Radiation Therapy Programs: JRCERT Accreditation, ARRT and Pay in 2026

Q: "How much do radiation therapists make?"

"The national median annual wage is $105,310 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $80,560 or less and the top 10 percent earn $156,710 or more, across employment of 17,070. That $80,560 tenth percentile is the highest floor of any occupation covered on this site."

Q: "What degree do you need to work as a radiation therapist?"

"A JRCERT-accredited certificate, associate or bachelor's program, followed by ARRT certification in radiation therapy. Most states also license or otherwise regulate the practice on top of that. Confirm the requirement with your state radiologic health or medical imaging board."

Q: "Can you study radiation therapy online?"

"Not fully, and be careful with any program suggesting otherwise. The didactic coursework can be delivered at a distance, but clinical education happens in a cancer center with a linear accelerator and patients present. That component is the program."

Q: "What is the difference between a radiation therapist and a radiologic technologist?"

"Radiologic technologists produce diagnostic images. Radiation therapists deliver therapeutic radiation to treat cancer, working from a treatment plan over a course of many sessions with the same patients. The pay reflects the difference: a median of $105,310 against $80,110 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)."

Q: "Can a radiologic technologist cross-train into radiation therapy?"

"It is the standard route into the field. Certificate-level programs exist specifically for people already holding an imaging credential, and the transition builds on radiation physics and patient positioning you already know. What individual programs accept as prior credit is their decision, so ask directly."

Q: "Is radiation therapy a growing field?"

"Slowly. BLS projects a 1.9 percent change from 2024 to 2034, with about 900 openings per year on a base of 17,070 jobs (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). This is a small, high-paying occupation rather than a growing one, and openings are limited."

Q: "Is radiation therapy worth it compared with imaging?"

"The wage argument is strong - $105,310 against $80,110 for radiologic technologists, with a floor of $80,560 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The counterweights are that the field is small at 17,070 jobs with only about 900 annual openings, employment concentrates in cancer centers rather than every hospital, and the work is emotionally demanding in a way imaging generally is not. Individual outcomes may vary."

Updated July 27, 2026 | TradeCareerPath Editorial Team

Quick answer: Radiation therapy programs are JRCERT-accredited and lead to ARRT certification in radiation therapy. The median is $105,310 with a 10th percentile of $80,560 - the highest wage floor of any occupation on this site - across 17,070 jobs (BLS OEWS, May 2025). It is also small and slow-growing, at about 900 openings a year, and the clinical component happens in a cancer center in person.

Radiation Therapy at a Glance

Metric	Detail	Source
Median annual wage	$105,310	BLS OEWS, May 2025
Wage range	$80,560 (10th pct) - $156,710 (90th pct)	BLS OEWS, May 2025
Employment	17,070 radiation therapists	BLS OEWS, May 2025
Projected change (2024-34)	1.9%, about 900 openings per year	BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34
Typical credential	JRCERT-accredited certificate, associate or bachelor’s	Program catalogs
Accreditation	JRCERT, the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology	JRCERT
Certification	ARRT, in radiation therapy	ARRT
Institutions awarding	259	IPEDS Completions, 2024
SOC codes covered	29-1124 radiation therapists; 29-2034 radiologic technologists and technicians; 29-2033 nuclear medicine technologists	BLS OEWS, May 2025

The Wage Floor Is the Headline

Role	Median	10th percentile	90th percentile	Employment
Radiologic technologists and technicians	$80,110	$55,980	$118,660	230,490
Nuclear medicine technologists	$101,370	$78,080	$134,500	17,080
Radiation therapists	$105,310	$80,560	$156,710	17,070

All figures BLS OEWS, May 2025.

Most occupations on this site have a long tail at the bottom. This one does not. A 10th percentile of $80,560 means the lowest-paid decile of radiation therapists still earns above the median of most careers covered here, and it is the highest floor in the entire dataset behind these pages.

The reason is credential scarcity. 17,070 people hold this job nationally, entry requires a JRCERT-accredited program and ARRT certification, and the equipment they operate exists in a limited number of facilities. There is no informal entry tier to drag the bottom down.

What the Work Actually Is

Radiation therapists deliver therapeutic radiation to cancer patients, working from a treatment plan developed by a radiation oncologist and a medical dosimetrist. That involves positioning the patient with millimeter precision, operating a linear accelerator, verifying the treatment against imaging, and documenting every session.

Two features distinguish it from diagnostic imaging.

Continuity. A course of radiation therapy runs over weeks. You see the same patients repeatedly, at a difficult time in their lives, and the relationship is part of the job in a way it is not when someone comes through for a single scan.

Consequence. The margin for error in positioning and dose delivery is small, and the verification protocols reflect that. It is exacting technical work under a quality system.

Both are worth weighing honestly before choosing this over imaging. The pay is better; the work is harder in ways the pay does not fully describe.

Routes In

Direct entry. Certificate, associate and bachelor’s programs all exist, and 259 institutions awarded this CIP in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Programs are competitive because clinical placements are limited by the number of treatment centers.

Cross-training from imaging. This is the most common route. Certificate programs are built specifically for people already holding an ARRT credential in radiography, and the physics and positioning knowledge carries over directly. Radiologic technologists number 230,490 nationally, which is a large pool feeding a small occupation.

From nuclear medicine. Less common but a natural adjacency, with 17,080 nuclear medicine technologists working under similar radiation safety frameworks.

Accreditation, Certification and Licensure

The national framework is graduation from a JRCERT-accredited program and ARRT certification in radiation therapy. Both are required in practice regardless of what any individual state does.

Most states license or otherwise regulate radiologic personnel on top of that. What is licensed, what the scope is, and how a credential transfers between states differ, so confirm with your state radiologic health or medical imaging board rather than assuming ARRT certification alone is sufficient where you live.

Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.

The Treatment Team

Radiation oncology runs on a small, tightly coupled team, and knowing the roles helps in deciding which one you want.

Radiation oncologist - the physician who prescribes the treatment, defines the target and the dose constraints, and is accountable for the clinical decision.

Medical physicist - responsible for the machines, the dose calculations and the quality assurance program. A physics graduate degree and board certification route.

Medical dosimetrist - builds the treatment plan itself, working out beam arrangements and dose distributions that meet the prescription while sparing surrounding tissue. Frequently entered from radiation therapy, and a common next step for therapists who prefer planning to delivery.

Radiation therapist - delivers the treatment, positions the patient, operates the accelerator, verifies against imaging and documents every fraction.

Oncology nurse - manages the patient’s side effects and care through the treatment course.

The dosimetry route is worth flagging specifically. It is one of the clearer advancement paths out of therapy, it is planning rather than patient-facing work, and the training builds directly on what a therapist already does. See medical dosimetrist.

Is It Worth It?

The case for is the wage floor. $80,560 at the 10th percentile, $105,310 at the median, in a credential-protected occupation with a defined training route.

The case against is scale. 17,070 jobs and about 900 openings a year is a narrow market, and those jobs sit in cancer centers, which means the geographic picture is far more concentrated than for imaging. If you are not able to move to where the treatment centers are, the wage numbers may be academic. Online radiologic technology degree covers the larger, more geographically distributed alternative.

Is college worth it covers the general tradeoff. Individual outcomes may vary.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do radiation therapists make?

The national median annual wage is $105,310 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $80,560 or less and the top 10 percent earn $156,710 or more, across employment of 17,070. That $80,560 tenth percentile is the highest floor of any occupation covered on this site.

What degree do you need to work as a radiation therapist?

A JRCERT-accredited certificate, associate or bachelor's program, followed by ARRT certification in radiation therapy. Most states also license or otherwise regulate the practice on top of that. Confirm the requirement with your state radiologic health or medical imaging board.

Can you study radiation therapy online?

Not fully, and be careful with any program suggesting otherwise. The didactic coursework can be delivered at a distance, but clinical education happens in a cancer center with a linear accelerator and patients present. That component is the program.

What is the difference between a radiation therapist and a radiologic technologist?

Radiologic technologists produce diagnostic images. Radiation therapists deliver therapeutic radiation to treat cancer, working from a treatment plan over a course of many sessions with the same patients. The pay reflects the difference: a median of $105,310 against $80,110 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).

Can a radiologic technologist cross-train into radiation therapy?

It is the standard route into the field. Certificate-level programs exist specifically for people already holding an imaging credential, and the transition builds on radiation physics and patient positioning you already know. What individual programs accept as prior credit is their decision, so ask directly.

Is radiation therapy a growing field?

Slowly. BLS projects a 1.9 percent change from 2024 to 2034, with about 900 openings per year on a base of 17,070 jobs (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). This is a small, high-paying occupation rather than a growing one, and openings are limited.

Is radiation therapy worth it compared with imaging?

The wage argument is strong - $105,310 against $80,110 for radiologic technologists, with a floor of $80,560 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The counterweights are that the field is small at 17,070 jobs with only about 900 annual openings, employment concentrates in cancer centers rather than every hospital, and the work is emotionally demanding in a way imaging generally is not. Individual outcomes may vary.

Colleges Offering This Degree

How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention. Advertising plays no part.

This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by BOC Score with the highest at the top. 10 of them carry a score.

Location / proximity to this page: Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish: 30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off: 25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher: 20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two: 15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working: 10%

Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal about the institution rather than about this subject. Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.