Give a patient a tiny radioactive tracer, then image how the body is working, not just what it looks like. Two to four years of school and one national exam.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $101,370 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $78,080 at the lower end to about $134,500 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 to 4 years after high school, on the usual route.
$9,000 to $61,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a license, certificate or registration in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$101,370
Bottom tenth
$78,080
Top tenth
$134,500
These are the federal survey figures for nuclear medicine technologists. The national median is $101,370 a year, and only 10% earn less than $78,080. This is a genuine six figure job that a two-year degree can reach.
$86,720 a year
25% of nuclear medicine technologists earn this or less
This covers everyone in the job, not only beginners, because the survey publishes no separate starting figure.
$117,120 a year or more
25% of nuclear medicine technologists earn this or more
The survey does not say who makes up the top quarter. Extra credentials in computed tomography, positron emission tomography or nuclear cardiology are the usual way to widen your options.
Roughly, all in
$9,000 to $61,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a two year community college degree at about $4,150 a year, plus a few hundred dollars for the national board exam and the state license in states that require one. A Pell Grant can cover much of that. The high end is a four year university program at in-state rates of $11,000 to $15,000 a year with the same exam and license fees. One year hospital certificate programs can cost less, sometimes nothing if the hospital sponsors you, but they are for people who already hold another imaging credential or a science degree. This is one of the few six figure jobs you can reach with little debt.
Fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). A Pell Grant plus in-state community college tuition can get you into a job with a six figure median and very little debt.
Hospital benefits
Health coverage, retirement contributions and paid time off, and often a retirement plan the employer pays into.
Shift differentials
Many hospitals add a differential for evening, night and weekend hours, and cardiac stress tests often start early.
Tuition help for the next credential
Employers commonly pay for your computed tomography or positron emission tomography certification.
Loan forgiveness
Nonprofit hospitals count toward the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program if you have federal loans.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Two to four years from high school to a certified, licensed technologist.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology, chemistry, physics and math. Anatomy if your school offers it.
An accredited program
1 to 4 years
A certificate, a two-year degree or a four-year degree in nuclear medicine technology, accredited by the national review committee for these programs.
Clinical hours
Included in the program
Built into the program. You work in a real imaging department under supervision, with real patients.
National certification exam
After graduating
From the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board, or the nuclear medicine exam run by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.
State license
Weeks
39 states require a license, permit or national credential before you can work. The other 11 and the District of Columbia do not.
Physics
Radioactive decay, half-lives and detectors. This is the part of the training people find hardest.
Chemistry
You prepare and measure radiopharmaceuticals, which is careful chemistry with a clock running.
Biology and anatomy
You have to know where the organ is before you can image it.
Math
Dose calculations are arithmetic you cannot get wrong, and you do them every day.
Accredited programs exist in most states at certificate, two-year and four-year level. The accrediting committee publishes the full list, so check what is near you before choosing a route.
Two national bodies certify this work. The Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board awards the general technologist credential plus specialty exams in computed tomography, nuclear cardiology and positron emission tomography, and the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists runs its own nuclear medicine exam. Employers accept either. On top of certification, 39 states require a license, permit or national credential, and the other 11 states and the District of Columbia have none in force. Check the rules in the state you want to work in early, because they decide which program is worth enrolling in.
Community colleges
Two-year degrees, the most common route. Examples include Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio and Bellevue College in Washington.
Hospital certificate programs
One year, for people who already hold another imaging credential or a science degree.
Four-year universities
Ferris State in Michigan and Georgia Southern among others. Better if you want to move into management or teaching later.
The accredited program list
The national review committee keeps the directory. If a program is not on it, your certification may not be accepted.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Computed tomography
Nearly every modern scanner combines the two. This is the most useful second credential you can hold.
Positron emission tomography
Cancer imaging, and a growing part of the field.
Nuclear cardiology
Heart perfusion studies. Steady, early morning work with a lot of stress testing.
Nuclear medicine advanced associate
An advanced practice credential for technologists who want more responsibility without going to medical school.
A calm manner
Patients are often frightened, and half of them are being scanned to find out whether cancer has spread.
Precision under time pressure
Some tracers decay in hours. If you are slow, the dose is no longer usable.
Comfort with radiation rules
You wear a dose badge, log everything, and follow procedures exactly. Casual people do not last.
Physical fitness
You move patients on and off scanner beds all day.
Nuclear medicine is not purely diagnostic. The same department treats overactive thyroids with radioactive iodine, and treats some cancers with targeted radioactive drugs that seek out tumor cells. That side of the field is growing fast, and technologists who work on it are part of a treatment team rather than an imaging one. It is worth asking about when you visit a program, because not every hospital does it.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
You start at 6:30am because the first tracer delivery arrives early and it is already decaying. You measure a dose, check it against the patient's weight and the order, and inject it. Then you wait, sometimes an hour, while the tracer goes where it is meant to go. Scans run through the morning: a bone study, a cardiac stress test, a positron emission tomography scan for a cancer follow-up. Between them you calibrate equipment, log doses and talk to people who are nervous. You are home by late afternoon.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Technetium-99m, made from molybdenum-99, is used in more than 40,000 medical procedures in the United States each day to diagnose heart disease and cancer, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Many tracers lose half their strength in hours, some in minutes. They cannot be stockpiled. Hospitals take delivery daily, or make them on site, and a delayed patient can waste an entire dose.
Federal projections expect about 800 openings a year for nuclear medicine technologists from 2025 to 2035, with average growth. It is a small field, so a clinical placement and a good reference count for a lot.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Diagnostics and lab first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.
Last checked October 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. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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