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The differences between medical physicists and biomedical engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a medical physicist, becoming a biomedical engineer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a medical physicist has an average salary of $122,845, which is higher than the $79,436 average annual salary of a biomedical engineer.
The top three skills for a medical physicist include patients, oncology and radiology. The most important skills for a biomedical engineer are patients, medical devices, and biomedical equipment.
| Medical Physicist | Biomedical Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $122,845 | $79,436 |
| Hourly rate | $59.06 | $38.19 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 46,513 | 33,662 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 48 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 2 |
A Medical Physicist develops and tests new systems to help investigate patients' conditions. They work for hospitals, diagnostic or medical instrumentation manufactures, or universities.
As a biomedical engineer, it's their main job responsibility to innovate advances that can improve human health care in all aspects. They analyze and create solutions to certain problems with biology and medicine to improve the effectiveness and quality of patient care. They also do complex tasks that include installing, repairing, maintaining, or providing technical support for biomedical equipment. Moreover, checking safety evaluation, efficiency, and effectiveness of biomedical equipment is also part of their job responsibilities.
Medical physicists and biomedical engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medical Physicist | Biomedical Engineer | |
| Average salary | $122,845 | $79,436 |
| Salary range | Between $77,000 And $193,000 | Between $57,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | Rochester, NY | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | California |
| Best paying company | Saint Luke's Health System | Cornerstone Research |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Technology |
There are a few differences between a medical physicist and a biomedical engineer in terms of educational background:
| Medical Physicist | Biomedical Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Physics | Biomedical Engineering |
| Most common college | Harvard University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between medical physicists' and biomedical engineers' demographics:
| Medical Physicist | Biomedical Engineer | |
| Average age | 48 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 73.4% Female, 26.6% | Male, 75.0% Female, 25.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.9% Unknown, 3.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.4% Asian, 12.8% White, 73.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.3% Asian, 20.1% White, 58.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 24% | 13% |