Massage Therapist
Treats soft tissue with hands under licence, often self-employed. Income scales only until the hands run out.
- Pay band (est.)
- $58k–$97k
- Time to competence
- 2 years
- Licence
- Required
- Setting
- clinic
- Leverage
- low
- Place constraint
- low
- Physical demand
- 72/100
- Hours burden
- 50/100
Factor percentiles
Percentile against the whole curated set. Higher is better on that factor only.
- Play39th
Absorbing rather than merely paid.
- Specific knowledge16th
A combination of skills that is hard to copy.
- Leverage14th
Output that scales through code, media, capital or crew.
- Demand91th
Durability and shortage, scored conservatively.
- Pay22th
Mid-career floor and the range above it.
- Body32th
Inverse of physical demand and hours.
- Autonomy13th
Control of methods and time.
- People fit24th
Distance from your preferred people level.
- Place flexibility43th
Remote fit and freedom from specific metros.
- Time to skill98th
Inverse of years to competence.
- Meaning load50th
Closeness to the families you marked as meaningful. Your mapping, not ours.
- Downside tolerance67th
Inverse of named risk to body, market or platform.
Downside
Hands and shoulders wear out; hard ceiling on billable hours.
Examine this against your weights
The percentiles above use the default weights. Set your own on the ranking and this vocation moves with them.
- Place constraint is low. Where you live is analysed at locationistics.com.
- Hours burden is 50/100 and people intensity 85/100. Who you are with is analysed at relationistics.com.
Source note: BLS OEWS May 2024, Massage Therapists (31-9011): median $57,950, 90th percentile $97,450. Outlook from BLS 2025-35 projections, +15.3%. Other scores editorial. All figures are estimates for comparison.