Career
Interpreters and translators
Help people understand each other across languages.
$60,170
Median pay
+2.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
6,000
Openings a year
Bachelor's degree
Typical education
4 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Follow ethical codes that protect the confidentiality of information.
- Translate messages simultaneously or consecutively into specified languages, orally or by using hand signs, maintaining message content, context, and style as much as possible.
- Listen to speakers' statements to determine meanings and to prepare translations, using electronic listening systems as necessary.
- Compile terminology and information to be used in translations, including technical terms such as those for legal or medical material.
- Refer to reference materials, such as dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, and computerized terminology banks, as needed to ensure translation accuracy.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on information & systems, then creation & expression?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Follow ethical codes that protect the confidentiality of information.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Speaking, Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Writing.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
4 years of education after high school (bachelor's degree), for a median of $60,170 a year and 6,000 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Romance LanguagesSee the degree →
- Special EducationSee the degree →
- LinguisticsSee the degree →
- Deaf StudiesCIP 05.0211
- Education/Teaching of Individuals with Hearing Impairments Including DeafnessCIP 13.1003
- Foreign Languages and Literatures, GeneralCIP 16.0101
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Speech-Language Pathologists$97,870 · +16.6%
- Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary$79,350 · +0.2%
- Speech-Language Pathology Assistants
- Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors$61,540 · -13.9%
- English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary$78,760 · +0.0%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.