Paramedics
Also called: Critical Care Paramedic, Firefighter Paramedic, First Responder, Flight ParamedicAdminister 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.
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What the data says: AI could halve the time on 5 of its 13 tasks, and jobs are projected to grow 5.7% 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, 1.7% 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 60% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $48,540 | $39,840 to $59,540 | 1,700 |
| Alaska | $71,860 | $62,460 to $85,230 | 310 |
| Arizona | $58,600 | $50,040 to $63,640 | 2,200 |
| Arkansas | $50,310 | $44,330 to $62,010 | 1,170 |
| California | $74,590 | $63,490 to $90,730 | 5,190 |
| Colorado | $63,910 | $59,790 to $78,270 | 2,110 |
| Connecticut | $77,480 | $73,840 to $81,710 | 1,000 |
| Delaware | $64,240 | $61,890 to $78,730 | 340 |
| District of Columbia | $78,550 | $78,550 to $96,640 | 90 |
| Florida | $60,140 | $49,090 to $72,890 | 6,970 |
| Georgia | $57,660 | $47,420 to $64,140 | 3,250 |
| Hawaii | $81,280 | $75,930 to $81,280 | 140 |
| Idaho | $60,380 | $53,040 to $75,940 | 440 |
| Illinois | $60,660 | $49,650 to $106,810 | 3,890 |
| Indiana | $60,320 | $50,660 to $66,240 | 2,680 |
| Iowa | $60,590 | $52,200 to $65,470 | 1,170 |
| Kansas | $51,020 | $45,370 to $59,530 | 1,030 |
| Kentucky | $49,890 | $44,530 to $61,530 | 1,800 |
| Louisiana | $56,050 | $47,700 to $61,080 | 2,040 |
| Maine | $63,050 | $60,470 to $73,320 | 470 |
| Maryland | $66,660 | $55,880 to $84,430 | 1,910 |
| Massachusetts | $66,340 | $63,770 to $77,330 | 1,860 |
| Michigan | $52,080 | $47,610 to $60,880 | 2,750 |
| Minnesota | $76,300 | $67,840 to $82,040 | 1,690 |
| Mississippi | $54,630 | $46,970 to $61,040 | 1,150 |
| Missouri | $59,180 | $49,230 to $73,780 | 3,300 |
| Montana | $50,890 | $41,870 to $59,110 | 300 |
| Nebraska | $56,230 | $50,170 to $66,700 | 490 |
| Nevada | $59,280 | $50,150 to $67,370 | 950 |
| New Hampshire | $64,210 | $60,180 to $75,310 | 420 |
| New Jersey | $86,630 | $79,440 to $95,650 | 540 |
| New Mexico | $55,530 | $48,010 to $64,480 | 810 |
| New York | $73,200 | $62,630 to $80,870 | 6,110 |
| North Carolina | $57,320 | $48,630 to $63,820 | 5,660 |
| North Dakota | $62,320 | $58,810 to $65,330 | 220 |
| Ohio | $51,300 | $45,870 to $62,170 | 3,600 |
| Oklahoma | $46,790 | $43,930 to $51,860 | 1,590 |
| Oregon | $74,840 | $63,090 to $82,320 | 1,210 |
| Pennsylvania | $61,000 | $53,820 to $69,570 | 4,750 |
| Puerto Rico | $29,960 | $27,510 to $35,120 | 1,390 |
| Rhode Island | $63,550 | $61,180 to $74,010 | 160 |
| South Carolina | $53,550 | $48,010 to $62,220 | 2,250 |
| South Dakota | $48,830 | $42,710 to $51,490 | 280 |
| Tennessee | $57,690 | $48,510 to $76,570 | 3,710 |
| Texas | $57,500 | $47,740 to $63,510 | 8,410 |
| Utah | $65,420 | $52,840 to $82,330 | 960 |
| Vermont | $60,360 | $54,890 to $64,040 | 190 |
| Virginia | $60,480 | $49,960 to $67,030 | 1,960 |
| Washington | $104,310 | $80,320 to $123,310 | 2,110 |
| West Virginia | $48,460 | $42,880 to $56,500 | 1,090 |
| Wisconsin | $59,710 | $49,470 to $71,030 | 1,990 |
| Wyoming | $64,040 | $52,970 to $76,700 | 230 |
Nationally: $60,600. 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 5 of its 13 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Perform emergency cardiac care, such as cardioversion and manual defibrillation. | Not published |
| Not much | Perform emergency invasive intervention before delivering patient to an acute care facility. | Not published |
| AI + software | Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel. | Not published |
| AI + software | Assess nature and extent of illness or injury to establish and prioritize medical procedures. | Not published |
| Not much | Comfort and reassure patients. | Not published |
| Not much | Administer first aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured persons in prehospital settings. | Not published |
See all 13 tasks
| Not much | Operate equipment, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs), external defibrillators, or bag valve mask resuscitators, in advanced life support environments. | Not published |
| Not much | Perform emergency pharmacological interventions. | Not published |
| Not much | Administer drugs, orally or by injection, or perform intravenous procedures. | Not published |
| AI + software | Attend training classes to maintain certification licensure, keep abreast of new developments in the field, or maintain existing knowledge. | Not published |
| AI + software | Observe, record, and report to physician the patient's condition or injury, the treatment provided, and reactions to drugs or treatment. | Not published |
| AI + software | Coordinate with treatment center personnel to obtain patients' vital statistics and medical history, to determine the circumstances of the emergency, and to administer emergency treatment. | Not published |
| Not much | Instruct emergency medical response team about emergency interventions to ensure correct application of procedures. | under 0.01% |
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. 1 of the 13 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 13 tasks fall under 10 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.
- #4 Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
- #46 Provide support or encouragement to others
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administer emergency medical treatment | |||
| Confer with healthcare or other professionals about patient care | |||
| Administer basic health care or medical treatments | |||
| Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise | |||
| Provide support or encouragement to others | |||
| Analyze health or medical data | |||
| Monitor health conditions of humans or animals | |||
| Train others on health or medical topics |
Show all 10 activities
| Operate medical equipment | |||
| Maintain health or medical records |
How people in this work use Claude
What people in this work made with Claude % of conversations
- Advice or a recommendation27%
- An explanation or answer14%
- Creative writing6%
- A document or report2%
- An analysis or summary2%
How they worked with Claude
4% 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 paramedics 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 83,226 moves out
- 1 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 5%
- 2 Postsecondary Teachers, All Other Very high +2.0% 4%
- 3 Firefighters Low +3.7% 4%
- 4 Registered Nurses High +5.6% 4%
- 5 Medical and Health Services Managers High +24.2% 3%
Where people moved in from
of 67,791 moves in
- 1 Firefighters Low +3.7% 5%
- 2 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 4%
- 3 Registered Nurses High +5.6% 3%
- 4 Postsecondary Teachers, All Other Very high +2.0% 3%
- 5 Nursing Assistants Low +2.6% 3%
The resume data uses 2010 occupation codes. This occupation comes from “Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics”, which today also includes “Emergency Medical Technicians”, 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
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 2% less than high school
- 8% high school
- 32% some college
- 29% associate's
- 17% bachelor's
- 5% master's
- 3% professional degree
- 3% doctorate
Census ACS 2024, all workers in this occupation · 1,263 people surveyed.
Median pay by highest degree full-time, year-round · Census ACS 2024, all workers in this occupation
1 program: Emergency Medical Technology/Technician (EMT Paramedic).
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
>99.5% this occupation
45.3% all occupations
| By kind | This occupation | All occupations |
|---|---|---|
| a license | 81.7% | 19.1% |
| a certification | 53.1% | 5.8% |
| an educational certificate | 48.3% | 2.8% |
Share of jobs whose employer requires it. BLS doesn't say which credential. How to read this
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
- Apprenticeship Finder ↗ DOL lists 1 registered apprenticeship in this occupation (PARAMEDIC (Alternate Title: Health Care Specialist)). Apprenticeship.gov can't be linked to one occupation, so search for “Paramedics” there.
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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