Acupuncturists
Diagnose, treat, and prevent disorders by stimulating specific acupuncture points within the body using acupuncture needles. May also use cups, nutritional supplements, therapeutic massage, acupressure, and other alternative health therapies.
- Median pay
- $76,040
- Doing it now
- 14,800
- By 2035
- Up 8.6%
- Usually needs
- Master's degree
a year
across the country
800 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Formulate herbal preparations to treat conditions considering herbal properties, such as taste, toxicity, effects of preparation, contraindications, and incompatibilities.
- Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures.
- Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses.
- Dispense herbal formulas and inform patients of dosages and frequencies, treatment duration, possible side effects, and drug interactions.
- Consider Western medical procedures in health assessment, health care team communication, and care referrals.
- Adhere to local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and statutes.
- Treat patients using tools, such as needles, cups, ear balls, seeds, pellets, or nutritional supplements.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Alternative and Complementary Medicine and Medical SystemsSee 13 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Helping and teaching
Analytical and curious
Hands-on and practical
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $76,040 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.