Health & Medicine

Pediatrician

Care for babies, kids, and teens, from checkups and vaccines to treating ear infections and fevers

Open interactive guide

What does a Pediatrician do?

Pediatricians work in clinics, children's hospitals, and small practices. They track how kids grow, treat illness, and talk with parents about sleep, food, and school. Patient, playful people who can explain things to both kids and adults do well.

A day in the life

8:00 AMLook over the schedule and check overnight phone messages
8:30 AMDo newborn checks and measure height and weight
10:30 AMGive vaccines and answer parents' questions
12:30 PMReturn calls from worried parents
2:00 PMTreat sick kids with fevers, rashes, and sore throats
4:30 PMWrite chart notes and sign school forms

What's great

  • Watch children grow up over the years
  • Kids often bounce back quickly
  • Talk with families about healthy habits
  • Clinic jobs often have daytime hours

The hard parts

  • Years of school and residency
  • Scared, sick kids can be hard to examine
  • Tough talks when a child is seriously ill
  • Flu season brings very busy weeks

What is a Pediatrician's salary and outlook?

$108k – $270k
Salary Range
Doctorate / Professional degree
Typical Education
Growing

Typical pay in this guide runs from about $108,000 to $270,000 a year, with a midpoint around $180,000. These are planning figures for students, not a job offer or an official wage.

CareerLens rates the outlook as Growing.

For the official national outlook, see BLS Occupational Data.

How do you become a Pediatrician?

A common path is Doctor of Medicine (MD or DO) plus 3 years of pediatric residency. The ladder often runs from Pediatric Resident to Pediatrician, then Medical Director of a Children's Clinic, and Chief of Pediatrics. Other routes: Fellowship in a subspecialty like pediatric heart care; Board certification in pediatrics; Osteopathic medical school (DO) instead of MD.

  • Fellowship in a subspecialty like pediatric heart care
  • Board certification in pediatrics
  • Osteopathic medical school (DO) instead of MD

Career path

Entry level
Pediatric Resident
Mid career
Pediatrician
Senior
Medical Director of a Children's Clinic
Executive
Chief of Pediatrics

Will AI replace a Pediatrician?

How much will AI change this job?

A lot

AI will change many everyday tasks in this job. The work shifts toward judgment, checking, and people.

AI will handle more paperwork, but kids still need real doctors.

AI tools will help pediatricians write notes, look up medical facts, and spot patterns in symptoms faster. But examining kids, understanding worried parents, and making tough medical calls will still need a real person. The job shifts toward more listening, checking AI's work, and connecting with families.

AI can help with

  • Writing up visit notes and summaries
  • Suggesting possible diagnoses to consider
  • Tracking growth charts and vaccine schedules

What stays human

  • Examining a sick child in person
  • Comforting scared kids and worried parents
  • Deciding on treatment plans for tricky cases

Skills to build now

  • Practice biology and health science in school
  • Join clubs that involve helping or caring for others
  • Build strong listening and clear communication habits

Based on public research from Anthropic and OpenAI, drafted with AI, checked automatically, and read by a person. How we know

This describes how the work may change. It is not a prediction that the job will disappear.