Recognizing nuclear science occupations for Nuclear Science Week

Nuclear Science Week, the third week of October, highlights the contributions of nuclear technology to fields as varied as agriculture, electric power generation, and healthcare. For this year's Nuclear Science Week, we hope you'll have a positive reaction to these atoms of BLS data for occupations related to nuclear science, physics, and nuclear medicine.

Radiologic technologists and technicians was the largest of the selected nuclear science occupations, with employment of over 230,000 in May 2025. These healthcare workers perform diagnostic imaging such as x-rays and computed tomography (CT) scans. The largest nuclear science occupations also included physicists (20,430) and radiologists (26,770), a specialist physician occupation. The smallest nuclear science occupation was medical dosimetrists (3,410), who develop and supervise radiation treatment plans.

All of the selected nuclear science occupations had annual mean wages above the U.S. average of $69,770 in May 2025. The largest nuclear science occupation, radiologic technologists and technicians, was also the lowest paying, with an annual mean wage of $83,840. Radiologists, with an annual mean wage of $381,530, was the highest paying nuclear science occupation and one of the highest paying occupations overall. Wages for the remaining nuclear science occupations ranged from $105,160 for nuclear medicine technologists to $171,180 for physicists.

These data are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program and do not include self-employed workers. For more information, see the May 2025 OEWS national data. To learn more about careers in nuclear science, see the Occupational Outlook Handbook.