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Kraena Pre-Health
Career Library

Technical & Diagnostic

Nuclear Medicine Technologist

Images how the body works rather than how it looks, using radioactive tracers.

Years after high school

2-4

Degree

Associate's or bachelor's degree

Entrance exam

Program entrance testing varies

Median pay

$101,370 national median for nuclear medicine technologists (BLS, May 2025).

What the job is actually like

Calculating and preparing radiopharmaceutical doses, administering them, waiting for uptake, then imaging. You work under radiation safety rules all day and handle material that has to be tracked and disposed of precisely.

The path

  1. 01Associate's or bachelor's degree in nuclear medicine technology
  2. 02Clinical rotations in a nuclear medicine department
  3. 03NMTCB or ARRT (N) certification
  4. 04State licensure where required

Good fit if

  • You enjoy chemistry and physics applied to real patients
  • You want high pay without a long degree
  • You are comfortable with strict protocol and documentation

Think twice if

  • Handling radioactive material daily would worry you
  • You need many job openings in one specific city — the field is small
  • You want to move between specialties later

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All salary figures here are median annual wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 — the most recent full national dataset. 'Median' means half of workers earn more and half earn less. Three things to keep in mind: (1) pay varies enormously by state, city, setting, and experience — a nurse in California and a nurse in rural Alabama earn very different salaries; (2) training lengths are typical, not guaranteed, and programs differ; (3) these numbers change every year. Always verify current figures at bls.gov/ooh before making a decision. For context, the BLS median wage for all U.S. occupations was $50,980, while healthcare practitioner and technical occupations had a median of $86,530 — one of the reasons health care is such a stable field.