The overall average salary of a radiologic technologist nationwide rose by 12.3% since 2022 and now averages $86,484, according to results from the American Society of Radiologic Technologists Wage and Salary Survey 2024.
The survey, conducted in August 2024, shows that all major disciplines in medical imaging and radiation therapy saw average annual increases since 2022, with some areas showing greater gains than others.
“This year’s survey shows consistent gains across all major disciplines as compared to the 2022 wage and salary survey,” said Melissa Culp, M.Ed., R.T.(R)(MR), ASRT executive vice president of member engagement. “ASRT will continue to monitor salaries in the medical imaging and radiation therapy profession to ensure that radiologic technologists, managers and decision makers have current data to make informed decisions.”
Among major disciplines, nuclear medicine technologists experienced the largest average gains at 20.2%, from a $88,576 average annual salary in 2022 to $106,475 in 2024. Vascular interventional followed with a 13.6% increase, moving from $83,934 to $95,317. Sonographers saw a 13.2% increase from $82,368 to $93,237. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists saw their pay increase by 12.5% from $82,395 to $92,729. Computed tomography and radiography each experienced a 12.3% increase from $78,159 to $87,785 and $65,246 to $73,274, respectively. Mammographers experienced an 11.5% increase from $79,323 to $88,468.
In addition, cardiac interventional technologists saw salaries increase by 10.4% and radiation therapists experienced a 7.2% increase.
The disciplines with the highest reported mean compensation were medical dosimetry at $136,510, radiologist assistant at $126,428 and radiation therapy at $106,425.
Compensation also varies by region. On average, R.T.s working in California have the highest annual compensation at $125,843, followed by technologists in Delaware at $106,676. Technologists in Nebraska earned the lowest base annual compensation at $61,924.
“In the past, we conducted the wage and salary survey every three years,” said John Culbertson, M.Ed., M.A., ASRT director of research. “However, with rising inflation and the high vacancy rates, we decided to conduct the survey at the two-year mark to ensure that ASRT members have the most up-to-date compensation statistics.”
The ASRT sent the Radiologic Technologist Wage and Salary Survey to 359,399 email addresses in the ASRT database. At the survey’s close, a total of 19,687 questionnaires were completed. Of the total, 18,158 radiologic technologists indicated that they were currently employed in the radiologic sciences. This sample size yields a ±0.73% margin of error at its widest for overall percentages at the 95% confidence level.
Since 2001, the ASRT has conducted the Wage and Salary Survey of radiologic technologists with the primary objective to measure income, benefits, satisfaction and other compensation-related metrics.