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Respiratory therapist: what the job actually is

Looking after people who cannot breathe on their own, from ventilators in intensive care to oxygen and breathing tests.

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Respiratory therapist: quick facts

Respiratory therapist salary in Ontario: the median pay is $44.66 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is good. The job usually needs a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years.

Median pay in Ontario
$44.66 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$27.39 to $53.81 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Good
People working in it in Ontario
5,250
Usually needs
Usually a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 32103. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Helping people breathe: managing ventilators and oxygen, testing lung function and caring for patients who have trouble breathing.
  • Job Bank says the majority are employed in hospitals, so much of the work is in intensive care, emergency and the wards, often when someone is seriously ill.
  • Job Bank's group also includes clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists, whose work runs equipment during heart surgery and tests heart and lung function. Their routes differ from respiratory therapy.
  • It is technical and hands-on. You work with machines, numbers and patients at once, and you must notice quickly when something changes.
  • The title is protected. The College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario says you may not work as a respiratory therapist or use the title until you have written confirmation of registration.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 7:00 — Handover. You hear who is on a ventilator, who is being weaned off, and who nobody is sure about.
  2. 7:30 — Check each machine and each patient: settings, readings, comfort. Small changes matter.
  3. 9:00 — Help wean someone from the ventilator, watching their breathing carefully for each step.
  4. 10:30 — Called to the emergency department for someone who is struggling. Everything else waits.
  5. 12:00 — Lunch if the ward allows it. Often it half does.
  6. 13:00 — Lung function tests on an outpatient, coaching them to breathe in the way the test needs.
  7. 14:30 — Teach a patient and family to use a device at home, and check they have really understood it.
  8. 15:30 — Write careful notes on every change you made.
  9. 16:30 — Cleaning, checking and restocking equipment, because the next shift depends on it.
  10. 19:00 — If you are on a long shift, it ends here. Shift patterns are a fact of the job.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You like technical equipment and understand why it matters when it is correct.
  • You stay calm when things are urgent, and you can work as part of a team under pressure.
  • You like working with people who are very ill and being useful to them.
  • You like shift work, or at least can live with it.
  • You want a healthcare job with a defined, specific skill rather than a general one.
You may hate this if
  • You do not want hospital work. Job Bank says the majority of respiratory therapists work in hospitals.
  • You are uncomfortable around serious illness and death. Patients on ventilators are often critically ill.
  • You dislike shift work, weekends and nights. Hospital care does not stop.
  • You want a lot of patient conversation. A lot of the work is monitoring and machines, with patients who may not be able to talk.
  • You want a shorter programme than a degree or equivalent. Job Bank gives three-year college or university programmes with clinical training.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish high school with the sciences

    Look up the entry requirements for respiratory therapy programmes on ontariocolleges.ca and the Ontario universities' information site now, because they list the Grade 12 courses you need and the marks they want.

  2. Complete a respiratory therapy programme

    Job Bank gives the education for respiratory therapists as a three-year college or university degree programme in respiratory therapy that includes clinical training. Programmes and their lengths change, so confirm on the programme's own page.

  3. Register with the College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario

    Licensing is compulsory in Ontario. The CRTO says all applicants must meet its registration requirements and the competencies of the National Competency Framework, with different pathways for Canadian graduates, applicants from other provinces and internationally educated applicants. We have not repeated exam names or fees: read the CRTO's applicants pages.

Where this comes from: College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario — Applicants · Job Bank — Respiratory therapists requirements in Ontario · Job Bank — Respiratory therapists wages in Ontario

The money

Respiratory therapist salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$27.39
Low (hourly)
$44.66
Median (hourly)
$53.81
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 32103. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Respiratory therapist wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Good4 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
  • Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Increased need for health-related services to support the growing and aging population in Ontario
  • Greater demand on the health care system because of a backlog of medical procedures and patient care needs
  • Major investments in health care facilities

Who hires for it

  • The majority are employed in hospitals
5,250
people work in this job in Ontario
71%
are women (48% across all jobs)
5%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Respiratory therapists, clinical perfusionists and cardiopulmonary technologists job prospects in Ontario (NOC 32103). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take senior biology, chemistry and maths. Programmes ask for them and the job uses them.
  • Volunteer in a hospital if your local one takes students. It is the closest you can get to the setting, and it counts toward your volunteer hours.
  • Ask your school about a health co-op or Specialist High Skills Major in health and wellness, where offered.
  • Learn first aid and CPR, which gives you a real taste of staying calm while someone cannot breathe well.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Watch a day in the life and read the CRTO page

About 60 minutes
  1. Watch a day-in-the-life video or talk by a respiratory therapist. Notice your reaction to the intensive care parts, the machines, and the shift work.
  2. Read the College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario's applicants page, and write down the pathway you would follow as a Canadian graduate.
  3. Look up one Ontario respiratory therapy programme on ontariocolleges.ca or the Ontario universities' site, and write down the Grade 12 courses it asks for.

What it tells you. If the machines and the calm, serious work looked appealing, contact a hospital's volunteer office and talk to your counsellor about the courses. If the intensive care setting felt like too much, the other health jobs on this site are less acute, and finding that out now is a good result.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What does a shift look like from handover to handover?”
  2. “What is the hardest thing you have had to get used to?”
  3. “How much of your time is machines and how much is patients?”
  4. “What did the registration process feel like?”
  5. “What do you wish someone had told you before you chose the programme?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Mostly no, as a direct route. Job Bank says the majority of respiratory therapists work in hospitals, so most are employees. Some work in other roles such as home oxygen care or education, and a few build businesses around those, but ask a working therapist what is realistic.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a respiratory therapist make in Ontario?

The median pay for a respiratory therapist in Ontario is $44.66 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $27.39 to $53.81 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a respiratory therapist in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to several new positions. Not many positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a respiratory therapist in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school with the sciences; Complete a respiratory therapy programme; Register with the College of Respiratory Therapists of Ontario.

Where does a respiratory therapist work in Ontario?

The majority are employed in hospitals. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a respiratory therapist in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 5,250 people working in this job in Ontario. 71% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.