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Boston Career Explorer

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical

Occupational Therapists

Assess, plan, and organize rehabilitative programs that help build or restore vocational, homemaking, and daily living skills, as well as general independence, to persons with disabilities or developmental delays. Use therapeutic techniques, adapt the individual's environment, teach skills, and modify specific tasks that present barriers to the individual.

Also called: Assistive Technology Trainer, Certified Hand Therapist (CHT), Early Intervention Occupational Therapist, Home Health Occupational Therapist, Industrial Rehabilitation Consultant, Occupational Therapist (OT)

Compare with my current job (Healthcare Social Workers)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$101,940
$49.01/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
4,790
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+11.6%
390 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Master's degree

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$74,670$84,750$101,940$110,620$129,060

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Test and evaluate patients' physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.
  • Complete and maintain necessary records.
  • Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate persons with disabilities because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.
  • Plan and implement programs and social activities to help patients learn work or school skills and adjust to handicaps.
  • Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental or physical capabilities.
  • Evaluate patients' progress and prepare reports that detail progress.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Moderate exposure53 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 50
  • Language-model AIOE 53
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 55

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for occupational therapists is moderate, and observed AI use is little or none so far. AI tools may help with record keeping and analyzing medical data. Running therapy programs and choosing activities that fit each person's abilities are hands-on, personal work that relies on people.

Likely to change

  • Completing and maintaining patient records
  • Analyzing medical data for rehabilitation goals

Still relies on people

  • Leading hands-on therapy programs
  • Choosing activities that fit each person

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Physician Assistants

    You already evaluate patients' abilities and analyze medical data; this move builds on that with diagnosis and treatment decisions, in a field growing faster in Massachusetts.

    Pay difference
    +$40,470 median
    AI exposure
    Moderate
    MA growth
    +18.2%
    To get started
    Master's degree

  • Respiratory Therapists

    Your experience working with patients in recovery carries over to monitoring how people respond to therapy, with an associate's degree and similar pay.

    Pay difference
    +$2,640 median
    AI exposure
    Moderate
    MA growth
    +10.4%
    To get started
    Associate's degree

  • Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians

    Your skill at guiding patients through care carries over to explaining tests and easing anxiety, with an associate's degree path and similar pay.

    Pay difference
    +$5,060 median
    AI exposure
    Moderate
    MA growth
    +1.2%
    To get started
    Associate's degree

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

4 programs near Boston (plus 8 graduate)

Related occupations

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