Skip to main content
FG
FutureGrid
Back to Careers

Occupational Therapists

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · SOC 29-1122

0.8% AI Exposure — Low
$100,330
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
10,500
Proj. Annual Openings
162,450
Employment (OEWS 2025)
+3.3%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
99/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 29-1122 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
0.8%
Low · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
66/100
High friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$100,330
H-1B offered wage $72,114; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
10,500
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +13.8%.
Observed/proxy demand
829
FY2025 certified LCAs; 25,441 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Active ListeningMonitoringService OrientationReading ComprehensionWriting
  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

Best transitions from here

Explore all pathways

Lower AI-exposure roles that reuse your skills, ranked by a transition score (skills that transfer, safety gain, pay and retraining effort).

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure0.8%
AI Resiliency99/100
Exposure BandLow
Sector Avg. Exposure5.4%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

32%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0.8%
AI capability · OpenAI28.9%
AI ability · AIOE66.3%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne0.4%

AI could do ~28.9% of this role but only ~0.8% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Active Listening
2.Monitoring
3.Service Orientation
4.Reading Comprehension
5.Writing

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.

3,472
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
829
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$72,114
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#99 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

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.

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

Representative Tasks

  • 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.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Analyze patient data to determine patient needs or treatment goals.
  • Evaluate patient functioning, capabilities, or health.
  • Record patient medical histories.
  • Design public or employee health programs.
  • Direct healthcare delivery programs.

Tools & Technologies

eClinicalWorks EHR software · hotMicrosoft Word · hotBizmatics PrognoCIS EMRComputer drawing softwareCrick Software Clicker 4Duxbury Braille TranslatorHMSLanguage arts educational softwareLexrotech LxPediatricMayer-Johnson Boardmaker

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

15
Occupations Shown
2.6%
Avg AI Exposure
14
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 29-1122: 2019 — employment: 133,570, median wage: $84,950; 2020 — employment: 126,610, median wage: $86,280; 2021 — employment: 127,830, median wage: $85,570; 2022 — employment: 134,980, median wage: $93,180; 2023 — employment: 144,840, median wage: $96,370; 2025 — employment: 162,450, median wage: $100,330.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure0.8%5.4%
OutlookBright ↗62% Bright
Median Salary$100,330N/A
AI Resiliency99/100N/A