Occupational Therapists

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. Use therapeutic techniques, adapt the individual's environment, teach skills, and modify specific tasks that present barriers to the individual.

Most important skills

Active Listening
Monitoring
Service Orientation
Reading Comprehension
Writing
Speaking
Critical Thinking
Social Perceptiveness

Key knowledge

Therapy and Counseling
Psychology
Customer and Personal Service
Medicine and Dentistry
English Language
Education and Training
Biology
Sociology and Anthropology

What the work involves

Complete and maintain necessary records.
Evaluate patients' progress and prepare reports that detail progress.
Test and evaluate patients' physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.
Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental or physical capabilities.
Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate persons with disabilities because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.
Recommend changes in patients' work or living environments, consistent with their needs and capabilities.
Consult with rehabilitation team to select activity programs or coordinate occupational therapy with other therapeutic activities.
Help clients improve decision making, abstract reasoning, memory, sequencing, coordination, and perceptual skills, using computer programs.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Realistic.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education: Master's Degree (86.4% of respondents)
Related experience: Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (36.4%)
On-the-job training: Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (40.9%)
Preparation level: O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Licensing: Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.

Check before planning

Licensing for Occupational Therapists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	Very high	Higher on contact with others than 86% of occupations compared	82% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the public	Moderate	Higher on dealing with the public than 59% of occupations compared	41% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Moderate	Higher on teamwork than 57% of occupations compared	55% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Freedom to make decisions	High	Higher on freedom to make decisions than 74% of occupations compared	50% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom”
Time pressure	Moderate	Higher on time pressure than 57% of occupations compared	41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Conflict situations	Moderate	Lower on conflict situations than 54% of occupations compared	45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	High	Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 60% of occupations compared	36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Consequence of error	Moderate	Lower on consequence of error than 57% of occupations compared	36% of surveyed respondents chose “Very serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: moderate
Conflict situations: moderate
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
Consequence of error: moderate

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions