Medical Transcriptionists

Imminent Risk
Low High

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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
1.1/10
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

89% (Imminent Risk)

Imminent Risk (81-100%): This occupation appears highly exposed to end-to-end replacement by AI, software, robotics, or other computer-controlled systems. Roles in this range often involve predictable, repeatable, or rules-based work with limited need for human judgement, trust, creativity, or adaptation to messy real-world conditions. This does not mean every job will disappear immediately, but it is a strong signal to consider safer alternatives or start building more resilient skills.

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

Quite 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

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.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 68 votes

78% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 89% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Medical Transcriptionists 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

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Medical Transcriptionists was $37,550 ($18 per hour).

The median annual wage for Medical Transcriptionists was 24.1% lower 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 slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Medical Transcriptionists' job openings is expected to decline 4.9% 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 43,070 people employed as 'Medical Transcriptionists' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 3 thousand people are employed as 'Medical Transcriptionists'.

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What people are saying (4)

Jencuya (Highly likely)
21 Jan 2024 00:48
Because AI will get better and will be able to solve the grammar and idiom problems it has now.
Witzelsucht (Highly likely)
17 Aug 2023 03:08
Voice recognition has already replaced most MTs
Kathy (Highly likely)
02 Aug 2023 22:26
Epic and other voice recognition programs have taken over hospitals everywhere. VR inevitably makes critically dangerous errors in the transcription of diagnoses and medications; however, the doctors simply cover this issue by following every robotic transcription with a disclaimer.
Andy (Uncertain)
30 Aug 2022 08:44
Software-assisted transcription has difficulty with some field-specific jargon with imprecise pronunciation. Simple English transcription is one thing, but discerning various initialisms or naive pronunciations of Greek and Latin will be a hurdle when in a medical, life-or-death situation.

As long as there are human medical specialists needing records in a timely manner, medical transcriptionists will have work.

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Job description

Transcribe medical reports recorded by physicians and other healthcare practitioners using various electronic devices, covering office visits, emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations, chart reviews, and final summaries. Transcribe dictated reports and translate abbreviations into fully understandable form. Edit as necessary and return reports in either printed or electronic form for review and signature, or correction.

O*NET-SOC code: 31-9094.00