Occupation salary profile

Occupational Therapists

SOC 29-1122 BLS OEWS May 2025 H-1B LCAs, last 12 months

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. Use therapeutic techniques, adapt the individual’s environment, teach skills, and modify specific tasks that present barriers to the individual. Excludes “Rehabilitation Counselors” (21-1015).

National median · BLS
$100,330
▲ +2.02% YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$71,968
▼ -19.53% YoY · 1,046 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$101,280
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
162,450
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.

Pay range for Occupational Therapists

Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 1,046 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.

Percentile All U.S. workers (BLS) H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay$71,690$60,798
25th$82,510$68,432
Median (50th)$100,330$71,968
75th$116,670$74,797
90th — top pay$131,950$86,154
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $71,968 for Occupational Therapists — 28.3% below the BLS national median of $100,330.

Hourly ⇄ annual pay

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Based on hrs/week × weeks/year = 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035

Job outlook for Occupational Therapists

BLS projects employment of occupational therapists to grow 14.8% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the 3.5% average for all occupations. About 10,000 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.

Jobs 2025 → 2035
169,600 → 194,800
+25,200 jobs
Projected change
+14.8%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
10,000
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Master's degree
No related experience required
Self-employed
2.5% of workers (2025)
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 5)
Extensive Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Fastest-growing jobs → Best-paying jobs that need a master's degree →

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook →

H-1B sponsored pay

Pay by H-1B wage level

Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.

H-1B median $71,968
Change vs prior year -19.53%
After inflation (CPI-U) -21.97%
Wage level LCAs Share P25 Median P75
Level I 953 91.1% $67,787 $71,906 $72,114
Level II 55 5.3% $91,832 $98,000 $111,280
Level III 27 2.6% $96,070 $109,346 $126,479
H-1B job titles

Salaries by job title in Occupational Therapists

The 1 most-filed job titles inside SOC 29-1122, from 1,046 H-1B filings. Seniority words and level numbers are grouped (“Senior Data Engineer II” counts as Data Engineer). Tap a title for its full range, wage levels and the exact titles employers used.

Job title LCAs Share P25 Median P75 YoY
Occupational Therapist 1,017 97.23% $68,432 $71,968 $74,048 -16.43%

Titles are cleaned from the employer's own LCA text (codes and typos removed, nothing invented). Rows need 10+ filings in this SOC.

Skills & tools

Skills needed for Occupational Therapists

How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.

Top skills
  • Active Listening4.1
  • Monitoring4.1
  • Service Orientation4.1
  • Critical Thinking4.0
  • Instructing4.0
  • Judgment and Decision Making4.0
  • Reading Comprehension4.0
  • Social Perceptiveness4.0
  • Speaking4.0
  • Writing4.0
Top knowledge areas
  • Therapy and Counseling4.7
  • Psychology4.5
  • Customer and Personal Service4.3
  • Medicine and Dentistry4.2
  • English Language4.1
  • Education and Training3.9
  • Biology3.5
  • Sociology and Anthropology3.2
Software and technology used
eClinicalWorks EHR softwareFacebookMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft WordBizmatics PrognoCIS EMRCasamba SmartComputer drawing softwareCrick Software Clicker 4Duxbury Braille TranslatorEmail softwareFifth Walk BillingTrackerFileMaker ProHMSLanguage arts educational softwareLexrotech LxPediatricMath educational softwareMayer-Johnson Boardmaker

Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

About the job

What occupational therapists do

  • Test and evaluate patients' physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.
  • Complete and maintain necessary records.
  • Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate persons with disabilities because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.
  • Plan and implement programs and social activities to help patients learn work or school skills and adjust to handicaps.
  • Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental or physical capabilities.
  • Evaluate patients' progress and prepare reports that detail progress.
  • Train caregivers in providing for the needs of a patient during and after therapy.
  • Lay out materials such as puzzles, scissors and eating utensils for use in therapy, and clean and repair these tools after therapy sessions.
Also called
Certified Hand Therapist (CHT)Occupational Therapist (OT)Pediatric Occupational Therapist (Pediatric OT)Registered Occupational Therapist (OTR)Assistive Technology TrainerEarly Intervention Occupational TherapistHome Health Occupational TherapistIndustrial Rehabilitation ConsultantPediatrics and Acute Care Occupational Therapist
Specialties within this occupation
  • Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists
More job titles for this occupation (32)
Acute Care OT (Acute Care Occupational Therapist)Blind Orientation and Mobility Therapist (Blind O and M Therapist)Certified Low Vision Therapist (CLVT)Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS)Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (CVRT)Global Mobility SpecialistHome Care Occupational Therapist (Home Care OT)Independent Living SpecialistIndustrial TherapistInpatient Occupational Therapist (Inpatient OT)Job TrainerLow Vision TherapistMobility ProfessionalMobility SpecialistOrientation and Mobility Instructor (O and M Instructor)Orientation and Mobility Specialist (O and M Specialist)Orientation SpecialistOutpatient Occupational Therapist (Outpatient OT)Rehabilitation EngineerRehabilitation Occupational Therapist (Rehab OT)Rehabilitation SpecialistRehabilitation TeacherRehabilitation TherapistSchool Occupational Therapist (School OT)Students with Visual Impairments Teacher (TVI)Travel Occupational Therapist (Travel OT)Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (VRT)Vision SpecialistVision TherapistVisually Impaired Teacher (TVI)Vocational Rehabilitation SpecialistVocational Trainer

Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.