Radiologists
Diagnose and treat diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques, such as x rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasounds. May perform minimally invasive medical procedures and tests.
Radiologists diagnose and treat diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques, such as x rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasounds. May perform minimally invasive medical procedures and tests. The role is showing modest growth of 3% over the next decade. Entry typically requires a Doctoral or professional degree, and shows moderate AI exposure (0.49 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Writing.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £92,847 a year for Specialist medical practitioners (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £67,335 to £136,100 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2212). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only Radiologists, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
How to get here in India
The usual route into this career in India. Each step links to the official page it comes from.
- 1 · Entrance exam NEET-UG for admission to MBBS[1][2]
- 2 · Qualification MBBS degree from an NMC-listed medical college[3]
- 3 · Registration Registration as a medical practitioner on the National Medical Register / with a State Medical Council[3][4]
- 4 · Qualification NEET-PG for a postgraduate seat, then MD in Radiodiagnosis[5][6]
Rules change: check the exam body's and regulator's current notice before you apply.
- NEET (UG) — National Testing Agency (read on 2026-09-27)
- MCC UG Medical Counselling — Medical Counselling Committee, MoHFW (read on 2026-09-27)
- National Medical Commission — home (read on 2026-09-27)
- NMC — Ethics & Medical Registration Board (read on 2026-09-27)
- MCC PG Medical Counselling — Medical Counselling Committee, MoHFW (read on 2026-09-27)
- NMC — PG Curriculum (competency-based PG programmes) (read on 2026-09-27)
Entrance exams on this route — Dates, eligibility and cut-offs for the exams on the way to this career:
1 open listing on our jobs board → Recent listings whose job title matches this career. Some jobs in this career are advertised under other titles.
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Biology
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Education and Training
- Customer and Personal Service
- Physics
- Public Safety and Security
A day in the life
You start the morning at your workstation in a dimly lit reading room, opening the first scans on the list: a chest X-ray, an abdominal CT and a brain MRI. For each you pull up the patient's history, compare with earlier images and study every slice carefully before dictating a clear report. When you spot a small bleed on a head scan, you phone the emergency doctor immediately. Mid-morning you perform an ultrasound-guided procedure, taking a small tissue sample while talking the patient through each step. After lunch you join a meeting with surgeons and cancer doctors, showing images and discussing the best treatment for several patients. Later you review a backlog of routine scans and answer questions from junior doctors. The volume of images is huge and the concentration is exhausting, but spotting a hidden problem early, before it harms a patient, is enormously rewarding.
Illustrative: one typical day, written from the O*NET task statements for this occupation. Real days vary by employer and seniority.
What you'd actually do
- Prepare comprehensive interpretive reports of findings.
- Perform or interpret the outcomes of diagnostic imaging procedures including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), nuclear cardiology treadmill studies, mammography, or ultrasound.
- Document the performance, interpretation, or outcomes of all procedures performed.
- Communicate examination results or diagnostic information to referring physicians, patients, or families.
- Obtain patients' histories from electronic records, patient interviews, dictated reports, or by communicating with referring clinicians.
- Review or transmit images and information using picture archiving or communications systems.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does Radiologists do?
Diagnose and treat diseases and injuries using medical imaging techniques, such as x rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and ultrasounds. May perform minimally invasive medical procedures and tests.
What does a typical day look like in Radiologists?
You start the morning at your workstation in a dimly lit reading room, opening the first scans on the list: a chest X-ray, an abdominal CT and a brain MRI. For each you pull up the patient's history, compare with earlier images and study every slice carefully before dictating a clear report. When you spot a small bleed on a head scan, you phone the emergency doctor immediately.
What is the job outlook for Radiologists?
The role is showing modest growth of 3% over the next decade. Current US employment is approximately 28,200 workers.
How do I become a radiologists?
The typical entry education is a Doctoral or professional degree. Building a foundation in the top skills below will strengthen your application.
What skills does Radiologists need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Writing, Judgment and Decision Making. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace Radiologists?
Our AI-durability model gives Radiologists a score of 0.49 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.
How hard is it to enter this field?
Radiologists has very high barrier to entry — very highly gated — extended graduate education, licensure, or years of specialised training are required.