Medical transcriptionists
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.
BLS SOC 31-9094 · O*NET-SOC 31-9094.00 · BLS 2025–2035 · O*NET 31.0
Median annual wage, 2025
$40,410
Projected change, 2025–2035
-4.4%
2025–2035 annual average openings
6,200
AI exposure
High
Editorial analysis
Speech recognition has moved from assisting this job to reshaping it
Medical transcription is among the occupations most directly affected by advances in speech recognition and generative AI. Systems can convert clinician speech into text, organize it into a medical note, suggest structured fields, and increasingly create documentation from the natural conversation between clinician and patient.
The remaining work becomes quality control
Automated notes can still misunderstand medication names, measurements, anatomy, accents, context, or which person said what. That leaves a continuing need for review in some workflows, but the amount of human labor required per note can be much lower than traditional transcription.
- Straight transcription faces substantial automation pressure.
- Ambient clinical documentation can remove the traditional dictation step entirely.
- Human work may concentrate on editing difficult cases and correcting clinically meaningful errors.
- Knowledge of medical terminology, coding, records systems, and documentation quality can support transitions into adjacent roles.
For workers in this occupation, broadening skills is especially important. Medical documentation expertise remains useful, but relying on manual transcription alone is a more vulnerable career position as clinical AI becomes increasingly capable.
Labor-market picture
Two measures, different questions
These measures offer two different ways to understand the occupation: BLS projections show how national employment may change over time, while relative AI exposure highlights where tasks may intersect with AI-related capabilities. Read them with the work profile and your local context to decide what deserves closer investigation.
Employment
- Employment, 2025
- 42,000 jobs
- Projected employment, 2035
- 40,200 jobs
- Projected change, 2025–2035
- -1,900 jobs (-4.4%)
Relative AI exposure
BLS category: High. This is a relative task-exposure classification, not a forecast of employment change, automation, wages, or worker replacement.
Relative AI exposure · High
Work profile
Representative tasks
These task statements come from O*NET 31.0. They are source facts, not labels assigned by the AI exposure measure.
- Return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records.
- Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material.
- Identify mistakes in reports and check with doctors to obtain the correct information.
- Review and edit transcribed reports or dictated material for spelling, grammar, clarity, consistency, and proper medical terminology.
- Transcribe dictation for a variety of medical reports, such as patient histories, physical examinations, emergency room visits, operations, chart reviews, consultation, or discharge summaries.
- Distinguish between homonyms and recognize inconsistencies and mistakes in medical terms, referring to dictionaries, drug references, and other sources on anatomy, physiology, and medicine.
Skills that matter
Skills in the source profile
Importance uses O*NET's 1–5 scale. Level uses its 0–7 scale. Select a skill to see its source definition and reported values.
Technology and tools
These technology records come from O*NET and show software or tools reported in the occupation profile. They describe work context, not a required checklist for every employer.
- Medical software
- Word processing software
- Calendar and scheduling software
- Office suite software
- Voice recognition software
- Data base user interface and query software
- Electronic mail software
- Information retrieval or search software
Preparation
- Typical entry education
- Postsecondary nondegree award
- Related experience
- None
- On-the-job training
- None
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Source provenance
Labor-market and exposure facts: bls-ep-2025-35. Work profile: onet-31.0. Verify release details on the Sources page.