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Role hub · Occupational Therapists

Occupational Therapist: 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 Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of occupational therapists earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$100,330
Hourly
$48.24
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Occupational Therapists assess, plan, and organize rehabilitative programs that help build or restore vocational, homemaking, and daily living skills, as well as general independence, to persons with disabilities or developmental delays. The median pay is $100,330 a year ($48.24 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a master's degree (86% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$100,330
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
162,450
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Most common education
Master's Degree
86% of workers
Explore the role

Every page for Occupational Therapists

SalaryOccupational Therapist salary

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

Open →How to becomeOccupational Therapist how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeOccupational Therapist resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Career changeOccupational Therapist career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What occupational therapists do day to day

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

  1. Test and evaluate patients' physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.
  2. Complete and maintain necessary records.
  3. Plan and implement programs and social activities to help patients learn work or school skills and adjust to handicaps.
  4. Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental or physical capabilities.
  5. Evaluate patients' progress and prepare reports that detail progress.
  6. Train caregivers in providing for the needs of a patient during and after therapy.
  7. Lay out materials such as puzzles, scissors and eating utensils for use in therapy, and clean and repair these tools after therapy sessions.
  8. Consult with rehabilitation team to select activity programs or coordinate occupational therapy with other therapeutic activities.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

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

Service OrientationcoreActive ListeningcoreMonitoringcoreSocial PerceptivenessInstructingJudgment and Decision MakingReading ComprehensionWritingSpeaking

Knowledge areas: Therapy and Counseling, Psychology, Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry, English Language, Education and Training.

Tools and technology

Software occupational therapists use

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

  • FacebookWeb page creation and editing softwareHot technology
  • eClinicalWorks EHR softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMRMedical software
  • Casamba SmartMedical software
  • Computer drawing softwareGraphics or photo imaging software
  • Duxbury Braille TranslatorOptical character reader OCR or scanning software
  • Fifth Walk BillingTrackerBilling and invoicing software
  • HMSMedical software
  • Language arts educational softwareComputer based training software
  • Lexrotech LxPediatricMedical software
  • Math educational softwareComputer based training software
  • Mayer-Johnson BoardmakerGraphics or photo imaging software

Also called: Assistive Technology Trainer, Certified Hand Therapist (CHT), Early Intervention Occupational Therapist, Home Health Occupational Therapist, Industrial Rehabilitation Consultant, Occupational Therapist (OT).

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 correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. 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).