Athletic Trainer

51.09 Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions · SOC 29-9091

⚠⚠⚠ A master's-entry, state-licensed clinical profession paying $62,520 — less than a licensed practical nurse earns on a certificate ($64,400), and less than every associate-degree clinical route on this site except paramedic. ⚠⚠ The profession moved to master's entry in 2022: CAATE states that after the fall 2022 term, baccalaureate degree programmes will no longer enrol students. ⚠ Florida's statute has not caught up and still reads as though a bachelor's is enough.

Licensure and accreditation

⚠⚠⚠ A BACHELOR'S IN ATHLETIC TRAINING IS NO LONGER A ROUTE INTO THE PROFESSION. The Athletic Training Strategic Alliance decided in 2015 to move the professional degree to master's level, and CAATE states that after the fall 2022 term baccalaureate degree programmes will no longer enrol students — students entering the profession now enter a graduate programme. ⚠⚠ FLORIDA'S STATUTE STILL READS THE OLD WAY. Section 468.707, F.S. requires a bachelor's degree from a college or university professional athletic training degree programme accredited by CAATE, or a bachelor's plus completion of Board of Certification internship requirements, together with passing the BOC examination and holding current CPR and AED certification. ⚠ There is no loophole in that — a CAATE-accredited PROFESSIONAL programme is a master's now, so meeting the statute means holding one. But a student who reads the statute and stops there will draw the wrong conclusion, and the statute is the document most likely to be quoted at them. ⚠⚠ Florida still recorded 56 bachelor's degrees under this CIP in 2023, all at one institution — consistent with teach-out completions rather than an open route. ⚠⚠⚠ So ask any programme, in writing: which of your degrees is the CAATE-accredited professional programme, and will completing it make me eligible for the BOC examination? Anything less specific is not an answer.

⚠⚠⚠ The longest training on this side of the site, and one of the lowest medians

Athletic training is a master's-entry, state-licensed clinical profession. Here is what it pays against the routes it competes with for students:

Route	Entry credential	2025 median
Dental hygienist	associate	$98,100
Respiratory therapist	associate	$82,280
Radiologic technologist	associate	$80,110
Occupational therapy assistant	associate	$72,300
Physical therapist assistant	associate	$68,380
Surgical technologist	associate / certificate	$64,650
Licensed practical nurse	⚠ certificate	⚠ $64,400
Medical laboratory technician	associate	$62,930
⚠⚠⚠ Athletic trainer	⚠⚠ MASTER'S	⚠⚠ $62,520
Paramedic	associate	$60,600

⚠⚠⚠ A licensed practical nurse, on a certificate, out-earns an athletic trainer with a master's. Of the clinical health routes on this site, only paramedic pays less — and paramedic is an associate degree.

⚠⚠ This is not an argument against the profession. It is an argument for going in with the number in front of you, because almost nothing a prospective student reads puts it there. If the work is what you want, the pay is what it is; if you are choosing between rehabilitation careers on the numbers, look at the top of that table.

⚠⚠⚠ The degree moved in 2022, and Florida's statute did not

Source	What it says
✅ CAATE (the accreditor)	⚠⚠ “After the fall 2022 term, baccalaureate degree programs will no longer enroll students.” Students entering the profession now enter a GRADUATE programme.
⚠ s. 468.707, F.S.	requires “a bachelor's degree from a college or university professional athletic training degree program accredited by” CAATE, plus the BOC examination and current CPR and AED certification

⚠ There is no loophole. The statute requires a CAATE-accredited professional programme, and those are master's now, so satisfying it means holding a master's. But the statute is the document most likely to be quoted at a student, and read alone it says the opposite of the truth.

⚠⚠ The 2015 decision was taken by the Athletic Training Strategic Alliance, not by any legislature — so this is a profession that raised its own entry bar and is waiting for the statute books to notice.

⚠⚠ Florida's own data shows the migration happening

Institution	Credentials (2023)
University of South Florida	30 master's
Florida International University	21 master's + 18 research doctorates
University of Central Florida	18 master's
University of North Florida	5 master's
University of West Florida	2 master's
University of Florida	⚠ 9 professional doctorates
⚠⚠ Florida State University	⚠⚠ 56 bachelor's, and nothing else

⚠⚠⚠ 56 of Florida's 159 athletic training credentials were still bachelor's degrees in 2023, and all of them came from one institution. A 2023 graduate enrolled around 2019, so this is consistent with teach-out rather than with a route that is still open — but it is exactly the situation in which a prospective student can be shown a bachelor's and assume it leads somewhere.

⚠⚠ The course file shows the same migration mechanically. Florida carries 101 graduate ATR course numbers against 46 undergraduate, and of the 26 ATR courses carried by two or more public institutions, 22 are graduate. The undergraduate survivors are ATR2010C, ATR3102, ATR3132 and a special-topics shell. The professional curriculum has physically moved to the 5000 level.

The occupation

	Athletic trainers (29-9091)
2025 median	$62,520
Employed (2024)	⚠ 33,900
Annual openings	⚠ 2,400
Growth 2024–34	✅ much faster than average (7% or higher)
Education	54% master's, 37% bachelor's, 8% high school

⚠ Note the education row: 37% still report a bachelor's. That is the existing workforce, licensed under the old rule, and it will decline as the cohorts turn over. It does not describe the route open to you.

⚠⚠ And note the size. 33,900 people and 2,400 openings a year nationally — smaller than nuclear medicine plus sonography combined. Growth is strong in percentage terms on a small base.

⚠ What the work actually is

O*NET: conduct an initial assessment of an athlete's injury or illness to provide emergency or continued care; care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication; evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances; collaborate with physicians to develop and implement comprehensive rehabilitation programs; apply protective or injury preventive devices.

⚠⚠ Read the third task. Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances — that is a clinical decision made at speed, often with a coach, a parent and a crowd wanting a different answer. It is the hardest part of the job and it is why the profession raised its entry credential.

Necessary skills

Orthopaedic assessment under time pressure, on a field rather than in a clinic.
Emergency management — spine injury, cardiac arrest, exertional heat stroke — where your decision is the only one available for several minutes.
Holding a return-to-play decision against pressure. This is the professional core and it is mostly about character.
Rehabilitation programming and the patience to run it over months.
Working under physician collaboration while being the person actually present.
Tolerance for the schedule. Evenings, weekends, travel and seasons; it is not a nine-to-five profession and the pay does not compensate for that.

Advice

⚠⚠⚠ Confirm in writing which degree is the CAATE-accredited professional programme. Not “we have athletic training” — the exact programme, its accreditation status, and whether completing it makes you eligible for the BOC examination.

⚠⚠ Do not rely on s. 468.707. It says a bachelor's and it is behind the accreditor. Read CAATE, then the statute.

⚠ Look at the wage table before you commit to a master's. If rehabilitation is the interest rather than athletics specifically, the physical therapist assistant and occupational therapy assistant routes pay more on an associate degree, at three times as many institutions.

⚠⚠ If you do want this work, plan the exit as well as the entrance. Athletic training is hands-on patient care, so the hours count toward physician assistant admission, which needs about 3,200 of them and roughly doubles the median. A substantial number of athletic trainers use it as exactly that.

And take the undergraduate degree seriously as a separate decision. You need a bachelor's in something to enter a master's; make it one that leaves you somewhere if you change your mind — exercise science, biology or health sciences all do, and a bachelor's titled “athletic training” increasingly does not.

Programs that lead here

A program is a field of study, one level above a degree — each page says which degrees it covers and which Florida institutions award them. ⚠ The count is institutions that awarded a credential in the field in 2023; it is not a promise that a school runs this exact degree, and it counts something different from the course-based list further down.

Athletic Training 8 Florida schools

The programme — 8 Florida public institutions, 159 credentials: 76 master's, 56 bachelor's all at Florida State, 18 research doctorates at FIU and 9 professional doctorates at UF. ⚠ Read its degrees note on why a bachelor's is no longer a route and why Florida's statute still says otherwise.

Physical Therapy 24 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The comparison to make before committing. A physical therapist assistant reaches $68,380 on an ASSOCIATE degree — above the athletic trainer's $62,520 on a master's — and Florida teaches it at 24 institutions against 8. ⚠ Different settings and different patients, but if rehabilitation rather than sport is the draw, look here first.

Occupational Therapy 8 Florida schools

⚠ The same shape again: occupational therapy assistant at $72,300 on an associate degree. ⚠⚠ Named because these three programmes compete for the same students and their credential-to-pay ratios are strikingly different.

Physician Assistant Studies 6 Florida schools

⚠⚠ A real onward route, not a neighbour. Athletic training is hands-on patient care, and PA admission turns on roughly 3,200 hours of it — so an experienced athletic trainer is a strong applicant for a profession paying roughly double. ⚠ Six Florida public programmes.

Emergency Medical Services 39 Florida schools

⚠ Named because on-field emergency management is EMS work and many athletic trainers hold both credentials. ⚠⚠ At 39 Florida institutions and about a semester for EMT, it is also the cheapest way to find out whether emergency decision-making suits you before committing to a master's.

Related, but not a route in

Programs worth knowing about if you are considering this career — ⚠ they do not lead to it. Each row says what it is and is not.

Public Health 14 Florida schools

⚠ Not a route in, but a common direction out: concussion policy, heat illness prevention and injury surveillance are population health, and athletic trainers move into that work. ⚠⚠ Florida teaches it at 8 universities.

Careers similar to this one

Careers filed under the same broad field in the federal classification (HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS) — often they share early coursework, and each row says which group it is filed in. ⚠ Worth reading BEFORE you commit: switching between neighbours is cheap early and expensive late.

Dental Hygienist Dental Support Services and Allied Professions

Dental hygienists are licensed clinicians who assess and treat the gums, remove calculus and stains, take and read radiographs, apply preventive agents, and teach patients to look after their own teeth. ⚠ A median of $98,100 on a two-year associate degree — the highest of any two-year route on this site. ⚠⚠ Florida licenses the work under Chapter 466 and requires THREE separate examinations on top of the degree. ⚠⚠⚠ Admission is the hard part, not the coursework: 18 public programmes in the whole state, all limited-access.

Diagnostic Medical Sonographer Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions

Sonographers produce and interpret the ultrasound images physicians diagnose from — deciding in real time which views answer the clinical question, and recognising the difference between healthy and pathological tissue on a screen nobody else is watching. ⚠ A median of $96,590 on a two-year degree, second only to dental hygiene among the two-year routes on this site. ⚠⚠⚠ And a regulatory fact worth knowing before you enrol: Florida does NOT license sonographers, because the statute is written about radiation rather than about imaging.

Health Care Administrator Health and Medical Administrative Services

Running the non-clinical half of health care — budgets, staffing, quality, compliance, revenue, regulators. $123,860 median, 616,200 employed, 62,100 openings a year, growing much faster than average. ⚠⚠ There is no required major: Census microdata puts HEALTH first at 169,319 people, BUSINESS second at 75,396 and PSYCHOLOGY third at 47,154. ⚠⚠⚠ But Florida statute puts a price on the choice — on the nursing home side, a health administration major halves the required training programme from 2,000 hours to 1,000.

Health Information Technician, Coder and Medical Office Administrator Health and Medical Administrative Services

⚠⚠⚠ Three different routes wear this name in Florida, they are taught at roughly the same number of institutions, and only ONE of them leads to the field's professional credential. Health information management — 31 institutions, and the associate degree is what makes you RHIT-eligible. Billing and coding — 37 institutions and the largest output, all clock-hour certificates, none of which does. Medical office administration — 36 institutions into an occupation of 850,000 people with no credential ladder at all. ⚠⚠ Choosing wrongly does not waste a term; it forecloses the credential.

Licensed Practical Nurse Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants

LPNs give direct nursing care under an RN or physician — medications, wounds, vital signs, assessment — and supervise aides. ⚠ It is the widest-taught credential on this site (48 Florida institutions, 1,322 completions a year), a median of $64,400, and the one field where Florida law publishes each programme's licence-examination pass rate before you enrol. Look it up.

Medical Assistant and Pharmacy Technician Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services

Two of the largest short-certificate routes into health care in Florida, paying within $60 a year of each other and taught at the same technical colleges — and the state treats them completely differently. ⚠⚠⚠ Florida writes down in statute exactly what a medical assistant may do, including venipuncture and administering medication, and requires NO licence, certificate or training to do it. It requires a pharmacy technician, working behind a counter, to register with the Board of Pharmacy and complete a board-approved programme. ⚠⚠ And the medical assisting programme has FOUR labelled exit points you can leave on and be hired at — the pharmacy technician programme has none.

Medical Laboratory Scientist Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions

Medical laboratory scientists produce the results a diagnosis is made from — haematology, clinical chemistry, microbiology, immunology and the blood bank — and catch the result that is wrong before a physician acts on it. ⚠⚠ Florida is one of the few states that LICENSES this work: you may not report a clinical laboratory result here without a licence. ⚠⚠⚠ Read the wage section before you commit: this is a four-year degree paying less than three of the two-year health paths on this site, and that trade-off is the honest centre of this page.

Nurse Practitioner and Advanced Practice Nurse Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing

⚠⚠⚠ Florida grants nurse practitioners autonomous practice — and almost every account of it omits the limit that matters. Autonomous registration covers PRIMARY CARE ONLY. It does not let you practise your specialty without a physician protocol, and only certified midwives are excepted. 11,201 APRNs were registered for autonomous practice as of the 2024 legislative analysis. ⚠⚠ The occupation itself is nearly twice the size of the physician assistant profession — 320,400 employed, 29,500 openings a year, $132,300 median.

Occupational Therapy Assistant Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services

Occupational therapy assistants deliver the treatment that gets people back to doing ordinary things — dressing, cooking, writing, working, playing — after injury, stroke, developmental delay or mental illness. ⚠ A median of $72,300 on a two-year degree, growing 21%. ⚠⚠⚠ And the finding worth acting on: it pays MORE and grows FASTER than the physical therapist assistant, and Florida trains a QUARTER as many. Four institutions, 57 graduates a year. This page covers the assistant, the aide and the therapist.

Paramedic Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions

Paramedics are the highest level of prehospital care — assessing and stabilising at the scene, administering drugs, managing advanced airways, reading ECGs and running a cardiac arrest before the patient reaches a hospital. ⚠ Median $60,600, reached through a certificate rather than a degree, and stacked on top of a short EMT course most people complete first. ⚠⚠ In Florida this is substantially a FIRE SERVICE credential: departments pay for it and pay extra for holding it. ⚠⚠⚠ And the accreditation rule here is the strictest on this site — the wrong programme leaves you unable to certify at all.

Pharmacist Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration

⚠⚠ One route: the Doctor of Pharmacy, awarded in Florida's public system by UF, FAMU and USF (about 412 a year). ⚠⚠ Admission turns on two or more years of prerequisite science, not a bachelor's degree: UF's minimum is an associate degree, and more than half of Pharm.D. applications nationally come from people without a bachelor's. Median pay is $140,910 nationally and $135,970 in Florida. BLS expects retail demand to be limited as prescriptions move online and by mail.

Phlebotomist Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions

The shortest formal route into health care Florida operates. ⚠⚠⚠ Of 772 phlebotomy credentials awarded by 29 Florida public institutions in 2023, EVERY ONE was a certificate of under twelve weeks — about 165 clock hours, most of it at a district technical college. It pays $45,230, essentially the same as a medical assistant or a pharmacy technician on ten times the training. ⚠⚠ And Florida's clinical laboratory licensing statute names phlebotomists in its EXCLUSION, one rung below two occupations the same statute licenses.

See every career in HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS →

Courses along this path

Selected, not exhaustive — the courses specific to this path plus the foundations it is built on. A course number does not identify a course in Florida: always check your own institution's catalog and take a syllabus to an adviser.

ATR2010C —Care and Prevention of Physical Injuries Request a guide

Care and Prevention of Physical Injuries — 2 institutions (UF and USF). ⚠ Lower division, and one of only four undergraduate ATR numbers with more than one carrier. A good, cheap look at the subject before committing to a graduate programme.

⚠ ⚠⚠ Do not read undergraduate ATR coursework as progress toward certification. CAATE professional programmes are graduate, and Florida carries 101 graduate ATR numbers against 46 undergraduate.

ATR3102 —Principles of Athletic Training Request a guide

Principles of Athletic Training — 2 institutions (Florida State and UCF). Pre-professional survey of the field.

ATR3132 —Kinesiology & Pathomechanics Guide

Kinesiology and Pathomechanics — 3 institutions (Florida State, USF, UWF), the most widely carried undergraduate ATR course. ⚠ Its real value is as a biomechanics requirement for graduate admission rather than as professional preparation.

⚠ ⚠ Written for athletic training majors at institutions whose professional programme has since moved to master's level — check what your institution now counts it toward.

BSC2085 —Anatomy and Physiology I Guide

Anatomy and Physiology I — 20 institutions. The universal prerequisite for every graduate athletic training programme, and the grade they look at.

⚠ ⚠ Two equivalent packagings: BSC2085 plus BSC2085L at 20 institutions, combined BSC2085C at 7.

BSC2085L —Anatomy and Physiology I Laboratory Guide

Anatomy and Physiology I Laboratory — 19 institutions. Usually required as a separate line.

BSC2086 —Anatomy & Physiology II Guide

Anatomy and Physiology II — 19 institutions. Cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems, which is most of what the assessment courses build on.

⚠ ⚠ Also carried as the combined BSC2086C at 7 institutions.

BSC2086L —Anatomy and Physiology II Lab Guide

Anatomy and Physiology II Laboratory — 19 institutions.

PHY2053 —College Physics I Request a guide

Physics I, algebra-based — 19 institutions. Required by many graduate programmes, and biomechanics assumes it.

⚠ ⚠ Calculus-based PHY2048 is carried at 25; either usually satisfies the requirement, but check.

CHM1045 —General Chemistry I Request a guide

General Chemistry I — 15 institutions. A common graduate prerequisite, and the foundation for exercise physiology and pharmacology content.

STA2023 —Elementary Statistics Guide

Elementary Statistics — 39 institutions. Required for graduate admission, and evidence-based practice is a substantial part of the master's curriculum.

PSY2012 —General Psychology Guide

Introduction to Psychology — 33 institutions. Standard prerequisite, and the psychological side of injury and return to play is a real part of the job.

HUN2201 —Fundamentals of Human Nutrition Guide

Human Nutrition — 13 institutions. A frequent prerequisite, and directly applied: hydration, energy availability and eating disorders are athletic training problems.

APK3110 —Exercise Physiology I Request a guide

Exercise Physiology — 3 institutions. The core science of the field; where it is not available, most programmes accept an equivalent from the exercise science or kinesiology prefix.

⚠ ⚠ Florida numbers exercise physiology under APK, PET and HSC at different institutions. Check which prefix your target programme names.

ENC1101 —English Composition I Guide

English Composition I — 39 institutions. Universally required, and clinical documentation is a licensed professional's legal record.

Where you can take these courses in Florida

39 Florida public institutions teach courses on this path. The count is how many of the 14 listed courses each one carries — it shows where the path is best covered. It is not a statement that a school offers this as a degree; for that, check the institution’s own programme list.

USF

University of South Florida

12 of 14

FIU

Florida International University

11 of 14

FSU

Florida State University

10 of 14

Broward College

9 of 14

FAMU

Florida A & M University

9 of 14

GCSC

Gulf Coast State College

9 of 14

Hillsborough College

9 of 14

MDC

Miami Dade College

9 of 14

PBSC

Palm Beach State College

9 of 14

SCFMS

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota

9 of 14

TSC

Tallahassee State College

9 of 14

IRSC

Indian River State College

8 of 14

PESC

Pensacola State College

8 of 14

SFC

Santa FE College

8 of 14

SJRSC

St. Johns River State College

8 of 14

College of Central Florida

7 of 14

FAU

Florida Atlantic University

7 of 14

FGC

Florida Gateway College

7 of 14

UWF

University of West Florida

7 of 14

SPC

St. Petersburg College

6 of 14

UCF

University of Central Florida

6 of 14

University of Florida

6 of 14

FGCU

Florida Gulf Coast University

5 of 14

FLPOLY

Florida Polytechnic University

5 of 14

NFC

North Florida College

5 of 14

CFK

The College of the Florida Keys

5 of 14

EFSC

Eastern Florida State College

4 of 14

FSWSC

Florida Southwestern State College

4 of 14

NCF

New College of Florida

4 of 14

NWFSC

Northwest Florida State College

4 of 14

UNF

University of North Florida

4 of 14

LSSC

Lake-Sumter State College

3 of 14

PHSC

Pasco-Hernando State College

3 of 14

PSC

Polk State College

3 of 14

SSCF

Seminole State College of Florida

3 of 14

SFSC

South Florida State College

3 of 14

Valencia College

3 of 14

DSC

Daytona State College

2 of 14

FSCJ

Florida State College at Jacksonville

2 of 14

Sources

Requirements change. These are the authorities that decide them — check them directly before committing to a route.

O*NET — Athletic Trainers (29-9091.00) — 33,900 employed (2024), growth much faster than average (7% or higher), ⚠ only 2,400 annual openings, median $62,520 (2025). Education 54% master's, 37% bachelor's, 8% high school — ⚠⚠ the bachelor's share is the EXISTING workforce licensed under the old rule, not the route now open. Tasks include initial assessment of injury, rehabilitation, and evaluating readiness to play and providing participation clearances.
CAATE — professional programmes — ⚠⚠⚠ The accreditor's own statement: "After the fall 2022 term, baccalaureate degree programs will no longer enroll students," and students entering the profession now enter a graduate programme. ⚠ The move to master's-level professional education was approved by the Athletic Training Strategic Alliance in 2015, making graduate programmes the only route into the profession from fall 2022.
Section 468.707, Florida Statutes — athletic trainer licensure — ⚠⚠ The statute is behind the accreditor. It requires "a bachelor's degree from a college or university professional athletic training degree program accredited by" CAATE — or a bachelor's plus Board of Certification internship requirements — together with passing the BOC national examination and holding current CPR and AED certification. ⚠ No loophole, since CAATE professional programmes are master's now; but read alone the statute misleads.
IPEDS Completions 2023 (C2023_A) — CIP 51.0913 — ⚠⚠ Athletic Training: 8 Florida public institutions, 159 credentials — 76 master's, 56 bachelor's, 18 research doctorates, 9 professional doctorates. USF 30 master's, FIU 21 master's plus 18 research doctorates, UCF 18, UNF 5, UWF 2, UF 9 professional doctorates — and ⚠⚠⚠ Florida State awarding 56 BACHELOR'S and nothing else, the entire bachelor's output in the state under this code.
SCNS statewide course file — the ATR prefix — ⚠⚠ The migration measured in the course catalogue: Florida carries 101 GRADUATE ATR course numbers against 46 undergraduate, and of the 26 ATR courses carried by two or more public institutions, 22 are graduate. ⚠ The only undergraduate ATR numbers with more than one carrier are ATR2010C, ATR3102, ATR3132 and a special-topics shell. The professional curriculum now sits at the 5000 level — ATR5217C is the most widely carried course in the prefix, at five institutions.

Last updated 23 September 2026.