Skip to content
TryHired.
Role hub · Occupational Therapy Assistants

Occupational Therapy Assistant: 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 occupational therapy assistants earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$72,300
Hourly
$34.76
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Occupational Therapy Assistants assist occupational therapists in providing occupational therapy treatments and procedures. The median pay is $72,300 a year ($34.76 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is an associate's degree (92% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$72,300
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
51,290
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 3 of 5
medium preparation
Most common education
Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
92% of workers
Key facts

Occupational Therapy Assistants at a glance

  • Occupational therapy assistants in the United States earned a median annual wage of $72,300 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 occupational therapy assistants in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of occupational therapy assistants in the United States to grow 21.5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 8,100 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimated that 51,290 people were employed as occupational therapy assistants in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

Explore the role

Every page for Occupational Therapy Assistants

SalaryOccupational Therapy Assistant salary

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

Open →How to becomeOccupational Therapy Assistant how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeOccupational Therapy Assistant resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What occupational therapy assistants do day to day

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

  1. Instruct, or assist in instructing, patients and families in home programs, basic living skills, or the care and use of adaptive equipment.
  2. Maintain and promote a positive attitude toward clients and their treatment programs.
  3. Report to supervisors, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior.
  4. Implement, or assist occupational therapists with implementing, treatment plans designed to help clients function independently.
  5. Monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement.
  6. Observe and record patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior and maintain this information in client records.
  7. Select therapy activities to fit patients' needs and capabilities.
  8. Attend continuing education classes.
Where this career works

Industries that employ it

Data Share of all occupational therapy assistant jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).

  1. Ambulatory healthcare services49.5% of all jobs in this occupation · +33.3% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $70,370
  2. Nursing and residential care facilities21.3% of all jobs in this occupation · +7.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $76,800
  3. Hospitals; state, local, and private17.0% of all jobs in this occupation · +18.4% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $68,490
  4. Educational services; state, local, and private6.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +1.5% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $61,310
  5. Social assistance1.6% of all jobs in this occupation · +13.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $67,780
  6. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals0.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +2.9% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $63,160

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.

Social PerceptivenesscoreService OrientationcoreActive ListeningcoreSpeakingReading ComprehensionTime ManagementCritical ThinkingMonitoringInstructing

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Psychology, Education and Training, English Language, Therapy and Counseling, Public Safety and Security.

Tools and technology

Software occupational therapy assistants 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
  • Billing softwareBilling and invoicing software
  • BrainTrain Captain's LogMedical software
  • BrainTrain IVA+PlusComputer based training software
  • BrainTrain SmartDriverAction games
  • Client caseload management softwareMedical software
  • Fifth Walk BillingTrackerBilling and invoicing software
  • Graphics softwareGraphics or photo imaging software
  • Laboratory information system LISMedical software
  • Language arts educational softwareComputer based training software
  • Math educational softwareComputer based training software

Also called: Acute Care Occupational Therapy Assistant (Acute Care OT Assistant), Certified Occupational Assistant, Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant (COTA), Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA), Licensed Occupational Therapist Assistant (LOTA), Licensed Occupational Therapy Assistant (LOTA).

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.