EKG Tech: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of ekg techs earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $39,000
- Hourly
- $18.75
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of ekg techs earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $47,890
- Hourly
- $23.02
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of ekg techs earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $74,310
- Hourly
- $35.73
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of ekg techs earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $98,110
- Hourly
- $47.17
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of ekg techs earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $121,350
- Hourly
- $58.34
- Source
- BLS May 2025
EKG Techs conduct tests on pulmonary or cardiovascular systems of patients for diagnostic, therapeutic, or research purposes. The median pay is $74,310 a year ($35.73 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is an associate's degree (63% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Median pay
- $74,310
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 62,960
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- medium preparation
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 63% of workers
Data Government data groups this job as Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians (O*NET-SOC 29-2031.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.
EKG Techs at a glance
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians in the United States earned a median annual wage of $74,310 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists an associate's degree as the typical entry-level education for cardiovascular technologists and technicians in the United States.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS projects employment of cardiovascular technologists and technicians in the United States to grow 3.7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,400 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS estimated that 62,960 people were employed as cardiovascular technologists and technicians in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
Every page for EKG Techs
What ekg techs do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Explain testing procedures to patients to obtain cooperation and reduce anxiety.
- Monitor patients' blood pressure and heart rate using electrocardiogram (EKG) equipment during diagnostic or therapeutic procedures to notify the physician if something appears wrong.
- Obtain and record patient identification, medical history, or test results.
- Monitor patients' comfort and safety during tests, alerting physicians to abnormalities or changes in patient responses.
- Prepare and position patients for testing.
- Attach electrodes to the patients' chests, arms, and legs, connect electrodes to leads from the electrocardiogram (EKG) machine, and operate the EKG machine to obtain a reading.
- Adjust equipment and controls according to physicians' orders or established protocol.
- Check, test, and maintain cardiology equipment, making minor repairs when necessary, to ensure proper operation.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry, English Language, Computers and Electronics, Education and Training.
Software ekg techs use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- MEDITECH softwareMedical softwareHot technology
- Diagnostic image review softwareMedical software
- Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine DICOM-compatible image acquisition and integration software productsMedical software
- Electronic medical record EMR softwareMedical software
- Information systems integration softwareInformation retrieval or search software
- Internet or intranet image distribution softwareMedical software
- Practice management software PMSMedical software
- Pyxis MedStation softwareInventory management software
- Smart Digital Holter MonitorMedical software
- JavaScriptWeb platform development softwareHot technology
- Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology
- Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareHot technology
Also called: Cardiovascular Technologist, Cath Lab Tech, Cardiac Cath Lab Technologist (Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Technologist), Cardiac Catheterization Technician, Cardiac Technician, Cardio Tech (Cardiovascular Technician), Cardiology Technician, Cardiopulmonary Technician.
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.