Practicing as a radiologic technologist in New York requires a license issued by the state Department of Health, and the standard path takes about two years: an accredited radiologic technology program, the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists examination, and the DOH application itself. Radiologic technologists earned a national median of $73,410 a year in May 2023, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Working with ionizing radiation without the license is not permitted in this state.
Health Work NY publishes information, not career advice. The steps below summarize requirements administered by the state Department of Health and the national registry, each named where cited; fees, forms, and processing times change, and the agencies' own pages control.
Why is rad tech licensing run by DOH rather than the education department?
New York is unusual among its licensed professions: radiologic technology falls under the Department of Health's Bureau of Environmental Radiation Protection, not the State Education Department, because the statute frames the license around radiation safety, per DOH's program materials. The practical effect for candidates is minor but real — the application, fees, and questions about the process go to DOH, and processing experiences differ from the education department's professions pipeline that governs nurses and respiratory therapists.
What education does the state require?
The standard qualification is completion of a radiologic technology program registered by the state or accredited by a recognized accreditor, per DOH's licensure requirements. Hospital-based certificate programs and two-year associate programs both satisfy the education gate; bachelor's programs exist and suit candidates aiming at imaging management or modality specialization. Programs combine classroom physics and positioning coursework with supervised clinical rotations, and clinical seat capacity shapes cohort size in the same way it does in nursing. Applicants should confirm a program's current registration status with the state before enrolling, since the license application turns on it.
What is the ARRT exam and is it mandatory?
The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists administers the national certification examination in radiography, and New York licensure accepts ARRT certification as the standard demonstration of competence, per DOH's application requirements. The exam costs $200 per attempt, per ARRT's 2023 fee schedule, and candidates apply through the registry after program verification. Candidates who fail may retest under ARRT's retake policy after a waiting period. Some modality-specific credentials — computed tomography, mammography, magnetic resonance — come later through ARRT post-primary pathways, and New York's separate certificate structure covers some of these; the base radiography license is the entry credential.
| Step | Typical duration |
|---|---|
| Accredited radiography program | About 2 years |
| ARRT radiography exam | Weeks after graduation |
| DOH license application | Weeks to months, per DOH processing |
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How much does the license cost?
Two fees stack. The ARRT examination fee was $200 per attempt as of ARRT's 2023 published schedule. The state license carries its own DOH fee, published on the department's application form and adjusted by the agency; applicants should treat the form's current figure as controlling. Neither fee includes program tuition, which varies widely between hospital-based certificates, community colleges, and private schools — a spread large enough that tuition, not exam fees, is the dominant cost of entry to the field.
The sequence is fixed: accredited program first, registry exam second, DOH license third. Skipping ahead is impossible — the department will not process an application without the education and exam behind it.
What does the work pay and where is it?
Radiologic technologists earned a national median of $73,410 a year in May 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, with the New York metropolitan area among the higher-paying regions in the bureau's tables. Hospitals employ the largest share, per the bureau's industry data, followed by imaging centers and physician offices. Evening, overnight, and on-call coverage is structural in hospital imaging departments, and new technologists typically absorb it — a scheduling fact that postings often omit and that working technologists consistently describe.
What comes after the base license?
Career progression in imaging runs through modality credentials. The common additions — computed tomography, magnetic resonance, mammography, interventional radiography — are earned through ARRT post-primary examinations after documented clinical experience in each modality, per the registry's pathway rules. Each additional credential moves a technologist into scarcer, generally higher-paying territory in the bureau's wage tables. For students choosing programs, the practical guidance is to check whether a program's clinical affiliations expose students to multiple modalities, because that exposure is what post-primary pathways require documentation of later.
A note on timing: candidates planning a start date should build processing margin into the calendar. Department of Health review runs on its own clock, distinct from the education department's professions pipeline, and graduates who sequence the registry exam and the state application back-to-back generally reach the job market sooner than those who wait for one document before starting the next step. The department's published contact channels exist for exactly these questions, and asking early costs nothing.