How To Become A Chiropractic Doctor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a chiropractic doctor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a chiropractic doctor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.59 an hour? That's $55,312 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreChiropractic DoctorUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $55,312

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.3

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.25%

Asian 7.08%

Black or African American 2.21%

Hispanic or Latino 6.28%

Unknown 4.10%

White 80.07%

Gender

female 31.60%

male 68.40%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

8.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.9

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a chiropractic doctor

Explore chiropractic doctor education requirements

Most common chiropractic doctor degrees

Doctorate

51.9 %

Bachelor's

37.0 %

Associate

5.7 %

Start to develop specific chiropractic doctor skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	29.21%
Patient Care	15.69%
Physical Therapy	8.60%
Rehabilitation	6.80%
Radiology	5.11%

Complete relevant chiropractic doctor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New chiropractic doctors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a chiropractic doctor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real chiropractic doctor resumes.

Research chiropractic doctor duties and responsibilities

Manage the movement of patient's through the ER from triage to discharge or to the floor once admit.
Diagnose and treat patients with various physical conditions by utilizing chiropractic techniques, physical rehabilitation, and massage therapy.
Educate and support patients regarding positive lifestyle changes, including nutritional counseling, stress management, and home exercise recommendations.
Practice myofascial release, diversify and activator technique

Prepare your chiropractic doctor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your chiropractic doctor 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 a chiropractic doctor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable chiropractic doctor resume templates

Build a professional chiropractic doctor 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 chiropractic doctor resume.

Apply for chiropractic doctor jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a chiropractic doctor 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 chiropractic doctors rate their job?

1/5

Based on 1 ratings

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Chiropractic doctor reviews

1.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Pros

Help relieve people’s pain.

Cons

It doesn’t pay well. Waste of an education and tuition. Patient don’t want to pay when they find out chiro is only covered after their deductible is met. Good luck making an income when all your revenue goes to overhead and you have to continuously and exhaustively market yourself at expos for new patients. What other model of healthcare depends on that to acquire patients? It’s a flawed system. Don’t become a chiropractor and expect to earn an income that will allow you to live debt free! Choose another career path!

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019