# Anesthesiologists

US SOC code 29-1211. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-1211

Also called: Anesthesiology, MD anesthesiologist, Physician anesthesiologist, Attending anesthesiologist, Anesthesiology attending.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **38,760** US anesthesiologists, with median pay of **$391,490** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was **41,890**, in May 2024. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/history-professionalism-anesthesiology/2015-03) of **500** from 1929, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for anesthesiologists: AI-processed EEG depth monitoring + predictive hemodynamics, 2015 to 2023.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 3.6% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=29-1211&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **29.4%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Anesthesiologists employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1846
- Latest US employment: 38,760 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [6]
- Latest US median pay: $391,490 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [8]
- Outlook: +3.6% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [20]

### All 13 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1929 | 500 (estimate) | n/a | Est., AMA Journal of Ethics 2015 [1] |
| 1950 | 4,100 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology [2] |
| 1965 | n/a | $28,000 (estimate) | Est., White Coat Investor [7] |
| 1970 | 12,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., IARS Historical Timeline 1922-1942… [3] |
| 1990 | 26,000 (estimate) | $210,000 (estimate) | Est., APSF Article (employment) [4]; Est., White Coat Investor (pay) [7] |
| 2000 | 33,500 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Becker's ASC Review [5] |
| 2019 | 31,010 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2019 [6] |
| 2020 | 28,590 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2020 [6] |
| 2021 | 31,130 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2021 [6] |
| 2022 | 37,430 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2022 [6] |
| 2023 | 33,470 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2023 [6] |
| 2024 | 41,890 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2024 [6] |
| 2025 | 38,760 | $391,490 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [6] |

## Sources (46)

### Employment series

1. [AMA Journal of Ethics 2015 — "The History of Professionalism in Anesthesiology" (early specialty workforce context)](https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/history-professionalism-anesthesiology/2015-03), American Medical Association Journal of Ethics
2. [Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology — History of Anesthesia (specialty workforce development, 1940s-1950s)](https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/history-of-anesthesia/), Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology
3. [IARS Historical Timeline 1922-1942 (anesthesiology specialty development) and ASA history — specialty workforce growth context 1940s-1970s](https://iars.org/iarshistory/historical-timeline-1922-1942/), International Anesthesia Research Society
4. [APSF Article — "ASA 1986 Monitoring Standards Launched New Era of Care, Improved Patient Safety" (specialty professionalization and workforce context)](https://www.apsf.org/article/asa-1986-monitoring-standards-launched-new-era-of-care-improved-patient-safety/), Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation
5. [Becker's ASC Review — "Anesthesiologist workforce by the numbers" (specialty workforce size historical context)](https://www.beckersasc.com/anesthesia/anesthesiologist-workforce-by-the-numbers/), Becker's ASC Review
6. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

7. [White Coat Investor — "Golden Age of Medicine: Are Doctor Salaries Down?" (historical physician income context 1960s-2000s)](https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/golden-age-of-medicine/), White Coat Investor
8. [BLS OEWS May 2025, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

9. [Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology — History of Anesthesia (Morton's ether globe and early anesthesia delivery)](https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/history-of-anesthesia/), Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology
10. [Wikipedia — History of general anesthesia (ether, chloroform, early techniques)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_general_anesthesia), Wikipedia
11. [A Century of Technology in Anesthesia and Analgesia (PMC/NIH, 2022) — survey of 100 years of technological development in anesthesiology](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9298489/), National Institutes of Health / PMC
12. [WFSA — History of Anaesthesia (anesthesia machine development, Boyle's machine, 1920s-1940s)](https://wfsahq.org/about/history/history-of-anaesthesia/), World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists
13. [PMC — History of striated muscle relaxants used in anaesthesiology (Griffith and Johnson 1942 curare introduction)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1279945/), National Institutes of Health / PMC
14. [APSF — "ASA 1986 Monitoring Standards Launched New Era of Care, Improved Patient Safety" (66% malpractice premium reduction, monitoring standards adoption)](https://www.apsf.org/article/asa-1986-monitoring-standards-launched-new-era-of-care-improved-patient-safety/), Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation
15. [PMC — "Development and evaluation of an anesthesia module for electronic medical records in the operating room" (AIMS architecture and workflow)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10655453/), National Institutes of Health / PMC
16. [Wijnberge et al. (JAMA 2020) — HYPE RCT: HPI-guided management reduced intraoperative hypotension duration from median 32.7 min to 8.0 min (~75% reduction) in elective noncardiac surgery patients](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7078808/), JAMA / National Institutes of Health / PMC
17. [APSF Newsletter June 2024 — "An Evolving Framework for Using Big Data Tools and Machine Learning to Enhance Perioperative Quality Improvement, Research, and Patient Safety": AI/ML-based clinical decision support systems in anesthesia require clinical oversight; challenges to safe adoption include algorithm governance and bias monitoring](https://www.apsf.org/article/an-evolving-framework-for-using-big-data-tools-and-machine-learning-to-enhance-perioperative-quality-improvement-research-and-patient-safety/), Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation
18. [JAMA Network Open 2025 RCT — Ambient AI scribes reduced after-hours EHR documentation by 62% in multi-site physician study](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2826592), JAMA Network Open
19. [APSF Newsletter 2025 — AI and Patient Safety in Anesthesia: closed-loop AI systems require continuous physician supervision; no autonomous system FDA-cleared](https://www.apsf.org/), Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

### Forecasts and exposure studies

20. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 29-1211 Anesthesiologists (2025: 41.5 thousand; 2035: 43.0 thousand; +3.6%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=29-1211&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
21. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 29-1211.00, human-rated β 0.294)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

22. [Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology — History of Anesthesia (Morton's demonstration, October 16, 1846)](https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/history-of-anesthesia/), Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology
23. [American Society of Anesthesiologists — Wikipedia (ASA founding history: 1905 Long Island physicians society)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Society_of_Anesthesiologists), Wikipedia
24. [Anesthesia Key — "Establishment of Anesthesia Certification and the ABA" (ABA primary board 1941, first examination 1939)](https://aneskey.com/establishment-of-anesthesia-certification-and-the-aba/), Anesthesia Key
25. [PMC — Neuromuscular blocking drugs: discovery and development (Griffith and Johnson 1942 curare introduction)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1279945/), National Institutes of Health / PMC
26. [APSF — "ASA 1986 Monitoring Standards Launched New Era of Care, Improved Patient Safety" (APSF founding, 66% malpractice reduction)](https://www.apsf.org/article/asa-1986-monitoring-standards-launched-new-era-of-care-improved-patient-safety/), Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation
27. [Becker's ASC Review — "Anesthesiologist workforce by the numbers" (ASA shortage data: 80% of facilities reporting shortage, 2022)](https://www.beckersasc.com/anesthesia/anesthesiologist-workforce-by-the-numbers/), Becker's ASC Review

### Predecessors & successors

28. [AMA Journal of Ethics 2015 — "The History of Professionalism in Anesthesiology" (pre-specialty era: surgeons and GPs as anesthetists)](https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/history-professionalism-anesthesiology/2015-03), American Medical Association Journal of Ethics

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Anesthesiologists (29-1211.00): tasks, work activities, technology skills, knowledge domains, employment data](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-1211.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS OOH 2024-2034 — Physicians and Surgeons: anesthesiology median wage $331,190 (May 2024 BLS); highest median wage of any occupational category; +3% projected growth](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physicians-and-surgeons.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [APSF — AI and Patient Safety in Anesthesia Newsletter (2025): AI monitoring tools augment but do not replace anesthesiologist judgment; situational awareness and crisis management remain human responsibilities](https://www.apsf.org/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BD HemoSphere Advanced Monitoring Platform (formerly Edwards Lifesciences) — HPI: Maheshwari et al. (BJA 2020): 75% reduction in time with MAP \<65 mmHg using HPI-guided management in high-risk surgical patients](https://www.bd.com/en-us/products-and-solutions/products/product-families/hemosphere-monitor), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science): occupational LLM exposure framework](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [McKinsey — Economic Potential of Generative AI in Healthcare (2023 updated 2025): AI monitoring and CDS in high-acuity specialties identified as $15-20B near-term value pool](https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai), accessed 2026-05-24
- [AMA — New principles for AI development, deployment and use (2023): physicians bear ultimate clinical responsibility for AI-assisted decisions; liability anchored to licensed physician](https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/ama-issues-new-principles-ai-development-deployment-use), accessed 2026-06-21
- [JAMA 2025 multi-site RCT — Ambient AI scribes reduced after-hours EHR documentation by 62%; note quality rated equivalent or better](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2826592), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Dragon Copilot — ambient clinical scribe; pre-anesthesia evaluation note generation and ICD-10 suggestion GA October 2025; deployed at 750+ U.S. health systems](https://www.nuance.com/healthcare/dragon-copilot.html), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Abridge — ambient physician scribe; KLAS Best in KLAS Ambient AI 2025 and 2026; anesthesia pre-op and PACU note workflows supported](https://www.abridge.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Bainbridge Health — AI medication intelligence platform for OR and ICU drug waste, diversion detection, and safety surveillance; deployed at 75+ academic medical centers; FDA registered device](https://www.bainbridgehealth.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Suki AI — anesthesia workflow templates including post-op anesthesia note; voice-command documentation during PACU hand-off](https://www.suki.ai/), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.