Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
6.6/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

39% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Assisting and caring for others

Very important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
Jobs that also use this strength

Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Show 4 more strengths

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
Jobs that also use this strength

Psychology knowledge

Quite important
Why this matters
Understanding human behavior, motivation, and individual differences to assess needs, respond appropriately, and support behavior change or mental health.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 281 votes

39% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 39% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Diagnostic Medical Sonographers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Diagnostic Medical Sonographers was $89,340 ($43 per hour).

The median annual wage for Diagnostic Medical Sonographers was 80.5% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Diagnostic Medical Sonographers' job openings is expected to rise 13.0% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 86,460 people employed as 'Diagnostic Medical Sonographers' within the United States.

This represents around 0.06% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Diagnostic Medical Sonographers'.

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What people are saying (8)

Leave a comment
Yoselin (Uncertain)
08 May 2025 13:48
Because Robots don't have the skills of thinking like we do we identify things in a better way from how the patients feels or needs.
Aaron (Low)
08 Jul 2024 02:34
The role of a diagnostic medical sonographer is quite a difficult one. While one can train AI and robots to take more images based on certain pathology, teaching them to angle the transducer in a specific way and area will be more difficult, as well as being able to care for the patient properly
DJ (No chance)
26 Feb 2023 02:37
It's not just about moving the wand. It's about detecting anomalies and reacting in real time. AI is too easily fooled and/or overconfident in its incorrect assessment
Rick (Low)
29 Sep 2019 08:04
Sonography is very operator dependent.
Sean (Low)
02 Jul 2019 00:15
Ultrasound is tech dependant
Suzanne Dwyer
28 Sep 2019 20:51
It is when AI and robotics comes together, and scan a patient is when Sonographers will becomes a thing of the past. AI will take over Radiologist jobs in the next couple years. AI can be programmed to view thousands of images per second and can identity pathogens at high rate of success.
Renato
13 Aug 2021 22:53
Hey bro, AI has 6 weeks to replace the radiologists according to your "next couple years" preview in sep 28, 2019.
Danny
13 May 2026 15:26
2026, radiology still exists
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Job description

Produce ultrasonic recordings of internal organs for use by physicians. Includes vascular technologists.

O*NET-SOC code: 29-2032.00