How to become a radiologic technologist: the ARRT program and degree, the exam, your state's license and a first job

How to become a radiologic technologist (rad tech, X-ray tech) in 2026: the school and degree ARRT requires, the exam, whether your state asks for its own license, what rad techs are paid, how new graduates get hired, and how the job leads into CT, MRI and other modalities.

A radiologic technologist takes the X-rays a radiologist reads, and the job is the usual way into CT, MRI, mammography and the rest of medical imaging. The path is set by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) and, in most states, by a state license on top. This guide takes the steps in order from ARRT's own requirements, and every job figure in it opens the live list 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. What a rad tech does
2. ARRT's three requirements
3. The school and the degree
4. The exam
5. Your state's license
6. What rad techs are paid
7. Getting hired as a new graduate
8. From X-ray to CT, MRI and other modalities
9. A checklist

1. What a rad tech does

A radiologic technologist positions the patient and the equipment, sets the exposure, protects the patient and themselves from radiation, and takes the images a radiologist reads: chest and bone X-rays in an emergency department, portable X-rays at the bedside, imaging in surgery, and outpatient X-rays at clinics and imaging centers. Hospitals run X-ray around the clock, so many rad tech jobs are evening, night, weekend or PRN shifts; our imaging job statistics count how many of today's imaging postings are each.

2. ARRT's three requirements

In ARRT's words, to earn its certification and registration "you'll need to meet our three requirements (education, ethics, and examination)". Most people take what ARRT calls the primary pathway, which "includes completing an ARRT-approved educational program", and it is the pathway for radiography (the rad tech's credential, R.T.(R)) as well as MRI, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy, sonography and vascular sonography.

For the ethics requirement, ARRT's application asks ethics questions (a criminal conviction, for one, has to be reported), and ARRT invites anyone with a potential ethics violation to request an ethics review before they apply, which can be done before you start school.

3. The school and the degree

For the primary pathway, ARRT says "you must have earned an associates degree and have completed an ARRT-approved educational program". The degree must come from an institution accredited by an agency ARRT recognizes, and it "doesn't have to be in the radiologic sciences": you can earn it before or after your radiography program, but you must have it before you take the exam.

Many radiography programs run about two years at a community college, a technical college or a hospital-based school, with clinical rotations in hospitals and imaging centers alongside the coursework. Each radiologic technologist page names the US schools that graduated the most people from these programs, by the U.S. Department of Education's count, and each state's page names the schools there.

Choosing a program. Ask each program for three numbers before you apply: how many of its graduates pass the ARRT exam on the first attempt, how many find work in the field within a year, and how many who start the program finish it; many programs publish them. Ask too where its clinical rotations are (the hospitals that may hire you), whether rotations include evenings or weekends, and what the whole program costs with books, uniforms and the exam fee.

4. The exam

After the program and the degree, you apply to ARRT and sit its radiography exam at a testing center. Passing it, with the education and ethics requirements met, earns the R.T.(R) credential, which you keep by renewing it every year and completing continuing education every two years. ARRT's site sets out the application, the fees, what is on the exam and what happens if you do not pass.

5. Your state's license

ARRT certification is national; many states also require their own license, certificate, permit or registration to take X-rays there, most of them based on the ARRT exam. Our rad tech license requirements by state set every state's own rule side by side from its official pages, with the states that also license CT, MRI or ultrasound on their own. Apply for your state's credential as soon as you pass the exam, since the job cannot begin without it.

6. What rad techs are paid

Nationally, BLS measured a median of $38.52 an hour for radiologic technologists and technicians in May 2025. Open jobs post their own rates: our rad tech pay page shows what open radiologic technologist jobs post by state and by employer. Many imaging postings state a sign-on bonus, and night and weekend shifts usually pay a differential; the imaging job statistics give today's share and the median bonus.

7. Getting hired as a new graduate

Many hospitals hire new graduates from the radiography programs they host clinical rotations for, so treat your rotations as a long interview. Our new grad healthcare jobs list the imaging jobs whose titles name a new graduate, and our radiologic technologist jobs every open rad tech job. PRN and evening jobs are often the easiest first job to get, and many lead to a full-time position.

8. From X-ray to CT, MRI and other modalities

Radiography is the base for the modalities that usually pay more. Some employers train their rad techs into CT or MRI on the job, and their postings say so: our CT and MRI cross-training jobs quote each offer. Our CT or MRI guide explains the clinical experience and the ARRT postprimary credential each modality asks for.

9. A checklist

1. Find an ARRT-approved radiography program, and an associate degree from an accredited institution if the program does not award one.
2. Ask ARRT for an ethics review first if anything in your past could call your conduct into question.
3. Finish the program and the degree, then apply for and pass ARRT's radiography exam.
4. Check your state's own rule: rad tech license by state.
5. Apply where you rotated, and to PRN and evening jobs: radiologic technologist jobs.
6. Plan your next modality: CT and MRI cross-training jobs.