Occupational Therapy Aides
Also called: Occupational Therapy Aide (OT Aide), Rehabilitation Aide (Rehab Aide), Rehabilitation Services Aide, Restorative AideUnder close supervision of an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant, perform only delegated, selected, or routine tasks in specific situations. These duties include preparing patient and treatment room.
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What the data says: AI could halve the time on 2 of its 15 tasks, and jobs are projected to grow 3.6% 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, 3.3% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Occupational therapy assistants and aides”
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 5.0 hires for every 10 job openings in health care and social assistance, which employs about 97% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $43,480 | $39,140 to $44,980 | 330 |
| Colorado | $40,110 | $39,230 to $55,230 | 40 |
| Connecticut | $44,840 | $40,250 to $46,690 | 110 |
| District of Columbia | $39,620 | $39,620 to $45,840 | not published |
| Georgia | $38,090 | $34,510 to $44,390 | 200 |
| Idaho | $32,590 | $26,750 to $37,770 | 120 |
| Indiana | $38,250 | $37,480 to $39,490 | not published |
| Louisiana | $28,560 | $25,000 to $37,920 | 70 |
| Maryland | $33,310 | $31,200 to $33,310 | not published |
| Massachusetts | $40,160 | $35,340 to $42,820 | 90 |
| Michigan | $39,050 | $37,630 to $46,780 | 60 |
| Mississippi | $24,300 | $21,770 to $28,820 | 50 |
| Missouri | $38,890 | $31,540 to $39,440 | 110 |
| Nebraska | $44,980 | $39,950 to $46,400 | 90 |
| Nevada | $36,440 | $35,610 to $63,790 | 100 |
| New Jersey | $44,470 | $41,750 to $46,270 | not published |
| New Mexico | $43,170 | $41,600 to $75,560 | 50 |
| New York | $46,220 | $37,960 to $59,130 | 250 |
| North Carolina | $66,190 | $47,490 to $76,190 | 250 |
| Ohio | $36,380 | $23,180 to $41,220 | 200 |
| Oklahoma | $34,670 | $34,110 to $39,920 | 90 |
| Pennsylvania | $37,100 | $36,380 to $39,160 | 320 |
| South Carolina | $31,950 | $29,770 to $33,770 | 50 |
| Tennessee | $27,840 | $25,700 to $38,490 | 40 |
| Texas | $37,180 | $27,930 to $43,980 | 410 |
| Washington | $45,890 | $38,550 to $52,000 | 190 |
| Wisconsin | $36,760 | $34,400 to $44,160 | 40 |
Nationally: $39,160. 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 2 of its 15 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Encourage patients and attend to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals. | Not published |
| Not much | Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies. | Not published |
| AI + software | Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments. | Not published |
| Not much | Assist occupational therapists in planning, implementing, and administering therapy programs to restore, reinforce, and enhance performance, using selected activities and special equipment. | Not published |
| AI + software | Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records. | Not published |
| Not much | Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual and creative arts and games. | Not published |
See all 15 tasks
| Not much | Perform clerical, administrative, and secretarial duties, such as answering phones, restocking and ordering supplies, filling out paperwork, and scheduling appointments. | Not published |
| Not much | Adjust and repair assistive devices and make adaptive changes to other equipment and to environments. | Not published |
| Not much | Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security. | Not published |
| Not much | Supervise patients in choosing and completing work assignments or arts and crafts projects. | Not published |
| Not much | Instruct patients and families in work, social, and living skills, the care and use of adaptive equipment, and other skills to facilitate home and work adjustment to disability. | Not published |
| Not much | Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area. | Not published |
| Not much | Evaluate the living skills and capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities. | Not published |
| Not much | Assist educational specialists or clinical psychologists in administering situational or diagnostic tests to measure client's abilities or progress. | Not published |
| Not much | Accompany patients on outings, providing transportation when necessary. | 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. 0 of the 15 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 15 tasks fall under 19 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.
- #30 Perform administrative or clerical activities
- #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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Train others on health or medical topics | |||
| Maintain medical equipment or instruments | |||
| Administer diagnostic tests to assess patient health | |||
| Perform administrative or clerical activities | |||
| Provide support or encouragement to others | |||
| Teach life skills | |||
| Schedule appointments | |||
| Monitor health conditions of humans or animals |
Show all 19 activities
| Manage control systems or activities | |||
| Prepare health or medical documents | |||
| Monitor safety or security of work areas, facilities, or properties | |||
| Monitor resources or inventories | |||
| Administer therapeutic treatments | |||
| Confer with healthcare or other professionals about patient care | |||
| Stock supplies or products | |||
| Escort others | |||
| Maintain health or medical records | |||
| Prepare medical equipment or work areas for use | |||
| Transport patients or clients |
How people in this work use Claude
What people in this work made with Claude % of conversations
- An analysis or summary19%
- A plan or strategy12%
- A document or report8%
- An email or message8%
- An explanation or answer8%
How they worked with Claude
15% 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 occupational therapy aides 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 10,073 moves out
- 1 Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Very high -6.0% 5%
- 2 Nursing Assistants Low +2.6% 5%
- 3 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 4%
- 4 Medical and Health Services Managers High +24.2% 4%
- 5 General and Operations Managers High +5.0% 3%
Where people moved in from
of 6,893 moves in
- 1 Nursing Assistants Low +2.6% 8%
- 2 Retail Salespersons Very high -0.3% 5%
- 3 Customer Service Representatives Very high -5.3% 4%
- 4 Office Clerks, General Very high -6.0% 3%
- 5 Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Very high -6.0% 3%
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
- 37% high school
- 9% postsecondary certificate
- 24% some college
- 2% professional doctorate
- 28% not published
O*NET marks 28% of the answers as too uncertain to publish, so the parts shown don't add up to 100%.
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 23 people answered.
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 2% less than high school
- 4% high school
- 11% some college
- 51% associate's
- 24% bachelor's
- 6% master's
- 2% professional degree
Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Occupational therapy assistants and aides” · 466 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
Median pay by highest degree full-time, year-round · Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Occupational therapy assistants and aides”
1 program: Rehabilitation Aide.
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
>80% this occupation
45.3% all occupations
| By kind | This occupation | All occupations |
|---|---|---|
| a license | not published | |
| a certification | not published | |
| an educational certificate | not published |
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
- 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
See it online, and explore any career: https://www.pathmosaic.com/card/31-2012.00