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Medical Transcriptionist: 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.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of medical transcriptionists earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$40,410
Hourly
$19.43
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Medical Transcriptionists transcribe medical reports recorded by physicians and other healthcare practitioners using various electronic devices, covering office visits, emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations, chart reviews, and final summaries. The median pay is $40,410 a year ($19.43 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a post-secondary certificate (39% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$40,410
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
41,550
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 3 of 5
medium preparation
Most common education
Post-Secondary Certificate
39% of workers
Key facts

Medical Transcriptionists at a glance

  • Medical transcriptionists in the United States earned a median annual wage of $40,410 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 a postsecondary nondegree award as the typical entry-level education for medical transcriptionists in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of medical transcriptionists in the United States to decline 4.4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,200 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimated that 41,550 people were employed as medical transcriptionists in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

Explore the role

Every page for Medical Transcriptionists

SalaryMedical Transcriptionist salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

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The work

What medical transcriptionists do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records.
  2. Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material.
  3. Identify mistakes in reports and check with doctors to obtain the correct information.
  4. Review and edit transcribed reports or dictated material for spelling, grammar, clarity, consistency, and proper medical terminology.
  5. Transcribe dictation for a variety of medical reports, such as patient histories, physical examinations, emergency room visits, operations, chart reviews, consultation, or discharge summaries.
  6. Distinguish between homonyms and recognize inconsistencies and mistakes in medical terms, referring to dictionaries, drug references, and other sources on anatomy, physiology, and medicine.
  7. Translate medical jargon and abbreviations into their expanded forms to ensure the accuracy of patient and health care facility records.
  8. Perform data entry and data retrieval services, providing data for inclusion in medical records and for transmission to physicians.
Where this career works

Industries that employ it

Data Share of all medical transcriptionist jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).

  1. Ambulatory healthcare services50.6% of all jobs in this occupation · -4.3% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $44,410
  2. Administrative and support services29.9% of all jobs in this occupation · -4.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $33,860
  3. Hospitals; state, local, and private11.3% of all jobs in this occupation · -6.6% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $48,000
  4. Professional, scientific, and technical services5.5% of all jobs in this occupation · +1.9% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $43,680
  5. Management of companies and enterprises1.2% of all jobs in this occupation · -5.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $50,930
  6. Educational services; state, local, and private0.7% of all jobs in this occupation · -7.6% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $49,370

Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.

Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Active ListeningcoreReading ComprehensioncoreWritingcoreMonitoringJudgment and Decision MakingTime ManagementSpeakingCritical ThinkingActive Learning

Knowledge areas: English Language, Administrative, Computers and Electronics, Medicine and Dentistry.

Tools and technology

Software medical transcriptionists use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • eClinicalWorks EHR softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • Allscripts healthcare automation softwareMedical software
  • Crescendo Systems Corporation MedRite-XLMedical software
  • Crescendo Systems DigiScribe-XLVoice recognition software
  • Electronic medical record EMR systemsMedical software
  • Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCSMedical software
  • Integrated Systems Management OmniMDMedical software
  • MedQuist DocQment Enterprise PlatformMedical software
  • Medical terminology databasesInformation retrieval or search software
  • Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeakingVoice recognition software
  • PCC EHRMedical software
  • Patient billing softwareBilling and invoicing software

Also called: Clinical Medical Transcriptionist, Documentation Specialist, Medical Language Specialist, Medical Scribe, Medical Transcriber.

Method

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.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. 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.
  2. 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.