Physical Therapist Salary in Washington 2026,
$105,950 Median | BLS Data by City

The published figure is $105,950 a year, or $50.94 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 for SOC 29-1123, with a band from $78,300 at the 10th percentile to $137,560 at the 90th. That is 3.1% above the national median of $102,760. The middle half of Washington physical therapists earn between $92,490 and $129,390, and no part of it is subject to state income tax.

Walla Walla, at $115,740, then Wenatchee-East Wenatchee $114,980, Mount Vernon-Anacortes $113,510, Longview-Kelso $107,810 and Kennewick-Richland $107,350. All five are above the $105,950 state median, and the top three are small markets — the pattern of a portable licence being bid for by places most therapists would not otherwise choose.

Yes. Washington is a Physical Therapy Licensure Compact member, so a therapist with an unencumbered licence in another compact state can obtain a compact privilege to practise here rather than completing a full second licensure application. That is what makes travel assignments in Washington practical to arrange and gives resident therapists a real outside option.

No, not to begin treatment. Washington permits direct access, so a physical therapist may evaluate and treat without a physician referral, subject to the limits set in state law. Insurers may impose their own referral conditions, so in an outpatient clinic the practical answer often depends on the payer rather than on the state rule.

Because supply is adequate where most therapists want to work. A location quotient of 0.88 on 5,370 jobs shows Washington employs physical therapists at below the national rate for its size, but the shortage is geographic rather than statewide — every published metro pays above the state median, and the top three are small and remote. Puget Sound outpatient practice, which is where the graduates go, has no comparable premium to offer.

Because the state median includes practice in places BLS does not publish a metro figure for — rural counties, small towns and the non-metropolitan areas that make up a large share of Washington's land mass and a meaningful share of its clinical employment. Walla Walla $115,740, Wenatchee-East Wenatchee $114,980, Mount Vernon-Anacortes $113,510, Longview-Kelso $107,810 and Kennewick-Richland $107,350 all clear $105,950. The correct reading is that the metro figures describe employed clinical practice and the state median is pulled down from beneath by settings the metro table does not capture.

It removes the friction that normally lets local employers under-price a licensed profession. Because a therapist in any other compact state can obtain a privilege to work in Washington without a full application — and a Washington therapist can do the reverse — the outside option is real on both sides. That supports contract and travel rates, gives resident therapists leverage in negotiation, and makes it feasible for a Walla Walla or Wenatchee employer to fill a post from out of state, which is precisely why those markets can sustain premiums above Puget Sound rather than simply going unstaffed.

It is straight-time and it treats settings that pay very differently as one occupation. Home health, paid per visit, and contract work in skilled nursing sit at the top of the Washington distribution and account for much of the reach to the $129,390 seventy-fifth percentile and the $137,560 ninetieth; outpatient orthopaedics, which is what most therapists want, generally pays below them. Productivity requirements differ sharply between those settings too, so comparing offers on salary alone in this state is misleading without also comparing expected visit volume.