How To Become A Tumor Registrar: What It Is and Career Path

What is a tumor registrar and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Tumor registrars collect the data that provides essential information to researchers, healthcare providers, and public health officials to better monitor and advance tumor treatments, conduct research, and improve tumor prevention and screening programs. They need to have analytical skills, integrity, and be detail-oriented.

They have to earn an associate's degree or complete sixty hours of college-level courses, including six college credit hours in human physiology and human anatomy, as well as one year of tumor registry experience and pass the Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) exam.

Tumor registrars make an average salary of $51,743 per year or $25 per hour. Their ultimate goal is to prevent and control cancer. They can work remotely, but they require a few years of experience in the hospital and excellent performance with good communication skills.

ScoreTumor RegistrarUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,112

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.8

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.28%

Asian 7.67%

Black or African American 8.58%

Hispanic or Latino 17.20%

Unknown 4.23%

White 61.04%

Gender

female 87.95%

male 12.05%

Age - 46

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 - 46

Stress level

4.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.0

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.6

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a tumor registrar

Explore tumor registrar education requirements

Most common tumor registrar degrees

Bachelor's

45.7 %

Associate

39.1 %

Master's

5.3 %

Start to develop specific tumor registrar skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	25.05%
Abstracts	8.11%
Medical Terminology	7.08%
Registrars	6.85%
COC	4.79%

Complete relevant tumor registrar training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New tumor registrars 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 tumor registrar based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real tumor registrar resumes.

Research tumor registrar duties and responsibilities

Use EMR software to manage patient records and files; reinforce and uphold patient confidentiality as required by HIPPA and clinic.
Participate in the cancer program survey by ACoS COC.
Utilize ICD-9-CM, CPT and HCPCS coding systems, and HCC coding.
Train new and inexperience coders on (ICD-9-CM), (CPT) and (HCPCS) code identification.

Prepare your tumor registrar resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable tumor registrar resume templates

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