How To Become An Acupuncturist: What It Is and Career Path

What is an acupuncturist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average acupuncturist salary is $73,120. The most common degree is a master's degree degree with an alternative and complementary medicine and medical systems major. It usually takes 2-4 years of experience to become an acupuncturist. Acupuncturists with a Diplomate in Acupuncture (Dipl.Ac.) Certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAcupuncturistUS Average

Salary

5.7

Avg. Salary $73,120

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.5

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 20.42%

Black or African American 3.48%

Hispanic or Latino 10.78%

Unknown 6.80%

White 58.29%

Gender

female 62.19%

male 37.81%

Age - 51

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 51

Stress level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an acupuncturist

Explore acupuncturist education requirements

Most common acupuncturist degrees

Master's

49.5 %

Bachelor's

35.9 %

Doctorate

6.7 %

Start to develop specific acupuncturist skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	44.29%
Patient Care	8.08%
Acupuncture Services	6.26%
Physical Therapy	5.03%
Rehabilitation	3.95%

Research acupuncturist duties and responsibilities

Specialize in the treatment of pain management, sports injury and rehabilitation.
Administer full body and auricular acupuncture treatments, moxibustion, cupping, magnet therapy, Tui -na and TCM counseling.
Record patients' case history details, conduct physical examinations, create individualize treatment plans and rehabilitative protocols for patients.
Train OSHA & HIPPA practitioner.

Prepare your acupuncturist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your acupuncturist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an acupuncturist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable acupuncturist resume templates

Build a professional acupuncturist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your acupuncturist resume.

Apply for acupuncturist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an acupuncturist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do acupuncturists rate their job?

-/5

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Acupuncturist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2021

Pros

My practice is very diverse. I have been treating patients for over 32 years in various countries working with indigenous cultures treating the chronically compromise. I truly love my work we just integrated and many fields and disciplines of Medicine

Cons

I'm surprise that within the United States the modalities of traditional medicine specifically Asian medicine is limited primarily to the practice of acupuncture we're everywhere else in many parts of the world it incorporates various disciplines such as nutrition herbs manipulation homeopathy and many more