Surgical Assistants
Also known as: Certified First Assistant (CFA), Certified Registered Nurse First Assistant (CRNFA), Certified Surgical Assistant (CSA), Certified Surgical First Assistant (CSFA), Certified Surgical Technician
median $66,80010-yr demand +5.1%AI exposure 0/100typical entry Postsecondary nondegree award
Surgical Assistants is mid-paying, AI barely touches it so far, and demand is growing.
The pay range
Bottom 10% to top 10% of workers in this role (BLS).
How exposed is it to AI?
Two things matter: how much AI is actually used in the role today (right),
and how much it could automate in theory (up). Low exposure so far.
Each faint dot is another occupation. The amber dot is
Surgical Assistants — its position tells you whether the disruption is here yet or still over the horizon.
used today 0/100
automatable in theory 4/100
archetype The Human Moat
How this is built. Median pay and the full distribution come from filed U.S. wage data
(BLS OEWS + DOL/LCA filings); AI exposure blends O*NET task content with model-based automation potential;
escape routes are computed from skill overlap between occupations, then ranked by how much safer + better-paid the
move is. This joins real distributions and projects them forward — it needs the real distributions
and the skill graph, not a guess. Figures describe group medians and trends, not any one person's outcome.
