Physician Assistant Salary in Alabama 2026,
$104,960 Median | BLS Data by City

The published Alabama figure is $104,960 a year, or $50.46 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 22.8% below the national median of $135,880. The band runs from $83,020 at the 10th percentile to $145,100 at the 90th. Even the state's 90th percentile sits close to the national median, which is an unusually stark position for a licensed clinical profession.

Yes. Alabama remains a supervision state: a physician assistant licensed by the State Board of Medical Examiners practises under a supervising physician whose registration with the board forms part of the authorisation, and scope of practice and prescribing are defined within that relationship. Changing employers means re-establishing the supervisory registration, and a supervising physician leaving is an event that has to be managed rather than a formality.

Daphne-Fairhope-Foley at $112,610, then Huntsville $107,230, Birmingham $105,440, Mobile $104,960 and Dothan $103,890. The spread is narrow, and the more consequential comparison is across the state line: Kentucky $120,760, Arkansas $118,430, Tennessee $118,240 and Georgia $115,390 all publish above every Alabama metro.

Because the market is small and the role is less central to care delivery here. Alabama employs 930 PAs at a location quotient of 0.42 — under half the national rate relative to total employment — while Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia all pay more. States that have loosened supervisory requirements have generally seen advanced practice employment expand, and Alabama's supervision framework is part of why its PA sector remains thin.

It depends on ties to the state. Alabama's low cost of living and modest income tax recover part of the 22.8% gap to the national median in real terms, and rural clinical need is genuine and rewarding work. But every listed peer state pays more, Tennessee levies no tax on wage income at all, and licensure across a state line is a solvable administrative problem. A PA without a specific reason to be in Alabama should at least price the alternatives.

It attaches the practitioner to a physician rather than to a licence. Under Alabama's framework the supervising physician's registration with the State Board of Medical Examiners is part of what authorises the PA to practise, so the arrangement has to exist and be maintained. The practical consequences accumulate over a career: moving employers requires establishing a new supervisory arrangement rather than simply starting work; covering an additional site or a rural clinic may require additional administration; and a supervising physician's retirement, relocation or death is a disruption to the PA's ability to practise, not merely to their workplace. None of that is unusual historically — it was the standard model everywhere — but states that have moved away from it have generally seen advanced practice employment grow faster, which is visible in Alabama's 0.42 location quotient.

Take it seriously, because the gap is not marginal. Kentucky $120,760, Arkansas $118,430, Tennessee $118,240 and Georgia $115,390 all publish above Alabama's $104,960, and in several cases above Alabama's own 75th percentile of $122,830 is only just clear of them. These are adjacent states with comparable costs of living, and PA licensure is portable in the sense that the underlying credentials — an ARC-PA accredited degree and NCCPA certification — are national; what differs is the state application and, in Alabama's case, the supervisory registration. For a PA whose ties to Alabama are not strong, the highest-return career decision available is geographic, and it is worth making before, rather than after, accepting a first post.

In the places the state most struggles to staff. Alabama has substantial rural health shortages, hospitals under financial pressure, high chronic disease prevalence and a limited primary care physician supply — precisely the conditions under which physician assistants deliver the most value, and where recruitment incentives, loan repayment programmes and non-wage compensation are most available. The published metros — Daphne-Fairhope-Foley $112,610 at the top and Dothan $103,890 at the bottom — do not capture those arrangements. A PA committed to the state should be negotiating on the full package, including any federal or state loan repayment tied to shortage areas, rather than on the wage figure alone, because that is where Alabama's compensation for this profession is actually competitive.