CT hits record high as radiography, MRI, and other areas continue to see double-digit vacancy rates.
Data in recent staffing surveys from the American Society of Radiologic Technologists show that vacancy rates for all medical imaging disciplines are above the rates reported in 2020, according to the 2025 ASRT Radiologic Sciences Staffing and Workplace Survey. Vacancy rates represent the number of unfilled positions that are actively being recruited.
Survey results show that five imaging disciplines saw modest vacancy rate declines since the last survey in 2023; however, vacancy rates remain at or near all-time highs. The highest vacancy rate for any discipline in the current survey was computed tomography, which reached an all-time high of 19.4%, an increase from 17.7% in 2023.
The survey data aligns with increased vacancy rates in health care settings throughout the country. Survey results from the American Hospital Association, National Nurses United, Hospital and Healthcare Association of Pennsylvania, and others point to spikes in vacancy rates during the past several years.
ASRT’s 2025 radiologic sciences staffing survey identified the following vacancy rate changes from 2023 to 2025:
- Radiography decreased from 18.1% to 15.6%
- Computed tomography increased from 17.7% to 19.4%.
- Cardiovascular interventional technology decreased from 18.6% to 17.4%.
- Sonography decreased from 16.7% to 12.4%.
- Magnetic resonance imaging increased from 16.2% to 17.4%.
- Mammography decreased from 13.6% to 11.4%.
- Nuclear medicine decreased from 14.5% to 12.6%.
- Bone densitometry increased from 6.9% to 16.3% accounting for the largest vacancy rate increase from the prior survey.
Building on Similar Trends
The increases follow similar trends reported in the ASRT 2024 Radiation Therapy Staffing and Workplace Survey conducted in June 2024. The vacancy rate for radiation therapy was 13.6%, up nearly three percentage points from 2022, and roughly four times the percentage rate in 2018. Although the vacancy rate for medical dosimetry decreased in 2024 to 9.6% from its all-time high of 11.4% in 2022, it remains more than three times the percentage rate in 2018.
In addition to discipline-specific vacancy rates, the 2025 Radiologic Sciences Staffing and Workplace survey outlines changes in full-time equivalent staff, vacancy rates by US regions, and facility demographics. For example, the majority of survey respondents, 52%, work at hospitals, another 16% work at imaging centers, and 7.8% work in physician offices. Other types of facilities where respondents work include large and small clinics, government/veteran affairs hospitals, rural critical access hospitals, and education, among others.
“In February 2024, ASRT, American Registry of Radiologic Technologists, and Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology hosted a Consensus Committee on the Future of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy with representatives from 18 other radiologic science organizations, which discussed solutions to address workforce shortages.
“To that end, ASRT is taking a multipronged approach to increase recruitment and retention into the profession, including raising awareness via the Be Seen campaign, promoting the profession to middle and high school students, and elevating the profession with the ASRT BeRAD Professionalism Award,” says executive vice president of member engagement Melissa Culp in a release.
ASRT emailed the biennial survey in March 2025 to 18,419 radiology department managers across the United States. At the survey’s close in May 2025, 475 respondents submitted completed questionnaires, resulting in an overall response rate of 2.6% and a margin of error of ±4.4% at the 95% confidence level.
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