Advanced practice registered nurses have the best healthcare job among roles examined in one recent analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and census data.
The finding is from Tebra, a digital healthcare platform resulting from the merger between Kareo and PatientPop, which used census data and the 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics data on healthcare occupations in the U.S. to rank 46 healthcare jobs. Rankings are based on median pay from 2022; 10-year job outlook, expected job growth in percentage; employment per 10,000 workers; and 2022-23 search volume per capita to determine the most sought-after roles.
Here are the 46 jobs, ranked by their final score on a scale of one to 100, according to the analysis:
Note: For occupations grouped by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (for example, "physicians and surgeons"), Tebra used search volume for each and determined the average. Some variables had ties. Final scores were scaled by 1.7.
1. Advanced practice registered nurses: 86.3
2. Home health and personal care aides: 80.8
3. Physician assistants: 80.2
4. Registered nurses: 68.5
5. Physicians and surgeons: 65.3
6. Medical assistants: 61.5
7. Speech-language pathologists: 50.8
8. Pharmacists: 49.3
9. Physical therapists: 48.2
10. Dentists: 47.5
11. Occupational therapy assistants and aides: 47.1
12. Occupational therapists: 45.1
13. Genetic counselors: 43
14. Optometrists: 41.9
15. Physical therapist assistants and aides: 41.7
16. Phlebotomists: 41.1
17. Massage therapists: 39.7
18. Pharmacy technicians: 39.3
19. Respiratory therapists: 38.7
20. Orthotists and prosthetists: 37.6
21. Podiatrists: 36.4
22. Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses: 36.3
23. Occupational health and safety specialists and technicians: 35.8
24. Health information technologists and medical registrars: 34.9
25. Dental hygienists: 34.8
26. Audiologists: 34.6
27. Dental assistants: 33.9
28. Athletic trainers: 33.2
29. Diagnostic medical sonographers and cardiovascular technologists and technicians: 33.1 (tie)
29. Nursing assistants and orderlies: 33.1 (tie)
31. Medical dosimetrists: 33
32. Psychiatric technicians and aides: 31.5
33. Psychologists: 30.8
34. Chiropractors: 30.7
35. Exercise physiologists: 27.6
36. Dietitians and nutritionists: 27
37. Radiologic and MRI technologists: 26.6
38. Radiation therapists: 25.4
39. EMTs and paramedics: 24.5
40. Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians: 23.7
41. Medical records specialists: 23.6
42. Surgical assistants and technologists: 21.2
43. Nuclear medicine technologists: 20.3
44. Recreational therapists: 18.5
45. Opticians: 14.5
46. Medical transcriptionists: 7.8