Acupuncturists
Also called: Acupuncture Physician, Acupuncturist, Herbalist, Licensed Acupuncturist (LAC)Diagnose, treat, and prevent disorders by stimulating specific acupuncture points within the body using acupuncture needles. May also use cups, nutritional supplements, therapeutic massage, acupressure, and other alternative health therapies.
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What the data says: AI could halve the time on 8 of its 18 tasks, and jobs are projected to grow 8.6% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
Recent conditions
- In 2024, 2.0% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 5.0 hires for every 10 job openings in health care and social assistance, which employs about 95% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.5.0 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | $85,300 | $38,060 to $95,250 | 70 |
| California | $75,530 | $47,990 to $117,540 | 2,520 |
| Colorado | $56,950 | $43,310 to $78,300 | not published |
| Florida | $69,990 | $46,900 to $98,610 | 900 |
| Georgia | $73,980 | $56,960 to $93,360 | 140 |
| Hawaii | $64,570 | $64,560 to $102,730 | not published |
| Indiana | $120,490 | $84,300 to $127,300 | 30 |
| Kentucky | $85,130 | $85,130 to $85,130 | 60 |
| Maine | $83,040 | $56,920 to $108,650 | not published |
| Maryland | $101,650 | $66,250 to $107,270 | not published |
| Massachusetts | $93,360 | $61,830 to $139,050 | not published |
| Michigan | $65,490 | $38,750 to $114,700 | not published |
| Minnesota | $69,690 | $41,990 to $112,580 | 210 |
| Missouri | $89,000 | $66,840 to $104,350 | not published |
| New Hampshire | $77,470 | $56,330 to $89,710 | not published |
| New Jersey | $125,260 | $108,370 to $140,540 | 240 |
| New York | $86,120 | $55,380 to $100,550 | 1,160 |
| North Carolina | $76,500 | $46,940 to $89,990 | 320 |
| Oregon | $64,870 | $60,490 to $83,200 | 360 |
| Tennessee | $141,430 | $127,450 to $213,710 | not published |
| Texas | $66,530 | $33,170 to $90,420 | not published |
| Utah | $58,620 | $58,480 to $88,270 | not published |
| Washington | $83,200 | $76,160 to $112,670 | not published |
| Wisconsin | $84,820 | $74,160 to $88,120 | 170 |
Nationally: $76,040. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on 8 of its 18 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures. | Not published |
| Not much | Treat patients using tools, such as needles, cups, ear balls, seeds, pellets, or nutritional supplements. | Not published |
| Not much | Adhere to local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and statutes. | Not published |
| Not much | Identify correct anatomical and proportional point locations based on patients' anatomy and positions, contraindications, and precautions related to treatments, such as intradermal needles, moxibustion, electricity, guasha, or bleeding. | Not published |
| AI + software | Develop individual treatment plans and strategies. | under 0.01% |
| Not much | Insert needles to provide acupuncture treatment. | Not published |
See all 18 tasks
| AI + software | Evaluate treatment outcomes and recommend new or altered treatments as necessary to further promote, restore, or maintain health. | Not published |
| AI alone | Collect medical histories and general health and lifestyle information from patients. | Not published |
| AI + software | Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses. | Not published |
| Not much | Assess patients' general physical appearance to make diagnoses. | Not published |
| AI + software | Analyze physical findings and medical histories to make diagnoses according to Oriental medicine traditions. | Not published |
| AI + software | Educate patients on topics, such as meditation, ergonomics, stretching, exercise, nutrition, the healing process, breathing, or relaxation techniques. | Not published |
| AI alone | Consider Western medical procedures in health assessment, health care team communication, and care referrals. | Not published |
| Not much | Apply heat or cold therapy to patients using materials, such as heat pads, hydrocollator packs, warm compresses, cold compresses, heat lamps, or vapor coolants. | Not published |
| AI alone | Dispense herbal formulas and inform patients of dosages and frequencies, treatment duration, possible side effects, and drug interactions. | under 0.01% |
| Not much | Formulate herbal preparations to treat conditions considering herbal properties, such as taste, toxicity, effects of preparation, contraindications, and incompatibilities. | Not published |
| Not much | Treat medical conditions, using techniques such as acupressure, shiatsu, or tuina. | Not published |
| Not much | Apply moxibustion directly or indirectly to patients using Chinese, non-scarring, stick, or pole moxa. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 2 of the 18 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 18 tasks fall under 13 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treat injuries, illnesses, or diseases | |||
| Evaluate patient or client condition or treatment options | |||
| Follow standard healthcare safety procedures to protect patient and staff members | |||
| Prepare mixtures or solutions | |||
| Analyze health or medical data | |||
| Advise patients or clients on medical issues | |||
| Collect information about patients or clients | |||
| Develop patient or client care or treatment plans |
Show all 13 activities
| Examine people or animals to assess health conditions or physical characteristics | |||
| Administer therapeutic treatments | |||
| Train others on health or medical topics | |||
| Maintain health or medical records | |||
| Prescribe medical treatments or devices |
How people in this work use Claude
What people in this work made with Claude % of conversations
- Advice or a recommendation26%
- A document or report22%
- An explanation or answer15%
- A plan or strategy12%
- Teaching material6%
How they worked with Claude
37% of these conversations were about work. Anthropic Economic Index, May 2026.
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for acupuncturists specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved next
of 17,853 moves out
- 1 Registered Nurses High +5.6% 10%
- 2 Postsecondary Teachers, All Other Very high +2.0% 7%
- 3 Medical and Health Services Managers High +24.2% 6%
- 4 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 4%
- 5 Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products Very high -0.9% 4%
Where people moved in from
of 20,899 moves in
- 1 Registered Nurses High +5.6% 9%
- 2 Medical and Health Services Managers High +24.2% 5%
- 3 Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products Very high -0.9% 4%
- 4 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 3%
- 5 Customer Service Representatives Very high -5.3% 2%
The resume data uses 2010 occupation codes. This occupation comes from “Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners, All Other”, which today also includes “Healthcare Diagnosing or Treating Practitioners, All Other”, so these figures cover it too. Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
O*NET survey of workers in this occupation
- 7% postsecondary certificate
- 4% bachelor's
- 68% master's
- 7% professional doctorate
- 14% research doctorate
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 28 people answered.
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 1% less than high school
- 2% high school
- 1% associate's
- 9% bachelor's
- 53% master's
- 18% professional degree
- 15% doctorate
Census ACS 2024, all workers in this occupation · 226 people surveyed.
Why the two can differ
O*NET asks about 20 people in each occupation, which makes its shares uncertain, but it reports the exact occupation and counts certificates. The Census survey reaches thousands, but it groups some occupations together and counts degrees only. More in the Guide
1 program: Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
BLS publishes no credential figures for this occupation.
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeships: DOL's list of apprenticeable occupations doesn't include this one.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
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