Occupational therapy aides
SOC Code: 31-2012
Occupational therapy aides carries a 19% AI exposure score (Low automation risk), with a median annual wage of $37,370 and +2.5% projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034 (BLS), affecting approximately 5,200 workers. Full task breakdown, skills, and employer data are below.
Proportion of tasks susceptible to AI automation (O*NET analysis)
At 19% AI exposure, Occupational therapy aides sits 18 points below the 37.2% average across 832 U.S. occupations - more exposed than 5% of them. It ranks among the more AI-resilient roles in the dataset.
Career outlook score
49/100
Occupational therapy aides, weighted across 3 of 3 tracked dimensions
A weighted composite of median wage, projected growth, and AI-automation security (inverted exposure), each benchmarked against every other tracked occupation. It describes this occupation's standing across those three dimensions, not a guarantee of future outcomes.
- Median wage F $37,370
Annual median wage, percentile rank vs all tracked occupations
- Projected growth C- +2.5%
Projected employment change, 2024-2034, BLS Employment Projections
- AI exposure (inverted) A+ 19% exposure
Lower O*NET task-automability scores lower risk; this dimension scores security, not exposure
Home health and personal care aides is #1 of 832 occupations by employment (4.3M, AI exposure rank #392 at 35%) vs. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks #1 by AI task exposure (95%, employment rank #17 at 1.6M).
Automation-risk inventory
Exclusive cut of 832 occupations by PlainWorkforce automation-risk band. Orthogonal to the continuous AI-exposure distribution chart below and to this occupation's single risk badge, this is the corpus band mix, with Occupational therapy aides in the Low band.
Credential × growth standing
Open entry with non-declining BLS pace
Occupational therapy aides keeps an HS / some college bar (333 of 832) and sits in Average (378 of 832). Lower formal gates with a non-shrinking employment line - skill and AI desks matter more than credentials here.
Where Occupational therapy aides sits among all occupations
AI-exposure score distribution across 832 U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis). This occupation is marked in rose.
Where Occupational therapy aides sits by AI exposure
AI-exposure score distribution across U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis)
19% Among the lowest lower than 95% of 832 occupations
Occupations, banded by AI-exposure score
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more occupations. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor) · BLS 2024–2034
Source: O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor); AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis. As of BLS 2024–2034.
Occupational therapy aides vs. its occupational neighbors
AI exposure (horizontal) vs projected 2024–2034 growth (vertical) for occupations in the same SOC group. Occupational therapy aides is marked in rose; the top-left corner is the most future-proof.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 (growth) and O*NET (AI-exposure analysis by PlainWorkforce).
Employment Projections
Where This Score Comes From
Occupational therapy aides's Low automation-risk tier is computed from O*NET Database 30.0 task-level analysis, where each documented task the occupation performs is evaluated against current generative AI, robotic process automation, and machine-learning capabilities. A score below 40% reflects tasks anchored in physical dexterity, unstructured environments, or high-touch human interaction that current AI cannot reliably replicate.
The employment, wage, and education figures above come from a second, separate federal source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, matched to the O*NET task data by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 31-2012) code, with the wage figure cross-validated against the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 survey. BLS figures are presented exactly as published, with no adjustment on our part; the SOC-code match is what lets Occupational therapy aides be compared directly against every other tracked occupation on the same basis, not just roles that happen to share a job title.
For career planners, this profile should be read alongside the task, skill, and knowledge breakdowns below and the list of employers whose workforce composition includes Occupational therapy aides. Adjacent occupations shown further down offer lateral moves that preserve industry knowledge while potentially reducing exposure.
Education & Entry Requirements
Top Tasks (O*NET)
- 1. Encourage patients and attend to their physical needs to facilitate the attainment of therapeutic goals.
- 2. Report to supervisors or therapists, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, attendance, and accomplishments.
- 3. Evaluate the living skills and capacities of clients with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.
- 4. Observe patients' attendance, progress, attitudes, and accomplishments and record and maintain information in client records.
- 5. Prepare and maintain work area, materials, and equipment and maintain inventory of treatment and educational supplies.
- 6. Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area.
- 7. Instruct patients and families in work, social, and living skills, the care and use of adaptive equipment, and other skills to facilitate home and work adjustment to disability.
- 8. Assist occupational therapists in planning, implementing, and administering therapy programs to restore, reinforce, and enhance performance, using selected activities and special equipment.
- 9. Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual and creative arts and games.
- 10. Manage intradepartmental infection control and equipment security.
Key Skills Required
- Service Orientation
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Active Listening
- Coordination
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Complex Problem Solving
Knowledge Areas
- Therapy and Counseling
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Psychology
- Computers and Electronics
- Education and Training
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Public Safety and Security
- Administrative
- Administration and Management
Frequently Asked Questions
Will AI replace Occupational therapy aides?
Occupational therapy aides has an AI exposure score of 19%, indicating a low level of automation risk. The majority of tasks in this role require human judgment, creativity, or physical presence that AI cannot easily replicate.
What is the job outlook for Occupational therapy aides?
According to BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034, Occupational therapy aides is projected to grow by 2.5% over the decade. Current employment stands at approximately 5,200 workers.
What skills are needed for Occupational therapy aides?
Key skills for Occupational therapy aides include Service Orientation, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, and others. Typical entry-level education is High school diploma or equivalent.
How much do Occupational therapy aides earn?
The median annual wage for Occupational therapy aides is $37,370, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024). Actual earnings vary by location, experience, industry, and employer. The BLS publishes detailed wage percentiles by region in its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
What education is required for Occupational therapy aides?
The typical entry-level education for Occupational therapy aides is High school diploma or equivalent. Employers generally expect None of related work experience. On-the-job training typically involves Short-term on-the-job training. Requirements can vary by employer and specialization.
Which companies employ Occupational therapy aides?
Occupational therapy aides roles exist across many industries and employers. Workforce composition is estimated from BLS industry-occupation employment distributions matched to SEC-registered public companies.
AI Exposure Rating
Low automation risk based on 10 analyzed tasks. Most tasks require human judgment and are resistant to automation.
Nationwide occupations with similar workforce profiles
Two data-derived peer sets for Occupational therapy aides: AI-exposure neighbors and BLS 2034 growth neighbors (distinct comparison neighborhoods, cross-occupation).
Similar AI exposure score
Nearest O*NET task-automability scores nationwide (19% here).
- Animal caretakers · AI exposure 19%
- Psychiatrists · AI exposure 19%
- Clergy · AI exposure 19%
- Farmworkers, farm, ranch, and aquacultural animals · AI exposure 19%
Similar projected growth (2024–2034)
Nearest BLS employment change rates nationwide (+2.5% here).
- Building cleaning workers, all other · growth +2.5%
- Dietetic technicians · growth +2.5%
- Education administrators, all other · growth +2.5%
- First-line supervisors of farming, fishing, and forestry workers · growth +2.5%
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published BLS + O*NET metrics among occupations with ≥10,000 workers in 2024; corpus ranks above sort the full tracked set.
Related Occupations
Showing 6 of 43 occupations with a comparable automation-risk profile.
What to do with this
Use Occupational therapy aides' numbers above to compare, not just read in isolation.
- Compare Occupational therapy aides side by side against another occupation on wage, growth, and AI exposure. Workforce comparison tool
- Understand how the AI exposure score above is actually calculated before treating it as a verdict. Reading AI exposure scores
- See the full ranked list of occupations with the lowest automation exposure nationwide. Safest occupations from AI
AI exposure scores estimate task automatability from O*NET data; they are not a certainty of job loss, and BLS growth projections are estimates, not guarantees.
Data sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2024–2034 and O*NET Database 30.0. Employment figures are rounded. Wage data from BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).