Best Occupational Therapist programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Assess, plan, and organize rehabilitative programs that help build or restore vocational, homemaking, and daily living skills, as well as general independence, to persons with disabilities or developmental delays.
27 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 901 people a year. The job pays a median of $96,390 in New York across about 11,690 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in New York that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in New York that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in New York (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New York page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 51.2306In New York → | 901 | 100.0% | 27 | $35,966 | $26,323 |
Top 25 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 27 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ithaca College Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 91 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | $7,071 | 76% | $28,970 | 69% |
| 2 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 66 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 96% | $15,315 | 4% |
| 3 | Long Island University Brookville, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 64 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 57% | $24,639 | 86% |
| 4 | Touro University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 62 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 72% | $27,110 | 61% |
| 5 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 53 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 6 | New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 44 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 59% | $22,158 | 81% |
| 7 | Keuka College Keuka Park, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 42 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 58% | $24,177 | 68% |
| 8 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 40 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 76% | — | 49% |
| 9 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 40 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 75% | — | 74% |
| 10 | D'Youville University Buffalo, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 39 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | $50,473 | 67% | $18,846 | 81% |
| 11 | Hofstra University Hempstead, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 36 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 69% | $34,539 | 68% |
| 12 | Utica University Utica, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 36 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | $39,478 | 56% | $20,237 | 92% |
| 13 | CUNY York College Jamaica, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 35 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | $57,806 | 32% | — | 64% |
| 14 | Russell Sage College Troy, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 34 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 56% | $22,451 | 53% |
| 15 | SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University Brooklyn, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 33 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Mercy University Dobbs Ferry, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 30 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 46% | $17,604 | 86% |
| 17 | Maria College of Albany Albany, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 28 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 30% | $16,991 | 44% |
| 18 | Dominican University New York Orangeburg, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 23 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 53% | $25,775 | 63% |
| 19 | Pace University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 19 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 60% | $29,994 | 76% |
| 20 | Iona University New Rochelle, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 18 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 56% | $27,660 | 87% |
| 21 | Nazareth University Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 16 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | $39,739 | 73% | $27,945 | 75% |
| 22 | Le Moyne College Syracuse, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 73% | $20,356 | 83% |
| 23 | Clarkson University Potsdam, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 75% | $27,281 | 77% |
| 24 | Yeshiva University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 83% | $39,696 | 56% |
| 25 | Roberts Wesleyan University Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Occupational Therapy/Therapist | — | 67% | $22,729 | 71% |
All 27 schools in New York
Every school in New York with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ithaca College | Ithaca | Private not-for-profit | 91 | 1 |
| Columbia University in the City of New York | New York | Private not-for-profit | 66 | 1 |
| Long Island University | Brookville | Private not-for-profit | 64 | 1 |
| Touro University | New York | Private not-for-profit | 62 | 1 |
| New York University | New York | Private not-for-profit | 53 | 1 |
| New York Institute of Technology | Old Westbury | Private not-for-profit | 44 | 1 |
| Keuka College | Keuka Park | Private not-for-profit | 42 | 1 |
| Stony Brook University | Stony Brook | Public | 40 | 1 |
| University at Buffalo | Buffalo | Public | 40 | 1 |
| D'Youville University | Buffalo | Private not-for-profit | 39 | 1 |
| Hofstra University | Hempstead | Private not-for-profit | 36 | 1 |
| Utica University | Utica | Private not-for-profit | 36 | 1 |
| CUNY York College | Jamaica | Public | 35 | 1 |
| Russell Sage College | Troy | Private not-for-profit | 34 | 1 |
| SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University | Brooklyn | Public | 33 | 1 |
What occupational therapists earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $100,330. New York pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in New York
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Occupational Therapists page.
How to become a Occupational Therapist
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Master's degree
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).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in New York
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Occupational Therapists1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.2306Occupational Therapy/Therapist
Common questions
Answers for people weighing occupational therapists programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become an Occupational Therapist?+
Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Occupational Therapy/Therapist, which awarded 901 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Occupational Therapist?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions. Together they graduate about 901 people a year in New York.
How much do occupational therapists earn in New York?+
The median is $96,390 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 3.9% below the U.S. median of $100,330. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for occupational therapists growing?+
BLS projects a +13.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 10,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
27 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do occupational therapists work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Occupational Therapist (OT), Certified Hand Therapist (CHT), Visually Impaired Teacher (TVI), Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (VRT), Registered Occupational Therapist (OTR), Pediatric Occupational Therapist (Pediatric OT) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 29-1122.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card