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The imaging staffing shortage is not uniform. MRI vacancies are climbing, bone densitometry more than doubled, and sonography is cooling. Here is what the 2025 ASRT vacancy data says modality by modality, and what it means for credentialed imaging professionals deciding where to take their careers next.
The imaging staffing shortage is not one story. It is eight, and they are not all moving in the same direction.
Sonography vacancies are falling. Mammography is easing. Bone densitometry more than doubled. MRI keeps climbing. If you are a credentialed imaging professional deciding where to take your career next, the modality you work in matters more right now than it has in years, because the leverage is not evenly distributed.
Here is what the ASRT vacancy data actually says, modality by modality.
The American Society of Radiologic Technologists publishes a biennial Radiologic Sciences Staffing and Workplace Survey. The 2025 survey, released in July 2025, tracked vacancy rates across all major imaging disciplines. The 2026 ASRT Radiation Therapy Workplace and Staffing Survey, published in April 2026, added updated figures for radiation therapists and dosimetrists.
| Modality | 2023 | 2025 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| CT | 17.7% | 19.4% | All-time high |
| MRI | 16.2% | 17.4% | Rising |
| Bone Densitometry | 6.9% | 16.3% | Sharp increase |
| Cardiovascular Interventional | 18.6% | 17.4% | Slight decline |
| Radiography | 18.1% | 15.6% | Slight decline |
| Sonography | 16.7% | 12.4% | Declining |
| Mammography | 13.6% | 11.4% | Declining |
Every figure above remains higher than its 2020 benchmark, according to the ASRT. Even the modalities that improved did not improve back to where they started. The staffing baseline has not reset in any major discipline.
MRI moved from 16.2% to 17.4%, and unlike CT it is climbing from a position that gets far less attention. MRI credentialing takes time, the training pipeline is narrow, and demand is not slowing. If you are a radiographer weighing which modality to add, this is the number to sit with.
From 6.9% to 16.3% in one survey cycle. That is the largest jump in the dataset by a wide margin. DXA is often treated as an add-on skill rather than a career line, which is exactly why the vacancy rate moved so fast when staffing thinned. For a credentialed tech, it is an underpriced piece of leverage.
Both dropped meaningfully. That does not mean the market turned against you. Sonography at 12.4% and mammography at 11.4% would have looked like a crisis in 2019. It means the negotiating gap between modalities is widening, and a sonographer should expect a different conversation than a CT tech walking into the same department.
CT reached 19.4% in 2025, an all-time high, and it is the number driving most of the coverage of this survey. Nearly one in five CT positions being actively recruited is unfilled. We broke that figure down separately, including what it means for signing bonuses and time-to-fill: CT Vacancy Just Hit an All-Time High.
Radiation therapy is a distinct discipline, not a diagnostic imaging modality, and it runs on its own survey cycle. The 2026 ASRT Radiation Therapy Workplace and Staffing Survey reported an 11.4% vacancy rate for radiation therapists and 6.8% for medical dosimetrists. Both are down from the prior cycle and both remain above pre-pandemic levels. Worth tracking on its own terms rather than folding into the diagnostic numbers above.
The structural drivers are consistent across modalities: an aging imaging workforce retiring faster than programs can replace it, rising imaging volume driven by an aging patient population, and limited clinical training site availability in accredited programs. None of those resolve on a two-year cycle.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of radiologic and MRI technologists to grow about 5% from 2024 to 2034, and radiation therapists about 2% over the same period, with hundreds to thousands of openings each year driven largely by the need to replace workers who retire or change occupations (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025).
This is not a short-term market correction. It is a structural supply and demand gap, and it creates unusual stability and negotiating power for credentialed professionals.
If you are navigating your first position or considering a move, RadiologyJobs uses intelligent matching to connect credentialed imaging professionals with roles in their specific modality, not generic results from a hospital HR database.
CT, at 19.4% in 2025, an all-time high according to the ASRT Radiologic Sciences Staffing and Workplace Survey. MRI and cardiovascular interventional follow at 17.4%.
Bone densitometry, which climbed from 6.9% in 2023 to 16.3% in 2025. That is the largest single-cycle increase in the ASRT dataset.
Not significantly in the near term. Structural factors including program capacity limits, retirement rates, and rising imaging demand make a rapid correction unlikely. All modalities remain above 2020 vacancy benchmarks per ASRT.
The 2026 ASRT Radiation Therapy Workplace and Staffing Survey reported 11.4% for radiation therapists and 6.8% for medical dosimetrists, down from the previous cycle but still above pre-pandemic levels.
It generally means more open positions and more competitive offers. Time-to-fill varies by geography, setting, and modality. Rural and semi-rural markets often have the most urgent openings.