Cardiologists, quite literally, tend to the matters of the heart. They are physicians who specialize in finding, treating, and preventing diseases that affect the heart, the arteries, and the veins. Most cardiologists have an office outside of the hospital but are connected contractually to a hospital nearby.
Their duties in this capacity include sitting with patients and going over their medical history, checking their current irregularities, and discussing possible symptoms. After that, they perform a series of tests such as EKG and x-rays. They then analyze the results and choose an appropriate course of action to treat the condition. Furthermore, in order to become a cardiologist, they have to go through more than ten years in education. They need a four-year bachelor's degree, plus an additional four years of medical school followed by a residency program which may take up to eight years.
Although the qualifications required to become a cardiologist may seem daunting, the reward at the end of it is much higher than other professions. The average hourly pay for this position is $121.75, which amounts to $253,240 annually. The career is expected to grow in the near future and create new job opportunities across the United States.
How to Become a Cardiologist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a cardiologist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $109.17 an hour? That's $227,080 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 55,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Cardiologist Do
There are certain skills that many cardiologists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, compassion and detail oriented.
How To Become a Cardiologist
If you're interested in becoming a cardiologist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 29.8% of cardiologists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.8% of cardiologists have master's degrees. Even though most cardiologists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a cardiologist. When we researched the most common majors for a cardiologist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on cardiologist resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a cardiologist. In fact, many cardiologist jobs require experience in a role such as medical assistant. Meanwhile, many cardiologists also have previous career experience in roles such as fellow or internship.
Cardiologist Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a cardiologist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as office manager, progress to a title such as operations manager and then eventually end up with the title operations manager.
Average Salary for a Cardiologist
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Cardiologists
1. Emory University
Atlanta, GA • Private
2. University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT • Private
3. New York University
New York, NY • Private
4. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
5. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
6. Ohio State University
Columbus, OH • Private
7. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
8. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, NJ • Private
9. Yale University
New Haven, CT • Private
10. University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
Top Skills For a Cardiologist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 30.3% of cardiologists listed heart on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and compassion are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Cardiologist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Cardiologist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Cardiologist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Cardiologist Demographics
Cardiologist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among cardiologists, 67.0% of them are women, while 33.0% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among cardiologists is White, which makes up 65.6% of all cardiologists.
- The most common foreign language among cardiologists is Spanish at 56.3%.
Online Courses For Cardiologist That You May Like
The vital signs - heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, respiration rate, and pain - communicate important information about the physiological status of the human body. In this six-part course we explore the anatomy and physiology underlying the vital signs so that you will develop a systematic, integrated understanding of how the body functions. Relevant body systems are reviewed including cardiovascular and respiratory, followed by explanations of how the function of these systems affe...
The course is a comprehensive set of didactic lectures surveying fundamentals of transgender medical and surgical treatment. The material is meant to provide the student with core knowledge that is essential for current primary care providers caring for transgender patients. There are 10 modules led by the expert clinical faculty from the pioneering Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, located within the Mount Sinai Health System and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New Yor...
Please join us for an exciting and innovative journey, examining one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of the oncology setting: Traditional Herbal Medicine in Supportive Cancer Care. This course is presented with short lectures offering a wide range of issues related to the principles and practice of herbal medicine in cancer care. The course includes interviews with leading world experts from the field of Integrative Oncology, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe, the Mi...
Best States For a Cardiologist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a cardiologist. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington. Cardiologists make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $246,310. Whereas in North Dakota and Montana, they would average $235,888 and $229,516, respectively. While cardiologists would only make an average of $228,949 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. North Dakota
$235,888
Avg. Salary
2. Alaska
$246,310
Avg. Salary
3. Nebraska
$217,652
Avg. Salary
How Do Cardiologist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Cardiologist Employers
Most Common Employers For Cardiologist
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aurora Health Care | $293,053 | $140.89 | 16 |
| 2 | CoxHealth | $278,968 | $134.12 | 10 |
| 3 | Sanford Health | $276,385 | $132.88 | 32 |
| 4 | UPMC | $273,570 | $131.52 | 11 |
| 5 | Billings Clinic | $268,647 | $129.16 | 21 |
| 6 | Mayo Clinic | $266,828 | $128.28 | 27 |
| 7 | University Hospitals | $263,570 | $126.72 | 15 |
| 8 | Deaconess | $260,360 | $125.17 | 9 |
| 9 | Pikeville Medical Center | $253,919 | $122.08 | 29 |
| 10 | Cleveland Clinic | $248,709 | $119.57 | 18 |