# Cardiologists

US SOC code 29-1212. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-1212

Also called: Cardiology, Heart doctor, Interventional cardiologist, Electrophysiologist, EP cardiologist.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **17,290** US cardiologists, with median pay of **$496,010** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was **18,610**, in May 2021. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2016/06/17/08/39/franz-groedel-bruno-kisch-and-the-founding-of-the-american-college-of-cardiology) of **600** from 1951, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for cardiologists: Digital echocardiography + cardiac imaging revolution, 2000 to 2020. The imaging revolution drove continued cardiology subspecialization and created demand for cardiologists with advanced imaging fellowship training.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 4.8% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=29-1212&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **23.1%** 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.

## Cardiologists employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1902
- Latest US employment: 17,290 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [3]
- Latest US median pay: $496,010 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [7]
- Outlook: +4.8% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [23]

### All 10 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1951 | 600 (estimate) | n/a | Est., ACC History [1] |
| 1980 | 7,500 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care [2] |
| 1983 | n/a | $110,000 (estimate) | Est., PMC [4] |
| 1996 | 16,620 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care [2] |
| 2000 | n/a | $285,000 (estimate) | Est., White Coat Investor [5] |
| 2021 | 18,610 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2021 [3] |
| 2022 | 16,870 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2022 [3] |
| 2023 | 15,190 | $506,000 (estimate) | BLS OEWS May 2023 (employment) [3]; Est., Cardiovascular Business (pay) [6] |
| 2024 | 18,020 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2024 [3] |
| 2025 | 17,290 | $496,010 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [3] |

## Sources (55)

### Employment series

1. [ACC History — Franz Groedel, Bruno Kisch and the Founding of the American College of Cardiology (1949-1951 membership)](https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2016/06/17/08/39/franz-groedel-bruno-kisch-and-the-founding-of-the-american-college-of-cardiology), American College of Cardiology
2. [Dartmouth Atlas of Cardiovascular Health Care — Cardiovascular Surgery and Cardiology Workforces (historical workforce 1980 and 1995)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK588934/), Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care
3. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [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

4. [PMC: "Physician incomes and work patterns across specialties: 1975 and 1983-84" — cardiovascular specialists median net income $110,000 (1983-84)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4192917/), Health Affairs (via PubMed Central)
5. [White Coat Investor — "Golden Age of Medicine: Are Doctor Salaries Down?" (historical physician salary trends across decades)](https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/golden-age-of-medicine/), White Coat Investor
6. [Cardiovascular Business — "Cardiologist compensation drops 4% — still higher than most other healthcare specialties" (Medscape 2025 data, 2024 calendar year)](https://cardiovascularbusiness.com/topics/healthcare-management/healthcare-economics/cardiologist-compensation-drops-4-still-higher-most-other-healthcare-specialties), Cardiovascular Business / Medscape
7. [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

8. [PMC — "The rise of cardiovascular medicine" (Einthoven 1902 ECG, US hospital adoption timeline, sphygmomanometer history)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3345543/), PMC / NIH
9. [Dittrick Medical History Center — Cambridge Electrocardiograph, 1920 (early US hospital ECG deployment)](https://artsci.case.edu/dittrick/online-exhibits/explore-the-artifacts/cambridge-electrocardiograph-1920/), Dittrick Medical History Center, Case Western Reserve University
10. [PMC — "F. Mason Sones Jr.: The Serendipitous Discovery of Coronary Angiography and Its Lasting Impact on Cardiology" (1958 first coronary arteriography)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11196246/), PMC / NIH
11. [Wikipedia — History of invasive and interventional cardiology (cardiac catheterization timeline, CABG development)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_invasive_and_interventional_cardiology), Wikipedia
12. [PMC — "Resuscitating a Circulation Abstract: 50th Anniversary of the Coronary Care Unit Concept" (CCU history 1961-1962, mortality reduction data)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3202694/), Circulation / American Heart Association (via PMC)
13. [PMC — "Bernard Lown (1921-2021)" (DC defibrillator 1962, cardioversion technique, lidocaine introduction)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11164191/), PMC / NIH
14. [PMC — "Balloon Angioplasty: The Legacy of Andreas Gruentzig, MD (1939-1985)" (first PTCA September 16, 1977; Zurich; interventional cardiology history)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4671350/), Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (via PMC)
15. [Dartmouth Atlas of Cardiovascular Health Care — 100%+ workforce growth 1980-1995 (7,500 to 15,500+ cardiologists)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK588934/), Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care
16. [American Chemical Society — "Statins: Revolutionizing Cardiovascular Medicine" (lovastatin 1987 FDA approval, history, clinical trial evidence)](https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/merck.html), American Chemical Society
17. [PMC — "A historical perspective on the discovery of statins" (mevinolin isolation, clinical trials, impact on cardiovascular practice)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3108295/), PMC / NIH
18. [JACC — "Cardiology: the past, the present, and the future" (2003 overview of the cardiovascular imaging revolution through the turn of the century)](https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2003.08.025), Journal of the American College of Cardiology
19. [ACC/AHA 2023 Chronic Coronary Disease Management Guideline — CCTA + FFRCT Class I for intermediate-risk stable chest pain; non-invasive plaque characterization Class IIa](https://www.acc.org/guidelines), American College of Cardiology / American Heart Association
20. [JACC 2024 — "Artificial Intelligence for Cardiovascular Care-Part 1: Advances" (AI-ECG detects reduced EF and valvular disease with accuracy exceeding prior technology; AI-echo and multi-modality cardiovascular AI applications reviewed)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38593946/), Journal of the American College of Cardiology / PubMed
21. [NEJM AI 2025-2026 — AI-ECG detects low EF (AUC 0.93, Attia et al. NEJM 2019 replicated and extended 2023-2025); AI-echo LVEF within ±5% of expert readers](https://ai.nejm.org/), New England Journal of Medicine AI
22. [PMC / Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine — "Cardiac intensive care unit: where we are in 2023" (AI integration in cardiovascular critical care and monitoring)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10704904/), Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (via PMC)

### Forecasts and exposure studies

23. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 29-1212 Cardiologists (2025: 18.5 thousand; 2035: 19.4 thousand; +4.8%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=29-1212&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
24. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 29-1212.00, human-rated β 0.231)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

25. [PMC — "The rise of cardiovascular medicine" (Einthoven 1902, Nobel 1924, first US hospital ECG 1908)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3345543/), PMC / NIH
26. [ABIM — Exam Administration History (first cardiovascular disease subspecialty examination, 1941)](https://www.abim.org/about/exam-information/exam-administration-history), American Board of Internal Medicine
27. [ACC — "Franz Groedel, Bruno Kisch and the Founding of the American College of Cardiology" (ACC charter December 2, 1949)](https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2016/06/17/08/39/franz-groedel-bruno-kisch-and-the-founding-of-the-american-college-of-cardiology), American College of Cardiology
28. [PMC — "F. Mason Sones Jr.: The Serendipitous Discovery of Coronary Angiography and Its Lasting Impact on Cardiology"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11196246/), PMC / NIH
29. [PMC — "Resuscitating a Circulation Abstract: 50th Anniversary of the Coronary Care Unit Concept" (Desmond Julian 1961; Lown 1965; Killip-Kimball mortality data)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3202694/), Circulation / American Heart Association (via PMC)
30. [PMC — "Balloon Angioplasty: The Legacy of Andreas Gruentzig, MD (1939-1985)" (first PTCA, Zurich, September 16, 1977)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4671350/), Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (via PMC)
31. [PMC — "Bernard Lown (1921-2021)" (ICD development history, Mirowski 1980, Lown's opposition)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11164191/), PMC / NIH
32. [American Chemical Society — "Statins: Revolutionizing Cardiovascular Medicine" (lovastatin FDA approval September 1, 1987; clinical trial evidence summary)](https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/merck.html), American Chemical Society
33. [Cardiovascular Business — "A massive physician shortage is coming — and it could hit cardiology especially hard" (AAMC 2030 shortage projection: 5,800-15,800 cardiologists)](https://cardiovascularbusiness.com/topics/healthcare-management/healthcare-economics/massive-physician-shortage-cardiologists), Cardiovascular Business / AAMC

### Predecessors & successors

34. [Reichert P (1978) — "A history of the development of cardiology as a medical specialty" (Clinical Cardiology, Vol. 1 No. 1; covers ECG, sphygmomanometry, and the specialty's emergence from general internal medicine)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/389510/), Clinical Cardiology / PubMed
35. [JACC — "Build-a-Cardiologist: The Cardiologist of the Future — The Business of Certification" (short-track ABIM history)](https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2015.02.014), Journal of the American College of Cardiology
36. [JACC 2024 — "Artificial Intelligence for Cardiovascular Care-Part 1: Advances" (AI governance and cardiologist oversight of AI tools in cardiovascular care)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38593946/), Journal of the American College of Cardiology / PubMed

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Cardiologists (29-1212.00): tasks, work activities, technology skills, knowledge domains, employment data](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-1212.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS OOH — Physicians and Surgeons: ~800,000 employed 2024; +3% growth 2024-2034; AAMC projects ~17,100 cardiologist shortage by 2034](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physicians-and-surgeons.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [ACC — The Future of Digital Health in Cardiovascular Disease (2025): bridging innovation and clinical practice; AI-ECG, AI-echo, FFR-CT recognized as FDA-cleared decision-support tools; cardiologists retain diagnostic authority](https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2025/07/01/01/cover-story-the-future-of-digital-health-in-cvd), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Medscape Cardiologist Compensation Report 2025 — median total compensation $443,000; administrative burden identified as #1 burnout driver; AI documentation adoption growing](https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2025-compensation-cardiologist-6016499), accessed 2026-05-24
- [JACC AI in Cardiovascular Medicine special series 2024-2025 — AI-ECG for AFib from sinus rhythm, HeartFlow ADVANCE trial, Cleerly NCP/LAP outcome data (PRECISE trial)](https://www.jacc.org/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [NEJM AI 2025-2026 — AI-ECG detects low EF (AUC 0.93 Attia et al. 2019, replicated 2023-2025); AI-echo LVEF within ±5% of expert readers; AI-CCTA improves reclassification vs. calcium score](https://ai.nejm.org/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [ACC/AHA 2023 Chronic Coronary Disease Management Guideline — CCTA + FFRCT Class I for intermediate-risk stable chest pain; non-invasive plaque characterization Class IIa](https://www.acc.org/guidelines), accessed 2026-05-24
- [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 (2025 update): cardiology imaging AI as a leading AI deployment frontier; clinical documentation $35-40B near-term value](https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Cardiologs (GE Healthcare) — AI ECG analysis deployed at 1,000+ hospitals in 40+ countries; cardiologists review AI-flagged findings and confirm or override](https://www.philips.co.uk/healthcare/ambulatory-monitoring-and-diagnostics/ecg-monitoring/cardiologs-ecg-analysis), accessed 2026-05-24
- [AliveCor KardiaMobile 6L + KardiaAI — FDA De Novo clearance for AFib, bradycardia, tachycardia detection; 650,000+ U.S. users in cardiologist-supervised remote monitoring programs](https://alivecor.com/kardi), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Microsoft Dragon Copilot (formerly Nuance DAX Copilot) — 750+ health systems; cardiology-specific templates for cath lab procedure notes, stress test interpretation, and device clinic visits (Nuance.com 2025)](https://www.nuance.com/healthcare/dragon-copilot.html), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Abridge — KLAS Best in KLAS Ambient AI 2025 + 2026; deployed at UPMC and 250+ health systems; cardiology-specific EP clinic and HF clinic templates (Abridge.com 2025)](https://www.abridge.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Ultromics EchoGo Heart Failure — FDA-cleared AI echo platform; LVEF, wall motion, strain, diastolic function; reduces read turnaround to real-time; deployed at 100+ U.S. health systems](https://www.ultromics.com/products/echogo-heart-failure), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Us2.ai — AI echo auto-segmentation; structured LVEF, LV volumes, and valvular function reports for cardiologist attestation (Us2.ai product documentation 2025)](https://us2.ai/), accessed 2026-05-24

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