Careers / Paramedics

Paramedics — Career Decision Dashboard

United States

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Median annual wage

$60,600

United States, 2025

Employment

100,610

United States, 2025

Typical education

Not recorded

Job Zone 3

Skills identified

35

10 related careers

Career overview

Administer basic or advanced emergency medical care and assess injuries and illnesses. May administer medication intravenously, use equipment such as EKGs, or administer advanced life support to sick or injured individuals.

O*NET code
29-2043.00
Job zone
3
Experience required
None

Typical tasks

  • Administer drugs, orally or by injection, or perform intravenous procedures.
  • Perform emergency cardiac care, such as cardioversion and manual defibrillation.
  • Perform emergency invasive intervention before delivering patient to an acute care facility.
  • Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel.
  • Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures.
  • Comfort and reassure patients.
  • Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings.
  • Operate equipment, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs), external defibrillators, or bag valve mask resuscitators, in advanced life support environments.

Choose a location

Salary analysis — United States

$44,230
10th
$49,660
25th
$60,600
Median
$73,470
75th
$84,850
90th

10th percentile

$44,230

25th percentile

$49,660

75th percentile

$73,470

90th percentile

$84,850

Most important skills

  • Service Orientation3.9
  • Coordination3.8
  • Social Perceptiveness3.8
  • Critical Thinking3.8
  • Active Listening3.6
  • Reading Comprehension3.5
  • Monitoring3.5
  • Speaking3.5
  • Judgment and Decision Making3.4
  • Active Learning3.4
  • Complex Problem Solving3.3
  • Instructing3.1

What skills do you need?

Select the skills you already have

Skills listed are those O*NET rates at importance 3.0 or above for this occupation. Set your own level on the same 0–7 O*NET scale.

Skill coverage

0%

0 of 14 identified skills

Matched

0

Missing

14

Your selected skills cover approximately 0% of the skills identified for this occupation in O*NET. This is a coverage measure of listed skills only — it is not a qualification, hiring or interview outcome.

Skills to develop

SkillImportanceRequired levelYour levelGap
Service Orientation3.93.8Not selected3.8
Critical Thinking3.83.9Not selected3.9
Social Perceptiveness3.83.6Not selected3.6
Coordination3.83.4Not selected3.4
Active Listening3.63.5Not selected3.5
Reading Comprehension3.53.6Not selected3.6
Monitoring3.53.5Not selected3.5
Speaking3.53.5Not selected3.5
Active Learning3.43.6Not selected3.6
Judgment and Decision Making3.43.3Not selected3.3
Complex Problem Solving3.33.3Not selected3.3
Instructing3.13.4Not selected3.4
Persuasion3.13.0Not selected3.0
Operation and Control3.02.8Not selected2.8

Ordered by required level gap multiplied by O*NET importance. No prediction or recommendation is implied.

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How salary varies by location

LocationMedianEmploymentYear
Seattle, WA$123,3107502025
Olympia, WA$120,2601002025
Bellingham, WA$119,970702025
Bremerton, WA$119,700802025
Mount Vernon, WA$109,620702025
WA$104,3102,1102025
Kennewick, WA$101,250802025
Redding, CA$88,740402025
NJ$86,6305402025
San Jose, CA$84,4801102025
San Francisco, CA$83,0907802025
Ogden, UT$82,650502025
Coeur d'Alene, ID$82,310402025
Bridgeport, CT$82,0601402025
Sacramento, CA$81,4303902025
HI$81,2801402025
Salinas, CA$80,710502025
Oxnard, CA$80,590602025
New York, NY$79,5503,8502025
New Haven, CT$79,4402302025
All locations with published data

Career transition paths

Compare the skills of a career you hold today with Paramedics to see shared skills, target-only skills and skill overlap.

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Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0.

Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025 (May 2025 release).

Figures are periodic published survey snapshots, not real-time market rates.