Physical Therapist Salary in Oregon 2026,
$103,510 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $103,510 a year, or $49.77 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $90,370 and $126,520 and a full range of $79,440 to $133,950. That is 0.7% above the $102,760 national median — essentially level — though the upper quartile of the band is considerably stronger than that comparison suggests.

Albany at $108,720, ahead of Grants Pass at $106,550, Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro at $106,250, Eugene-Springfield at $103,440 and Salem at $99,970. Portland not leading is notable in a state where it tops most tables, and it reflects a well-supplied Portland therapist market against thinner supply in the mid-valley and southern Oregon.

Yes, within the limits the practice act sets — a patient may be evaluated and treated without a physician referral. That has commercial as well as clinical implications: an outpatient practice with direct access can generate its own caseload rather than depending entirely on referral relationships, which is one of the reasons practice ownership is a realistic route in Oregon and a significant part of what sits above the published wage band.

Because the therapist supply here is close to adequate — a location quotient of 0.95 is near the national norm — and because Oregon's high-wage reputation rests on occupations where entry is licensed and restricted, like electricians, or where scope has been expanded, like dental hygiene. Physical therapy is a nationally standardised profession with a nationally mobile workforce and a national credentialing system, so state-to-state variation is naturally smaller. The result is a median 0.7% above the national figure and a state cost of living that is not.

In the upper quartile, and the gap is striking — the 75th percentile of $126,520 is twenty-three thousand dollars above the median of $103,510. That step is about setting rather than seniority: home health and contract post-acute work paid on productivity, travel assignments filling rural vacancies, and practice ownership made viable by direct access. ABPTS board certification in orthopaedics, neurology or geriatrics is the employed route, and clinic or regional management is the other.

Because two quite different economic models sit inside one occupation code. Employed outpatient and hospital practice pays a salary and clusters around the median of $103,510. Home health, contract post-acute and travel work pay on productivity or contract rates and sit substantially higher, and practice ownership — which Oregon's direct access provisions make more viable than in referral-gated states — sits higher still. That is why the step from the median to the $126,520 seventy-fifth percentile is nearly twice the step from the 25th percentile to the median. For an Oregon therapist the practical reading is that seniority within employed practice will not get you to the top of this band; changing the economic model will.

Cost of living, and setting. A median 0.7% above the national figure does not compensate for Oregon's cost structure — a 9.9% top income tax rate, Portland-area local income taxes and housing costs in Portland and Bend that are well above the national average. The absence of a sales tax helps but does not close it. On setting, the figure blends outpatient orthopaedic, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing, home health and school-based practice, which differ by far more than the state differs from the national median.

The economic model, first and above everything: home health, contract post-acute, travel work and practice ownership are what occupy the upper quartile. Geography second, and it points away from Portland — Albany at $108,720 and Grants Pass at $106,550 pay more gross and sit outside the Portland-area local income taxes, which is an unusually clean double advantage. Then ABPTS specialty certification and clinic or regional leadership. Rural and coastal vacancies carry recruitment incentives that the Portland market does not need to offer.