Physical Therapist Assistant Salary in Los Angeles, CA 2026,
$82,140 Median | BLS + Market Data

Los Angeles physical therapist assistants earn a BLS median of $82,140/yr, or $39.49 an hour, across the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro, with a published band from $59,710 to $101,060. That is 20.1% above the US median for the occupation. BLS counts 3,730 PTAs in the metro.

Marginally below — the metro sits 1.2% under the California statewide figure, which is effectively level. Demand for licensed assistants is strong across the state's post-acute sector generally. Among peer metros Los Angeles sits below Austin at $84,930, just below San Diego at $82,160, and above Dallas at $80,370, Houston at $77,280 and San Antonio at $76,830.

Home health and skilled nursing. Home health assistants are frequently paid per visit, so a well-organised caseload in a compact territory produces earnings that outpatient clinic work does not match — that is what pushes the top of this band to $101,060. Skilled nursing pays strong salaried rates for the same underlying reason: Medicare episode reimbursement funds the therapy and facilities compete for staff. Outpatient orthopaedic clinics, where most assistants start, sit around the median.

Through the Physical Therapy Board of California, which licenses statewide. The route requires an associate degree from an accredited physical therapist assistant programme, passage of the national examination for assistants, and a California law examination covering state practice rules. Practice is always under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist. The licence covers work anywhere in the state, and Los Angeles issues no separate credential.

It is one of the better two-year credentials available here. A median 20.1% above the national figure, a band reaching six figures for those in home health, and projected growth of 22% together make a strong case. The honest limitations are the physical demands, the documentation load, California's tax schedule, and a ceiling — the profession does not progress much beyond the top of this band without bridging to physical therapy, which requires a doctoral degree and effectively restarting the education.

The 25th percentile here is $77,620 against a median of $82,140 — unusually close together. That compression is characteristic of a licensed occupation with a limited training pipeline and strong demand: employers cannot hire below the going rate because there is nobody available to hire. California licenses physical therapist assistants, the accredited programmes are selective, and post-acute providers across the region compete for every graduate. The result is a floor that sits well above the national median rather than a long tail of low-paid entry work.

Per-visit pay is what puts the top of this band above $100,000, and it deserves clear treatment. Income depends on visit volume, which depends on referrals, patient availability and how tightly a territory clusters — and in a metro with this region's traffic, drive time is a serious constraint. Documentation is generally unpaid or built into the visit rate, and a slow week is a low-income week. Assistants who thrive on it treat territory negotiation and scheduling discipline as core professional skills.

A physical therapist assistant works under a licensed physical therapist who performs the evaluation, sets the plan of care and reassesses. That is not a formality: it determines what an assistant may do, how much autonomy they have day to day, and how their caseload is built. In practice the quality of that relationship is the largest non-financial variable in a post. Assistants considering a move in this metro should ask specifically about supervision arrangements, caseload assignment and reassessment scheduling.