Ultrasound 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 ultrasound teches earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $67,820
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of ultrasound teches earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $80,430
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of ultrasound teches earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $96,590
- Hourly
- $46.44
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of ultrasound teches earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $106,930
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of ultrasound teches earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $129,370
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Ultrasound Teches produce ultrasonic recordings of internal organs for use by physicians. The median pay is $96,590 a year ($46.44 an hour) (BLS, May 2025).
- Median pay
- $96,590
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 90,160
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- medium preparation
Data Government data groups this job as Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (O*NET-SOC 29-2032.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.
Every page for Ultrasound Teches
What ultrasound teches do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Observe screen during scan to ensure that image produced is satisfactory for diagnostic purposes, making adjustments to equipment as required.
- Decide which images to include, looking for differences between healthy and pathological areas.
- Operate ultrasound equipment to produce and record images of the motion, shape, and composition of blood, organs, tissues, or bodily masses, such as fluid accumulations.
- Observe and care for patients throughout examinations to ensure their safety and comfort.
- Provide sonogram and oral or written summary of technical findings to physician for use in medical diagnosis.
- Select appropriate equipment settings and adjust patient positions to obtain the best sites and angles.
- Determine whether scope of exam should be extended, based on findings.
- Obtain and record accurate patient history, including prior test results or information from physical examinations.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Physics, Medicine and Dentistry, Customer and Personal Service, Biology, English Language, Computers and Electronics.
Software ultrasound teches use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- MEDITECH softwareMedical softwareHot technology
- eClinicalWorks EHR softwareMedical softwareHot technology
- Medical procedure coding softwareMedical software
- Patient medical record softwareMedical software
- Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology
- Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareHot technology
- Database softwareData base user interface and query software
- Email softwareElectronic mail software
Also called: Sonographer, Ultrasound Technician, Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, Cardiovascular Sonographer, Echo Tech (Echocardiographic Technician), Echosonographer Technologist (Echo Technologist), Medical Sonographer, RDMS (Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer).
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.
- 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).