Best degree programs for Medical Transcriptionists, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 9 schools train Medical Transcriptionists. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $40,410 median wage, 41,550 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 9 schools train medical transcriptionists, graduating 30 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Medical Transcription/Transcriptionist. The job pays a median of $40,410 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About medical transcriptionists
Transcribe medical reports recorded by physicians and other healthcare practitioners using various electronic devices, covering office visits, emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations, chart reviews, and final summaries. Transcribe dictated reports and translate abbreviations into fully understandable form. Edit as necessary and return reports in either printed or electronic form for review and signature, or correction.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
1 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 51.0708 | 30 | 100.0% | 9 | $30,774 | $17,375 |
Top 9 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What medical transcriptionists earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabamalimited | $35,340 | 410 | 0.73× | 2 | 12 |
| Illinoislimited | $45,490 | 970 | 0.60× | 2 | 7 |
| Michiganlimited | $37,280 | 1,130 | 0.96× | 1 | 4 |
| Minnesotalimited | $50,030 | 270 | 0.34× | 1 | 4 |
| Indianalimited | $41,400 | 790 | 0.92× | 1 | 1 |
| Nevadalimited | $39,350 | 210 | 0.50× | 1 | 1 |
| West Virginialimited | $37,440 | 90 | 0.47× | 1 | 1 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Return dictated reports in printed or electronic form for physician's review, signature, and corrections and for inclusion in patients' medical records.
- Produce medical reports, correspondence, records, patient-care information, statistics, medical research, and administrative material.
- Identify mistakes in reports and check with doctors to obtain the correct information.
- Review and edit transcribed reports or dictated material for spelling, grammar, clarity, consistency, and proper medical terminology.
- Transcribe dictation for a variety of medical reports, such as patient histories, physical examinations, emergency room visits, operations, chart reviews, consultation, or discharge summaries.
- Distinguish between homonyms and recognize inconsistencies and mistakes in medical terms, referring to dictionaries, drug references, and other sources on anatomy, physiology, and medicine.
- Set up and maintain medical files and databases, including records such as x-ray, lab, and procedure reports, medical histories, diagnostic workups, admission and discharge summaries, and clinical resumes.
- Translate medical jargon and abbreviations into their expanded forms to ensure the accuracy of patient and health care facility records.
Skills
- Active Listening4.1
- Reading Comprehension4.0
- Writing3.9
- Monitoring3.1
- Speaking3.0
- Critical Thinking3.0
- Active Learning2.9
- Learning Strategies2.1
Knowledge areas
- English Language4.5
- Administrative4.3
- Computers and Electronics3.8
- Medicine and Dentistry3.0
- Customer and Personal Service2.7
- Telecommunications2.1
Abilities
- Oral Comprehension4.3
- Written Comprehension4.1
- Speech Recognition4.0
- Written Expression3.9
- Near Vision3.9
- Oral Expression3.8
Core activities
- Working with Computers4.8
- Documenting/Recording Information4.5
- Getting Information4.4
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.3
- Processing Information4.2
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events4.0
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Medical Transcriptionist
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- Postsecondary nondegree award
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Medical Transcriptionists1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.0708Medical Transcription/Transcriptionist
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become a Medical Transcriptionist?+
Postsecondary nondegree award is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Medical Transcription/Transcriptionist, which awarded 30 degrees in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Medical Transcriptionist?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Health and Medical Administrative Services. Together they graduate about 30 people a year.
How much do medical transcriptionists earn?+
The median is $40,410 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $28,250 at the 10th percentile to $55,950 at the 90th. 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 medical transcriptionists growing?+
BLS projects a -4.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 7,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
9 institutions 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 medical transcriptionists work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Medical Scribe, Transcriptionist, Medical Transcriptionist, Radiology Transcriptionist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 31-9094.
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
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