Market Dynamics Report

US Radiology Job Market Dynamics Report

78-day tracking window — what 20,775 job postings reveal about America's radiologist shortage.

Tracking Window
Mar 9 – May 26, 2026
Data Source
RadBoard live DB (18 platforms)
Sample Size
20,775 postings · 10,979 unique
Author
Kirill Lopatin · xAID.ai

The shortage is real — but smaller and more local than the narrative suggests

20,775
Total postings tracked across 18 platforms
13,306
Postings already closed (64% churn in 78 days)
7,469
Currently active US radiology openings
1.89×
Re-post inflation — each unique job listed ~twice
19.8 d
Median posting lifespan before closing
19.7%
Of active jobs stuck open >60 days
1,336
Cumulative job-years of unmet demand observed
21.2%
Recent postings mention AI — up from 14.7%
Headline Insight

About 47% of "open jobs" on aggregators are re-posts of the same role. The real shortage is concentrated and stubborn — 1,470 currently-active openings have been sitting unfilled for over two months. Most aren't underpaid — they're geographically inconvenient.

How fast jobs appear and disappear

Of 12,187 closed postings with complete lifespans, the distribution is sharply bimodal: a quarter vanish in under a week, but a third grind for 30–60 days. There is no "average" radiologist opening.

Lifespan bucketShare of closed jobs
< 7 days24.9%
7–14 days11.6%
15–30 days33.4%
31–60 days27.8%
61–90 days2.3%
Why this matters

1 in 4 radiology jobs vanishes in under a week — filled fast, pulled, or revealed as a duplicate. But 30%+ stay open longer than a month. The market doesn't have a single "fill rate" — it has two markets layered on top of each other.

Jobs that can't be filled

Half of currently-active jobs have been open for over 30 days; roughly 1 in 5 (1,470) have been sitting unfilled past 60 days.

Active jobs by age threshold

Age thresholdStuck jobs% of all active
> 30 days3,71349.7%
> 60 days1,47019.7%
> 90 days00% (window limit)

Worst "stuck-job" states (min 50 active openings)

StateStuck >60dTotal active% stuck
NE — Nebraska365367.9%
MN — Minnesota297041.4%
WA — Washington3810934.9%
GA — Georgia3813228.8%
WI — Wisconsin3110828.7%
MT — Montana145028.0%
OR — Oregon269527.4%
MA — Massachusetts5420925.8%
CA — California10039025.6%
PA — Pennsylvania8232625.2%
FL — Florida11666117.5%
TX — Texas6544314.7%
NY — New York4834214.0%

Stuck rate by state population tier

Population tierStuck >60dTotal active% stuck
Low-population (<2M)10541025.6%
Mid-population (2–6M)22097222.6%
High-population (>6M)8494,62918.3%
The geographic shortage is real

Nebraska has 53 radiology openings — 36 have been sitting unfilled for over two months. The lowest-population states show stuck-rates 40% higher than the highest-population states. The shortage isn't national — it's concentrated in places radiologists won't move to.

Stuck jobs don't pay more — they pay $175K less

Stuck states vs fast-cycling states (median salary max)

GroupMedian max salarySample size
Stuck states (NE, MN, WA, GA, WI, MT, OR, MA)$550,0001,124
Fast-cycling states (FL, TX, NY, NC, OH, IN)$725,0003,454

In-state contrast — stuck vs fast-filled salary by state

StateStuck >60dFast-filled <14dGap
OH — Ohio$500K$750K−$250K
FL — Florida$699K$1,000K−$301K
CA — California$530K$600K−$70K
NY — New York$525K$600K−$75K
GA — Georgia$625K$690K−$65K
MA — Massachusetts$501K$500K+$1K
TX — Texas$799K$750K+$49K
MN — Minnesota$850K$622K+$228K
What the salary signal says

In most states, money is the lever — stuck jobs pay less; raising offers would likely move the needle. But in Texas and Minnesota the inverse holds: stuck positions pay MORE than fast-filling ones. The constraint there isn't compensation — it's lifestyle, on-call burden, location, or workflow. Exactly what AI automation and remote-friendly setups can change.

Why "open jobs" numbers are inflated

Across 18 sources, the same radiologist position is listed on average 1.89 times.

20,775
Raw postings across the tracking window
10,979
Unique (company + title + state) fingerprints

Highest re-post intensity (min 50 postings)

Company / SourceTotal postsUnique jobsRe-post ratio
ASER (subspecialty board)56511.2×
SPR (subspecialty board)64610.7×
Loma Linda Univ. Faculty58105.8×
SIR (subspecialty board)71135.5×
Indiana University Health74145.3×
Tufts Medicine72154.8×
Trinity Health117254.7×
SAR103234.5×
Oregon Health & Science Univ.93224.2×
UVA Health89243.7×

Extreme single-listing repeats

PositionTimes re-posted
Indiana University Health — Radiologist (IN)28×
Bayhealth — Radiologist (DE)26×
Vanderbilt University Medical Center — Radiologist (TN)20×
Ochsner Health — Chest Radiologist (LA)19×
Dartmouth-Hitchcock — Radiologist (NH)19×

Source-level lifespan medians

SourceMedian lifespanClosed postings
LinkedIn9.0 days2,952
SPR12.0 days235
AuntMinnie14.6 days2,596
Indeed15.1 days177
Hospital sites (direct)15.1 days484
SIR24.0 days507
RSNA28.7 days1,628
ACR30.0 days1,582
NEJM30.0 days767
PracticeLink31.4 days401
Two markets, same job

LinkedIn postings live 9 days because recruiters re-list constantly to game freshness. ACR, NEJM, and RSNA postings live ~30 days because they run for a contracted period. Same opening, different signal. National "shortage" numbers from aggregator scrapes need a ~47% deflation before being trusted.

Who actually fills positions

Some employers close 99% of openings within 60 days. Others can't get past 55%.

CompanyActive jobsStuck >60d% stuck
Radiology Partners (PE-backed)988121.2%
SAR103109.7%
Jefferson Health421229%
Diversified Radiology401230%
MUSC Health401435%
Cleveland Clinic1657545%
Oregon Health & Science University231148%
AdventHealth211152%
University Health Associates382155%
Radiology Associates of North Texas352057%
Hospital-based private practice (composite)736184%
Sanford Health – Marshfield Clinic161594%
Medicus Healthcare Solutions2727100%
It's not the salary — it's the operating model

PE-backed groups average $702K salary max — Cleveland Clinic-tier academic offers $515K. Yet the PE-backed platform fills 99% of 988 openings within 60 days; the academic system fills only 55% of 165. The difference: speed of decision, remote-friendly options, partnership tracks, no-call structures. PE-backed: 32% AI mentions, 44.7% remote, 37.6% no-call. Academic: 13% / 8.7% / 11.2%.

Who fills fast, who doesn't

Looking only at the reliable extreme — postings closed in under 14 days — reveals a clear subspecialty hierarchy of demand intensity.

SubspecialtyFast-fill %Closed sample
Pediatric radiology79.9%154
Emergency radiology78.0%82
Interventional radiology43.8%210
Chest / cardiothoracic38.3%235
Mammography34.8%394
Cardiac34.2%117
Body / abdominal33.4%725
General radiology32.3%384
IR32.2%676
Breast imaging29.3%150
MSK27.2%394
24/7 coverage is non-negotiable

Pediatric and emergency radiology fill at ~2× the speed of body/MSK/general. Hospitals can't operate without them — and the candidate pool is structurally smaller. Body and general fill slowly because the labor pool is larger but the work is increasingly commoditized — the segments most exposed to AI automation.

A closer look at the AI-addressable segment

Body and chest radiology — most directly addressable by CT-report automation — represent 15.5% of active US radiology openings.

3,371
Body / CT postings tracked over 78 days
1,160
Currently active body / CT openings
309
Body openings stuck >60d (26.6% of active)
28.8 d
Median lifespan when filled

Where active body / CT openings sit

StateActive body openings
FL — Florida121
TX — Texas97
NY — New York58
PA — Pennsylvania51
CA — California44
OH — Ohio44
CO — Colorado38
NC — North Carolina37
IL — Illinois37
MA — Massachusetts30

AI mentions trending up — fast

The share of new postings mentioning AI tools climbed from 14.7% to 21.2% across consistent 14-day windows over the tracking period. ~80% of postings still don't reference AI at all.

AI mention rate by 14-day window

PeriodRate
Mar 9–2314.7%
Apr 6–2017.2%
Apr 20–May 421.2%
May 4–1819.4%

AI mention rate by ownership type

Ownership type% mentioning AI
PE-Backed32%
Independent21%
Academic13%
Hospital System10%
Staffing6%
Government3%
The slope is what matters

6.5 percentage points of growth in AI mention rate over 6 weeks. If the trend holds, ~30% of US radiology job postings will reference AI tools by year-end. PE-backed groups are running 10× ahead of government-owned hospitals on this dimension.

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