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Anesthesiologist Assistants vs Surgical Assistants

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Anesthesiologist Assistants and Surgical Assistants on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Anesthesiologist Assistants Surgical Assistants
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$133,260
$60,290
Employment · BLS OEWS
155,540
22,860
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
11th pct
2nd pct

At a glance

Dimension Anesthesiologist Assistants Surgical Assistants
Median pay $133,260 $60,290
Employment 155,540 22,860
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+20.4%) About average (+5.1%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 12,000 1,600
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree). Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 11th pct Low · 2nd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 43rd pct · 23% of tasks —
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (42.9%) —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No —

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Medicine and Dentistry, English Language, Active Listening, Written Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Monitoring, Oral Expression, Perceptual Speed, Selective Attention, Near Vision, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Customer and Personal Service, Written Expression, Information Ordering, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Speech Recognition, Biology, Operations Monitoring, Education and Training, Control Precision, Speech Clarity, Service Orientation, Flexibility of Closure, Manual Dexterity, Writing, Social Perceptiveness, Coordination, Complex Problem Solving, Category Flexibility, Finger Dexterity.

Specific to Anesthesiologist Assistants

  • Chemistry
  • Mathematics
  • Active Learning
  • Time Management

Specific to Surgical Assistants

  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Learning Strategies

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Medical software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Presentation software .

Specific to Anesthesiologist Assistants

Specific to Surgical Assistants

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Anesthesiologist Assistants or Surgical Assistants — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

    More comparisons

    Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

    Sources for this page

    Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

    Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

    Cite this page
    Plain

    Singulariki. "Anesthesiologist Assistants vs Surgical Assistants." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/anesthesiologist-assistants-vs-surgical-assistants

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Anesthesiologist Assistants vs Surgical Assistants. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/anesthesiologist-assistants-vs-surgical-assistants

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-anesthesiologist-assistants-vs-surgical-assistants,
  title  = {Anesthesiologist Assistants vs Surgical Assistants},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/anesthesiologist-assistants-vs-surgical-assistants}
}

    Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.