FlightWay / Careers / Massage Therapists

Healthcare

Massage Therapists

Perform therapeutic massages of soft tissues and joints.

Sector: Healthcare
Preparation: Zone 3 — medium preparation needed
O*NET code: 31-9011.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Assisting and Caring for Others

central to the job — rated 90/100 for importance.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public

central to the job — rated 88/100 for importance.
Performing General Physical Activities

a major part of the work — rated 81/100 for importance.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships

a major part of the work — rated 80/100 for importance.
Getting Information

a major part of the work — rated 80/100 for importance.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems

a major part of the work — rated 72/100 for importance.

Perform therapeutic massages of soft tissues and joints. May assist in the assessment of range of motion and muscle strength, or propose client therapy plans.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Speaking

Needed at a solid working level (52/100), and rated 66/100 for importance.
Active Listening

Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 66/100 for importance.
Social Perceptiveness

Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Service Orientation

Needed at a basic working level (45/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Judgment and Decision Making

Needed at a basic working level (41/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service

Needed at expert level (75/100), and rated 90/100 for importance.
English Language

Needed at a basic working level (42/100), and rated 58/100 for importance.
Biology

Needed at a basic working level (41/100), and rated 58/100 for importance.
Psychology

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 57/100 for importance.

Abilities

Dynamic Strength

Needed at a solid working level (50/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.
Trunk Strength

Needed at a solid working level (48/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 66/100 for importance.
Oral Expression

Needed at a solid working level (52/100), and rated 66/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 3 — medium preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

Vocational training, an associate degree, or equivalent on-the-job experience.

Experience

One to two years of related experience is typical.

Training

Employers expect you to arrive with the core skill already.

What it pays

These are typical healthcare compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Massage Therapists specifically. Treat them as the shape of the market, then check a real posting for the number.

Mayo Clinic · Johns Hopkins

$130k – $300k

Regional Health Systems

$100k – $180k

Clinics & Private Practice

$80k – $130k

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

The work is physical — you are on your feet and handling things, not sitting still.From “Performing General Physical Activities”
You are in front of the public, so the job is partly performance.From “Performing for or Working Directly with the Public”
Long-running relationships carry the work; the same people come back.From “Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships”
Rules and standards are checkable and someone checks them.From “Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards”
People depend on you directly, and that is the point of the role.From “Assisting and Caring for Others”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Massage Therapists. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

More in Healthcare

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See your fit for Massage Therapists

Ten questions, about 90 seconds. You get your match against Massage Therapists and 782+ other real careers — with the reasoning shown.

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Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.