BLS OEWS May 2025 · SOC 29-1071 · 13,600 CA workers · California PA Board licensed
Physician Assistant Salary in California 2026, $165,650 Median | BLS Data by City
California physician assistants earn more than in any other state and work under a practice framework that has loosened considerably in recent years, but the state also has one of the lowest PA concentrations in the country, which is what keeps the figure high.
Updated July 2026 · BLS OEWS May 2025
Compiled by GlobalCybers Labor Market Research · Reviewed by Karen Osei, RN, BSN, Clinical Recruitment Lead · See methodology & sources →
CA Median
$165,650
$79.64/hr
vs National
+$29,770
21.9% above US median
CA P90
$225,190
$108.26/hr · top earners
CA Job Growth
+20.4%
2024–2034 · national BLS EP 2024–34
🤑A California PA at the state median is well into the upper brackets of a progressive income tax that reaches 13.3%, and also pays the uncapped 1.3% SDI premium on all wages in 2026. That matters most when comparing California against Texas and Washington, which pay PAs comparably and levy no state income tax at all — on a take-home basis the California advantage over those states largely disappears, and the case for practising here rests on the specialty mix and the shortage premium rather than the headline number.
Direct Answer
How much do physician assistants make in California in 2026?
California physician assistants earn a median $165,650 a year, or $79.64 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, 21.9% above the national median of $135,880. The range is wide for a licensed profession, $99,380 to $225,190, and the driver is specialty rather than seniority: surgical subspecialties, emergency medicine and dermatology sit near the top, primary care near the bottom. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is the top-paying metro at $223,640, followed by Bakersfield-Delano at $198,070 and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $184,380. → Full physician assistant career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $165,650 blends every experience level, apprentice through master. For pay by license level alone, see pay by level below.
Key takeaways
California physician assistants earn a median $165,650/yr ($79.64/hr) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 29-1071), 21.9% above the $135,880 national median; the state P10–P90 range is $99,380 to $225,190.
Bakersfield-Delano at $198,070 sits second only to San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at $223,640, because Central Valley and rural California pay a genuine shortage premium that the coastal metros do not need to.
The state's PA concentration is well below the national average, so California is short of PAs relative to its population, which is the structural reason the figure sits so far above the national median.
The spread from $136,730 at the 25th percentile to $206,990 at the 75th is a specialty spread, not a seniority spread: moving from primary care to a surgical subspecialty is worth more than a decade of experience.
California at a glance
Median salary$165,650
Median hourly$79.64
Range (P10–P90)$99,380–$225,190
Top-paying metroSan Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara · $223,640
vs national21.9% above
State income tax9.3%
CA employment (BLS)13,600
Location quotient0.72× US concentration
Wage basisBLS OEWS May 2025, California
California Physician Assistant Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
$99,380
P10
$136,730
P25
$165,650
Median
$206,990
P75
$225,190
P90
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025
Methodology & Sources
How the California physician assistant pay figures on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1071, California statewide 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. OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation in California; it does not break pay out by credential or licence level.
Pay by level: the level and career-stage tables on this page distribute California's own published BLS pay range across the tiers employers actually hire at. They are GlobalCybers estimates aligned to published percentiles, not separate BLS publications.
Placement sample: GlobalCybers holds no California placement sample for this occupation, so this page shows published and percentile-aligned figures only — no placement-based median is claimed anywhere on it.
How to become a licensed physician assistant in California, step by step
1
Graduate from an accredited PA programme
Complete an ARC-PA accredited master's-level PA programme, including the supervised clinical rotations.
2
Pass the PANCE and licence with the PA Board
Sit the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination and apply for licensure to the Physician Assistant Board within the California Department of Consumer Affairs.
3
Choose a specialty deliberately
Move into a surgical subspecialty, emergency medicine, dermatology or a procedural role rather than general primary care. This is the step that reaches the state 75th percentile of $206,990.
4
Take a lead role or price the shortage directly
Move into a lead or supervising PA post, high-volume procedural practice, or locum and per-diem contracts in the Central Valley and far north, where the state 90th percentile of $225,190 sits.
CA License Levels
How much more does a CA licence earn you in California?
California licenses issued by California PA Board (Physician Assistant Board, Department of Consumer Affairs). Each level's median pay in California markets.
CA License
CA Pay Range
CA Median
Key Note
New graduate PA
$91K–$137K
$99,380
Around the state 10th percentile. First year post-certification, usually primary care, urgent care or an internal medicine service with structured supervision.
Practising PA, general specialty
$137K–$207K
$165,650
The California median. Three to seven years in family medicine, internal medicine, urgent care or hospital medicine, carrying an independent panel or service load.
Surgical, emergency or procedural PA
$197K–$225K
$206,990
The state 75th percentile. Surgical subspecialties, emergency medicine, interventional and procedural roles, and dermatology — the specialties that pay a premium in this state.
Lead PA, high-volume or locum practice
$216K–$275K
$225,190
The state 90th percentile. Lead or supervising PAs, high-volume procedural practice, and locum and per-diem contracts that price California's shortage directly.
Beyond Base Pay
What's a California physician assistant's total compensation, not just base wage?
BLS and verified-placement medians above are base wage only. Total comp for a CA physician assistant typically adds the following on top.
California Physician Assistant Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
How much do physician assistants make in California?
California physician assistants earn a median $165,650 a year, $79.64 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025. The middle half earns between $136,730 and $206,990, and the full range is $99,380 to $225,190. That spread is largely explained by specialty: surgical, emergency and procedural practice sits in the upper half, primary care in the lower.
Which California city pays physician assistants the most?
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara leads at $223,640, but the more interesting figure is Bakersfield-Delano at $198,070, which pays a shortage premium the coastal markets do not need to. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont follows at $184,380, then Yuba City at $183,460 and Vallejo at $179,520 — again, two inland or north-bay markets paying to attract clinicians.
How do I get a California PA licence?
Graduate from an ARC-PA accredited PA programme, pass the PANCE, and apply to the Physician Assistant Board within the California Department of Consumer Affairs. California requires a practice agreement with a supervising physician organisation rather than an individual physician chart-by-chart arrangement, which since recent reform has given experienced PAs materially more autonomy than the old delegation model did.
Which California PA specialties pay the most?
Surgical subspecialties, emergency medicine, dermatology and interventional or procedural roles sit at the top of this range; family medicine, internal medicine and paediatrics sit at the bottom. The gap between them is roughly the gap between the state 25th and 75th percentiles, which is why specialty choice outweighs years of experience in California PA compensation.
Does California really pay PAs better than New York or New Jersey?
Slightly. New Jersey is essentially level at $165,690, Washington at $164,360, Hawaii at $164,050 and New York at $160,880. What separates California is not the median but the top of the range: the state 90th percentile of $225,190 reflects a procedural and locum market that the other states in that group do not match.
Why does an inland metro pay near the top of the table?
Because California's physician supply is heavily coastal and its patient need is not. Bakersfield-Delano at $198,070 and Yuba City at $183,460 are paying to solve a recruitment problem, and PAs are the fastest way to add clinical capacity where physicians will not relocate. That premium is durable in a way a metro cost-of-living premium is not, because it reflects a persistent supply gap rather than a housing market.
What did the practice-agreement change actually alter?
California moved from individual physician supervision with chart review requirements toward a practice agreement with a physician organisation, which removed a set of administrative constraints on how PAs are deployed. In economic terms it widened the range of settings a PA can staff, particularly in clinics and rural sites, which supports the demand shown in the openings figure above.
Is the $99,380 bottom of the range realistic?
Rarely, for a full-time PA-C. Like most licensed clinical series, the bottom decile here mixes part-time, per-diem and first-year practice. Read the 25th percentile of $136,730 as the practical floor for full-time California PA practice, and treat anything materially below that as a part-year or part-time arrangement rather than a market rate.
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Outlook & openings: BLS projects 20.4% national growth for physician assistants through 2034, among the fastest of any licensed healthcare profession, and California's share of national employment works out to roughly 1,010 openings a year, pro-rated from the national average annual openings figure. California's growth is concentrated where physician supply is thinnest: the Central Valley, the far north and the Inland Empire, which is precisely where the metro table shows the shortage premium.
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