Physician Assistant Salary in San Diego, CA 2026,
$165,160 Median | BLS + Market Data

San Diego physician assistants earn a BLS MSA median of $165,160/yr, or $79.41/hr, with a published metro range of $109,750 to $214,570. That is 21.5% above the US figure and level with the California statewide median, the strongest relative position of any large Southern California metro for this occupation.

Yes, marginally — San Diego sits about 2% above Los Angeles and level with the California statewide median, whereas LA runs 2.3% under it. A smaller safety-net sector and a PA-staffing model closer to the national norm explain most of that gap.

Surgical specialty roles with first-assist responsibilities top the published band near $214,570. Emergency medicine and inpatient specialty work sits around $204,920 before call and differentials. Ambulatory primary care sits at the metro median and community clinics anchor the lower quartile.

A California physician assistant licence from the Physician Assistant Board, Department of Consumer Affairs, held with NCCPA certification and a practice agreement with a supervising physician. Furnishing medication requires separate authority set out in that agreement.

It is one of the better ones in California: pay level with the state median, a genuine PA-staffing culture rather than a resident-heavy one, and a mix of academic, integrated and military-adjacent employers. The limitation is size — there are fewer employers than in Los Angeles, so moving between them for a raise is harder.

Unlike Los Angeles, San Diego does not carry a large county and federally qualified safety-net sector relative to its size, so less of its PA workforce sits in the lower band. Its academic and integrated systems staff services with PAs at close to national rates of reliance, reflected in a location quotient of 0.86. The two effects together put the metro exactly on the California figure.

Federal employment at military treatment facilities in the region runs on separate pay schedules that the metro wage estimate handles differently from private employment, so the real employer landscape here is broader than the band suggests. First-assist fees, call pay and differentials are also excluded.

In a market with a limited number of large employers, a PA's earnings trajectory is set mostly by the service they enter rather than by moving between organisations. San Diego PAs who reach the upper quartile almost always do it through surgical or emergency specialty work with a broad practice agreement, which is a decision made at hire rather than accumulated over years.