Rad Tech Career Opportunities
Rate of Pay = Top of Page
Job Descriptions = Bottom
(a) = BLS gov data 2018
(b) = ASRT data 2016
OJT = On-the-Job Training
Pay Rates are Average/Mean not Starting Pay
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(a) $29.71/hr
(a) $61,800/yr
(b) $56,071/yr
OJT: No
School: 2 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$30.28/hr
(a) $63,000/yr
(b) $65,775/yr
OJT: Yes
School: 16 hours
Cert Req’d: Yes
$34.84/hr
(a) $72,460/yr
(b) $71,063/yr
OJT: Yes
School: 0 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$35.66/hr
(a) $74,180/yr
(b) $73,299
OJT: Rare
School: 2 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$37.78/hr
(a) $78,590/yr
(b) $75,819
OJT: No
School: 2 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$32.25/hr
(a) $67,080/yr
(b) no data
OJT: Yes
School: 0 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$32.37/hr
(a) no data
(b) $67,332/yr
OJT: Yes
School: 0 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$28.84/hr
(a) $60,000/yr
(b) no data
OJT: Yes
School: 0 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$27.95/hr
(a) $58,130/yr
(b) no data
OJT: Yes
School: 0 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$38.46/hr
(a) $80,000/yr
(b) no data
OJT: No
School: 2 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$52.01/hr
(a) $108,180/yr
(b) no data
OJT: No
School: 2 years
Cert Req’d: No
$41.21/hr
(a) $85,720/yr
(b) $82,798
OJT: No
School: 2 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$240/hr
$500,000/yr
OJT: No
School: 14 years
Cert Req’d: No
$49.39/hr
(b)$102,735/yr
OJT: Yes
School: 4+ years
Cert Req’d: Yes
$44.67/hr
(b) $92,921/yr
OJT: Yes
School: variable
Cert Req’d: No
$44.67/hr
(b) $92,921/yr
OJT: Yes
School: variable
Cert Req’d: No
$44.67/hr
(b) $92,921/yr
OJT: Yes
School: variable
Cert Req’d: No
$31.58/hr
(b) $65,695/yr
OJT: Yes
School: 4+ years
Cert Req’d: Yes
US Tech
Vascular Tech
OJT: Yes
School: variable
Cert Req’d: Yes
Echo Tech
OJT: Yes
School: 2 years
Cert Req’d: Yes
Ped Echo Tech
OJT: Rare
School: variable
Cert Req’d: No
NM Tech
PET Tech
OJT: Yes
School: variable
Cert Req’d: No
Radiography is fascinating and rewarding all by itself and can lead to dozens of other advanced career pathways. Complete two years in an accredited radiography program, understand the ethics requirements and get your ARRT license. Many people enjoy their entire career right here in general X-ray. Others prefer to move on and expand their options.
Mammography is a very rewarding career aiding in early detection and diagnosis of breast diseases using xray equipment and is a natural transition from the general xray department. There is on-the-job training with supplemental coursework to acquire the necessary 16 hours of structured education to sit for the ARRT Mammography exam.
The IR Tech capitalizes on the foundation of a general xray tech and adds extensive procedural knowledge. IR Techs obtain fluoroscopic images to show the Radiologist imagery during procedures. You can work in a hospital, clinic, lab or outpatient center. The requirements are clinical, educational, and board examination. This is very exciting work.
A Dexa Tech creates images using specialized equipment called Dexa scanners. You can help doctors discover issues with patients’ bone health like osteoporosis or osteopenia. This is considered a secondary pathway to be completed after getting a general xray license. The requirements for Dexa licensure are clinical, educational and examination completion.
CT Techs combine their understanding of radiation from their xray background and learn how to operate a CT scanner. CTs can capture images of an entire body very quickly. Some use a contrast dye to visualize blood vessels too. CT has clinical, educational, and board examinations.
MRI Techs can train on-the-job from any modality. Common advancements are from Xray and CT departments. MRI scanners only use magnets for image acquisition, therefore you don’t need xray training prior to MRI training. This allows for a primary and postprimary pathway.
Cath Lab Techs assist physicians with minimally invasive, image-guided procedures to help diagnose and treat heart and blood vessel diseases without surgery. Procedures like angioplasty, stents & ablations. They have clinical, educational, and board examinations.
PACS Administrators are in charge of the computer system that stores all of the images for an imaging department. You do not have to be a tech to get into this position but it is very helpful if you have the technologist background. ABII and PARCA offer certification programs.
Sonographers generally attend a two-year program. You do not need xray experience to enter this field since it is based on ultrasound wave propagation. There are two pathways to licensure through the ARRT but the gold standard is the ARDMS. Subspecialties in vascular, echo, pediatric/fetal echo.
NM Techs use radiation to obtain their images so an xray tech background is helpful. However, it is not required for all NM school entry. Radioactive isotopes are used to see organ function. There is licensure through the ARRT and NMTCB. School is required and most programs last two years.
Radiation Therapists plan and administers treatments, and monitors patients’ conditions for cancer. They use special equipment that produces ionizing radiation to administer therapeutic doses of radiation to the patient. Xray experience is helpful but not required. The license is through ARRT. Program lengths vary.
These mid-level providers are similar but vary significantly in a few ways. RPAs can interpret images, RAs cannot. Both must work under the leadership of a Radiologist but can work independently under different guidelines. Licensure is through ARRT & CBRPA.
Physician Assistants are mid-level providers with similar privileges to physicians, including writing prescriptions. School length is usually two years and you can specialize in radiology. That is why an imaging technologist background can be very helpful.
Radiologists are the top of the field in Radiology. They go to school for up to 16 years. 4 yrs in undergraduate, 4 in medical school, 1-year internship, 4 in residency, 1-3 in fellowships. They can subspecialize into disciplines: neuro, pediatrics, etc or by body parts: breast, MSK, etc.
This is an advanced specialty of Nuclear Medicine. You must first be licensed in NM through the NMTCB before taking the PET exam. this field uses the detection of gamma rays to identify pathology in the human body.
Somebody has to teach the technologists…this is your instructor. There are different levels of tenure and sizes of schools. Master’s or Doctoral degrees usually required to teach and direct a program. Pay may not be as great as you hope but on the bright side, there’s no call or weekends.
Careers that are associated with imaging and do not require technologist licensure…but have a distinct advantage when the background is a technologist.
Sales Reps make a career of knowing the technical details of imaging equipment. Good ones are also knowledgable in business. Sprinkle in a technologist background and you have a solid background to make a sizable income selling imaging equipment. Training varies.
Apps Trainers know the intimate workflows in imaging equipment software. These are the people who are flown to hospitals and clinics to train the technologists on how to use the new equipment that the administration just bought. Prior imaging technology experience is a huge plus for being a great Apps Trainer.
FSEs are employed by the vendors and are solely responsible for fixing the imaging equipment and keeping it running. There can be extensive, ongoing training as technology changes. It can be a lot of travel too. A technologist background can be very helpful here but not a requirement.
If you are curious about the career of radiography, I have written some articles on various topics: How much does xray pay, 7 dangers of being a rad tech, different ways to pay for radiography school, how to get accepted into a rad tech program, can you work full-time while going to rad tech school and 5 reasons I chose a career in radiology.
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(a) – BLS data
(b) – ASRT 2016 Survey data
1 – CT Techs are lumped in with Radiologic Technologists (ie., Xray Techs) by BLS.
2 – Interventional Rad Techs are lumped in with Sonographers and Cardiovascular Techs by BLS.
3 – Dexa and Mammographers are also not listed in BLS.
4 – Male techs are typically not found in Mammography but there is no law against it and some do exist.
5 – in 2010, BLS added RPAs to the PA category.
6 – you could also be a traveling tech or PACS Admin
7 – FSE, Apps Trainers and Sales were all lumped together in ASRT survey results.
8 – No recorded salary data for PET, Vascular US, or Echo US Techs.
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