Physician Assistant Salary (2026), outlook and how to become one

Physician Assistants earn a median of $135,880 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). That is 167% above the $50,980 median for all US occupations. That works out at $65.33/hr. The middle half earn between $120,670 and $163,980. The top 10% earn $190,280 or more.

The median hourly wage for physician assistants is $65.33 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). On a full-year basis the $135,880 annual median works out to about $11,320 a month before tax.

BLS does not publish a starting salary. The nearest measure is the low end of the pay range: the lowest-paid 10% of physician assistants earn less than $99,380 a year and the bottom quarter less than $120,670 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). New workers often start near that end, but where a particular job starts depends on the employer, the state and the credentials you bring, so read these as the bottom of the range rather than a guaranteed entry wage.

Yes, more often than not. The median is $135,880, so more than half of physician assistants earn over $100,000 a year; even the 25th percentile is $120,670 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). In 51 states the median itself is above $100,000: New Jersey ($165,690), California ($165,650), Washington ($164,360), Hawaii ($164,050), and 47 more.

The highest state medians for Physician Assistants are New Jersey ($165,690), California ($165,650), Washington ($164,360) (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Adjusted for local prices using BEA Regional Price Parities, Oklahoma moves to the top at $155,448.

BLS does not split physician assistants' pay by specialty or employer, but its range shows how far the top end runs: the highest-paid 10% earn more than $190,280, against a median of $135,880 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Location moves pay the most in the published data: the best-paying states are New Jersey ($165,690), California ($165,650), Washington ($164,360).

Yes. BLS reports a master's degree as the typical entry-level education for Physician Assistants, and O*NET rates the preparation needed as extensive preparation. In O*NET's survey of people already doing the job, 81.1% hold master's degree.

Yes, strongly. Employment is projected to grow 21.1% over 2025–2035, more than double the 3.5% projected for all occupations (BLS EP, 2025–2035). BLS still projects about 11,500 openings a year, mostly from workers retiring or moving to other work.

Physician assistants, also known as PAs, examine, diagnose, and treat patients under the supervision of a physician. A core O*NET task: make tentative diagnoses and decisions about management and treatment of patients. Employers most often ask for Electronic mail software, Medical software, Office suite software.

Most work more than 40. In O*NET's survey of people in the job, 68% of physician assistants usually work more than 40 hours a week, 27% work exactly 40 and 5% work fewer. 81% say their schedule is regular and 19% irregular. Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, Work Context.

O*NET scores Physician Assistants highest on the Social, Investigative and Conventional interest areas, so the work mixes teaching, helping and working directly with other people with investigating, analysing and solving problems with ideas and data. On NueCareer's MBTI-to-interest mapping that lines up most closely with ISFJ personalities. Personality is a fit signal, not a gate. The free NueCareer quiz scores your own profile against all 1,731 careers in the bank.

At least 2 years of postbaccalaureate study. Programs combine classroom and laboratory instruction in subjects such as human anatomy, clinical medicine and pharmacology with supervised clinical rotations in specialties including family medicine, internal medicine and emergency medicine.

Yes, and it is issued by the state you work in, not nationally. The certification half of the path is uniform: every state, DC, the territories and the military rely on NCCPA certification. What varies is the practice relationship. In most states, law requires a PA to hold an agreement with a supervising physician; the physician need not be on site at all times, but the terms of collaboration are set by state law, as are license renewal requirements.

The PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination), the PANRE (Physician Assistant National Recertifying Examination), the PANRE-LA (Physician Assistant National Recertifying Exam-Longitudinal Assessment). Five blocks of 60 questions across five hours of testing time, assessing the clinical knowledge, clinical reasoning and professional behaviors expected for entry-level PA practice. Applications open 180 days before your expected program completion date and the earliest test date is seven days after completion. Eligibility is capped: six years and six attempts from graduation, whichever comes first.

Women make up 77.5% of physician assistants, against 47.1% of all employed people: a female-dominated occupation. Only 9.2% are 55 or older (23.2% across all jobs): a young workforce. The median worker is 38.0 years old (all workers: 42.1). Source: BLS Current Population Survey, 2025 annual averages.