Anesthesiologists

Median salary

$391,490

Average salary

$360,570

Employment

38,760

Projected growth

3.2% growth

Annual openings

1,300

Typical entry education

Doctoral or professional degree

What Anesthesiologists Do

Administer anesthetics and analgesics for pain management prior to, during, or after surgery.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 2024–2034.

Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Internship/residency
Self-employed: 4.7%

Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.

How Much Preparation Does This Take?

Job Zone 5 of 5

Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience: Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience.
Education: Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Job training: Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Source: O*NET Job Zones.

Key Knowledge Areas

Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.

Medicine and Dentistryimportance 4.9/5
Biologyimportance 4.3/5
English Languageimportance 3.7/5
Chemistryimportance 3.6/5
Customer and Personal Serviceimportance 3.6/5
Psychologyimportance 3.4/5
Physicsimportance 3.2/5
Mathematicsimportance 3.1/5

Work Environment

What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.

Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.9/5
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled4.9/5
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate4.8/5
Contact With Others4.8/5
Physical Proximity4.7/5
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results4.7/5

Careers With Similar Skills

Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.

Dietetic Technicians97% skill match
Medical Dosimetrists97% skill match
Fire Inspectors and Investigators96% skill match
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria95% skill match
Airfield Operations Specialists95% skill match
Optometrists95% skill match
Occupational Health and Safety Technicians95% skill match
Sewers, Hand94% skill match

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.

Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 4.1/5
Complex Problem Solvingimportance 4.0/5
Social Perceptivenessimportance 3.8/5
Time Managementimportance 3.8/5
Operations Monitoringimportance 3.6/5
Service Orientationimportance 3.3/5
Systems Evaluationimportance 3.3/5
Coordinationimportance 3.1/5

Software & Technologies

Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.

Hot Technologies

Other Software Used

AetherPalm InfusiCalc
Anesthesia machine software
AtStaff Physician Scheduler
Drug database software
EDImis Anesthesia Manager
Electronic medical record EMR software
Healthpac Medical Billing
Medical calculator software

Work Style

Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.

Attention to Detail
Stress Tolerance
Dependability
Cautiousness
Integrity
Self-Control
Intellectual Curiosity

Career Interests

This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.

InvestigativeHigh
SocialHigh
RealisticHigh
ConventionalMedium
EnterprisingLow
ArtisticLow

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.