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Diagnostic Medical Sonographers vs Surgical Technologists

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers and Surgical Technologists 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.”

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers Surgical Technologists
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$89,340
$62,830
Employment · BLS OEWS
86,460
113,890
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
20th pct
5th pct

At a glance

Dimension Diagnostic Medical Sonographers Surgical Technologists
Median pay $89,340 $62,830
Employment 86,460 113,890
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+13.0%) About average (+4.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 5,800 7,000
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's 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 · 20th pct Low · 5th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 40th pct · 22% of tasks —
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No 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: Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Oral Comprehension, Active Listening, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Written Expression, Speech Clarity, Medicine and Dentistry, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Inductive Reasoning, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Speech Recognition, Active Learning, Time Management, Deductive Reasoning, Flexibility of Closure, Coordination, Education and Training, Service Orientation, Complex Problem Solving, Operations Monitoring, Operation and Control, Judgment and Decision Making, Information Ordering, Learning Strategies.

Specific to Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

  • Physics
  • Control Precision
  • Administrative
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Psychology
  • Category Flexibility

Specific to Surgical Technologists

  • Selective Attention
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Number Facility
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Instructing
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Management of Material Resources

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 , Data base user interface and query software , Electronic mail software .

Specific to Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

    Specific to Surgical Technologists

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Diagnostic Medical Sonographers or Surgical Technologists — 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. "Diagnostic Medical Sonographers vs Surgical Technologists." 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/diagnostic-medical-sonographers-vs-surgical-technologists

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Diagnostic Medical Sonographers vs Surgical Technologists. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/diagnostic-medical-sonographers-vs-surgical-technologists

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-diagnostic-medical-sonographers-vs-surgical-technologists,
  title  = {Diagnostic Medical Sonographers vs Surgical Technologists},
  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/diagnostic-medical-sonographers-vs-surgical-technologists}
}

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