How much do physician assistants make in 2026?
Physician assistants earn a national median of $135,880 a year ($65.33 an hour) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 29-1071). The bottom 10% earn about $99,380 and the top 10% reach $190,280. Specialty is the dominant variable: primary care and outpatient internal medicine sit at or just below the median, emergency medicine, critical care and surgical subspecialties run toward the $163,980 P75, and PAs in high-acuity surgical practice with heavy call occupy the top decile. Entry requires a master's-level accredited PA programme, the PANCE examination and state licensure, and employment is projected to grow 20.4% through 2034 with roughly 12,000 openings a year. → Full physician assistant career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $135,880 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Physician Assistants earn a national median $135,880/yr ($65.33/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1071); the P10 to P90 range is $99,380 to $190,280.
- Specialty choice moves PA pay further than employer choice: emergency, critical care and surgical practice run toward the $163,980 P75 while primary care sits near or below the median.
- Physician assistants and nurse practitioners are close on paper — a $135,880 median against $132,300 — and the practical difference is scope rules and specialty mobility rather than a pay gap.
- BLS projects 20.4% employment growth through 2034 with roughly 12,000 openings a year, one of the fastest rates for any occupation at this pay level.
US Physician Assistant Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do physician assistants earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 29-1071; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1071, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a physician assistant earn at each career stage?
PAs hold a single licence and can change specialty without re-credentialing from scratch, so the stages below track acuity and responsibility rather than credential tiers. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 29-1071.
By State
Which states pay physician assistants the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the BLS national median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. For PAs the state also sets collaboration requirements, and states that have moved away from a named-supervising-physician model widen where a PA can be deployed, which affects both pay and job availability.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($156,260), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
physician assistant pay by state — all 32 state guides
By Metro
Which cities pay physician assistants the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national median scaled by the state wage index and then by the published metro index. They are estimates of local wage levels rather than BLS metropolitan-area observations.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a physician assistant’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does physician assistant pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Physician Assistants sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify physician assistant wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a physician assistant actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Physician Assistant Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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