Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code SIC

Speech-Language Pathologists

Assess and treat persons with speech, language, voice, and fluency disorders. May select alternative communication systems and teach their use. May perform research related to speech and language problems.

Also called: Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist (Bilingual SLP), Speech and Language Specialist, Speech Pathologist, Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP), Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist (Pediatric SLP), Speech and Language Clinician, Speech and Language Teacher, Speech and Language Therapist.

O*NET 29-1127.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $97,870; Middle half earn $77,730 to $114,570. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Master's Degree; 89% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 5 of 5; Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +15% · Much faster than average; 187,400 jobs in 2024, projected 215,500. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Speech-language pathologists".

What the work involves

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

Evaluate hearing or speech and language test results, barium swallow results, or medical or background information to diagnose and plan treatment for speech, language, fluency, voice, or swallowing disorders.
Write reports and maintain proper documentation of information, such as client Medicaid or billing records or caseload activities, including the initial evaluation, treatment, progress, and discharge of clients.
Monitor patients' progress and adjust treatments accordingly.
Develop or implement treatment plans for problems such as stuttering, delayed language, swallowing disorders, or inappropriate pitch or harsh voice problems, based on own assessments and recommendations of physicians, psychologists, or social workers.
Administer hearing or speech and language evaluations, tests, or examinations to patients to collect information on type and degree of impairments, using written or oral tests or special instruments.
Educate patients and family members about various topics, such as communication techniques or strategies to cope with or to avoid personal misunderstandings.
Supervise or collaborate with therapy team.
Participate in and write reports for meetings regarding patients' progress, such as individualized educational planning (IEP) meetings, in-service meetings, or intervention assistance team meetings.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.1 / 5
Active Listening4.1 / 5
Critical Thinking4.1 / 5
Writing4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Learning Strategies4.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.9 / 5
Education and Training4.2 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.0 / 5
Psychology4.0 / 5
Therapy and Counseling4.0 / 5
Administrative3.6 / 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.

Realistic27
Investigative76
Artistic33
Social85
Enterprising7
Conventional51

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)

audiologist · DE Audiologe/Audiologin · FR audiologiste
speech and language therapist · DE Sprachtherapeut/Sprachtherapeutin · FR orthophoniste
kinesiologist · DE Kinesiologe/Kinesiologin · FR kinésiologue
occupational therapist · DE Ergotherapeut/Ergotherapeutin · FR ergothérapeute
occupational therapy assistant · DE Ergotherapieassistent/Ergotherapieassistentin · FR assistant ergothérapeute/assistante ergothérapeute
music therapist · DE Musiktherapeut/Musiktherapeutin · FR musicothérapeute

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Occupational therapists (2222)56,000 employed
Psychotherapists and cognitive behaviour therapists (2224)53,300 employed
Podiatrists (2256)16,200 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.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “理学療法士，作業療法士，言語聴覚士，視能訓練士”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥286,000; Middle half earn ¥255,600 to ¥328,300 a month.
Workers in the category: 279,650; 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.

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 higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.15. 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 (29-1127).

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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