The person on the sideline who decides whether an injured player comes off. In the United States the job title is athletic trainer.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$62,520
High school or entry
$48,180
College, pro or clinic lead
$88,760
The national median is $62,520 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $48,180. The federal survey lists this job as athletic trainer, which is the American title. Athletic therapist is the Canadian name for close to the same work.
$48,000 to $55,000
High school athletic trainer or a college assistant
High school jobs are often hired through a clinic or hospital that contracts with the school district, so your paycheck comes from the clinic even though you work at the school.
$88,760 a year
Head athletic trainers at universities, pro teams and physician practices
Professional sports pays well and hires almost nobody. The quieter money is in industrial and occupational settings, where companies put athletic trainers on the factory floor to prevent injuries.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a cheap bachelor's degree, community college credits then an in-state public university, plus an accredited master's in athletic training where a graduate assistantship covers part of the tuition and puts you on a team's sideline while you study. The high end is four years at the top of the in-state range followed by two master's years paid in full. Both include the Board of Certification exam, $375 to register plus a $75 or $100 application fee, and a state license that most states charge for and renew every year or two. The certification is national but the license is not, so moving states means paying again.
File the Free Application for Federal Student Aid every year. Many master's programs cover part of the tuition with graduate assistantships that put you on a team's sideline while you study.
High schools
The largest employer, and usually your first job.
Colleges and universities
Long hours, travel with the team, strong benefits.
Clinics and physician practices
Steadier hours than a team schedule.
Industry and the military
Factories, warehouses and military bases hire athletic trainers to keep workers from getting hurt.
Performing arts
Dance companies and touring productions employ them too.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A master's degree is now the entry point. The bachelor's route to this job has closed.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology, anatomy if offered, and get yourself into the training room as a student aide for your school's teams.
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Exercise science, kinesiology, biology or anything with strong anatomy and physiology. Keep your grades up, because accredited master's programs are competitive.
Accredited master's degree
2 years
A professional program accredited by CAATE (the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education). Classroom work plus supervised clinical rotations with real teams and patients.
Pass the certification exam
Final semester
The Board of Certification exam. Your program director has to confirm you before you can sit it.
Get your state license
Weeks
Apply to the state board where you will work. Then keep your certification alive with continuing education every two years.
Biology and anatomy
You will be naming muscles and ligaments for the rest of your life.
Chemistry
Required for most exercise science and kinesiology degrees.
Physical education and team sport
Understanding how a sport moves people is half the diagnosis.
Psychology
Telling an athlete their season is over is a conversation you will have often.
The National Athletic Trainers' Association says athletic trainers are licensed or otherwise regulated in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and most of those states require the credential from the Board of Certification, written as ATC (Athletic Trainer Certified). Athletic training is recognized as an allied health care profession, which is why athletic trainers work under a physician's direction and can evaluate and treat injuries. This is a completely different job from a personal trainer, who needs no license at all in most states.
Public universities with accredited programs
Search the accreditation list before you apply anywhere. A degree from an unaccredited program will not let you sit the exam.
Three-plus-two programs
Some schools let you roll a bachelor's and the accredited master's together and finish in five years instead of six.
Graduate assistantship schools
Programs attached to a university athletics department often trade sideline work for tuition and a stipend.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Strength and conditioning certification
Doubles your usefulness to a team and is often required for combined roles.
Emergency and tactical care training
Opens up military, fire and police contracts, which pay well and hire quietly.
Industrial and occupational health
Companies hire athletic trainers to cut workplace injury costs. Predictable hours, no weekends.
Physician practice extender
Working inside an orthopedic clinic, casting, screening and managing rehabilitation between appointments.
Student aide hours in the high school training room
Start at 15 or 16. It is the clearest signal on a college application for this field.
CPR and emergency care certification
Required anyway, and it never hurts to hold it early.
A driver's license and a tolerance for buses
You travel with the team, often overnight.
Spanish
Useful in a lot of American training rooms and clinics.
Plenty of people certify as an athletic trainer, work a few years, and then move on to physical therapy school, physician assistant school or medical school. The clinical hours count, the anatomy is already in your head, and admissions committees like applicants who have had to make decisions with an injured person in front of them. It is one of the better launch pads in health care.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Afternoons and evenings, not mornings. Open the training room after classes for taping, treatments and rehabilitation exercises. Run through the day's injury checks. Then practice or a game, where you watch every play and get to an injured athlete within seconds. You decide whether they go back in, and sometimes you have to say no to a coach and a crying 17 year old at the same time. Afterwards, ice, paperwork, calls to parents and doctors. Home late. Saturdays in season are not yours.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
An athletic trainer is a licensed health care provider who evaluates and treats injuries under a physician's direction. A personal trainer writes workout programs and needs no license in most states. The names sound alike and the jobs are nothing alike.
The National Athletic Trainers' Association reports that athletic trainers are licensed or otherwise regulated in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. There are not many health jobs with that clean a map.
You used to be able to certify with an undergraduate degree. The profession moved entry-level education to the master's level, so the accredited programs you apply to now are all graduate programs.
Manufacturers and warehouses put athletic trainers on site to coach lifting technique and catch strains early, because a prevented back injury is cheaper than a claim. It is some of the steadiest and most normal-hours work in the field.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.