How a radiologic technologist moves into CT or MRI: the ARRT postprimary route, employers that cross-train and pay

How a radiologic technologist moves into CT or MRI in 2026: the ARRT's postprimary route, the employers that cross-train on the job, what the modalities pay, sign-on bonuses, and what to ask before you accept.

Most CT and MRI technologists started as X-ray techs and were trained on the job. This guide takes the route in order, and every figure in it opens the live list or page it comes from on CareJobs.Now, where 30,423 radiology and imaging jobs are open today, each read from the employer's own job board.

Contents

1. The route: registered in radiography, then a postprimary credential
2. Which credential, by which pathway
3. Employers that cross-train
4. What CT and MRI pay
5. Sign-on bonuses, nights and call
6. State rules
7. Where the CT and MRI jobs are
8. Questions to ask
9. A checklist

1. The route: registered in radiography, then a postprimary credential

A technologist already certified and registered by the ARRT can earn an additional credential in CT, MRI, mammography and other disciplines through the ARRT's postprimary eligibility pathway: you document the clinical procedures the ARRT requires for that discipline, usually while working in it under supervision, then sit its exam ( the ARRT's additional credentials). That is why the employer matters: the clinical procedures come from a department that lets you do them.

A formal program in the modality is the other way in, and some employers ask for one; read each posting's requirements.

If you are still finishing a radiography program. Your first job is the start of the route: a department that does CT, MRI or interventional work and trains its own staff gives you the procedures later. When you compare first jobs, ask which modalities the department runs, how often its X-ray techs are cross-trained, and how long they usually wait for a place. Our new grad healthcare jobs list the open jobs that welcome new graduates, and the imaging job statistics count how many imaging postings do.

2. Which credential, by which pathway

The ARRT lists which disciplines it offers by which pathway ( the ARRT's additional credentials). Through the postprimary pathway, open to technologists already registered in a primary discipline: bone densitometry, breast sonography, cardiac interventional radiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, mammography, vascular interventional radiography and vascular sonography. As a primary discipline, from an educational program: magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine technology, radiation therapy, radiography, sonography and vascular sonography.

So an X-ray tech can reach CT, MRI, mammography and the interventional disciplines on the job, by the postprimary route; MRI can also be a first credential from its own program. Sonography is mostly a field of its own, entered through a sonography program, and its own registry (ARDMS) is common in postings.

3. Employers that cross-train

Our CT and MRI cross-training jobs list every open imaging job whose own posting offers to train you into a modality ("will cross-train into CT", "willing to train, no prior CT experience needed"), quoting the offer, with a page for CT and for MRI. A posting that asks for a training program you have already completed, or that only mentions training other staff, is left out.

Ask how long the training lasts, who signs off your clinical procedures, and whether the pay changes when you pass.

4. What CT and MRI pay

Our pay pages rank the states by the median hourly rate their open jobs post, for radiologic technologists, CT technologists and MRI technologists, each with a page per state naming the employers that post the highest rates. Nationally, BLS measured a median of $38.52 an hour for radiologic technologists and $45.91 for MRI technologists in May 2025.

Our imaging job statistics show the median rate today's postings state for each modality side by side.

5. Sign-on bonuses, nights and call

Imaging postings often state a sign-on bonus: the imaging job statistics give today's share and median, and the sign-on bonus list every job that states one, with its terms. Many CT jobs are evenings, nights or weekends, and many add call; the statistics page counts how many postings are PRN, nights or weekends. A bonus usually comes with a commitment to stay, so read its terms in the posting.

6. State rules

Most states license or certify radiographers, and a few also license CT or MRI on its own; a state's radiation control program or licensing board sets the rule. Our rad tech license requirements by state give every state's rule side by side, with the states that also license CT, MRI or ultrasound, and each radiologic technologist page for a state says what that state requires.

7. Where the CT and MRI jobs are

Each modality has its own page of open jobs with a page per state: CT technologist jobs, MRI technologist jobs and sonographer jobs. Hospitals hire most of them, and outpatient imaging centers many more ( lab and imaging center jobs), often on day schedules without call.

Once you hold the credential, PRN work is the usual way to add shifts or try another employer: PRN imaging jobs. CT departments that run around the clock hire for evenings and nights ( night shift imaging jobs). If you are willing to move, imaging jobs with relocation assistance quote each employer's offer.

8. Questions to ask

• How long is the training, and how many procedures will I do in it?
• Who supervises and signs off my clinical procedures for the ARRT?
• Will I train on nights, days or both, and when does the schedule change?
• Does the pay rise when I pass, and by how much?
• Is a sign-on bonus tied to a commitment, and does the training add one?
• If I leave before the commitment ends, what do I owe?

9. A checklist

1. Confirm you are ARRT-registered in radiography (and licensed in your state where it requires it).
2. Find the employers that cross-train: CT and MRI cross-training jobs.
3. Ask how long the training lasts, who signs off your procedures, and when you sit the exam.
4. Ask whether pay rises once you pass, and compare it with the CT and MRI pay pages.
5. Read the schedule and call terms, and any sign-on bonus commitment, before you accept.