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.26. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-2032).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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