Physician Assistant Salary in Colorado 2026,
$134,540 Median | BLS Data by City

The published Colorado figure is $134,540 a year, or $64.68 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with a band from $104,590 at the 10th percentile to $174,090 at the 90th and quartiles at $124,100 and $156,400. That is 1.0% below the national median of $135,880. The row is SOC 29-1071, an exact match to the occupation.

Because physician assistant compensation is set in a national market. Boulder publishes $136,540, Pueblo $135,640, Colorado Springs $135,200, Greeley $134,550 and Denver-Aurora-Centennial $134,540 — under two percent from top to bottom. Large health system employers hire PAs against a national credential and a national shortage, and they price accordingly rather than against local labour market conditions. Even Boulder's usual premium nearly disappears.

Graduation from an accredited physician assistant programme, the national certifying examination, and licensure through the Colorado Medical Board within the Department of Regulatory Agencies, with continuing certification and education requirements. Practice arrangements with collaborating physicians are set by Colorado law and have been an area of legislative change in many states, so a PA should confirm the current requirements with the board directly.

By specialty, essentially exclusively. The metro table spans under two percent while the band from $124,100 at the 25th percentile to $156,400 at the 75th spans over twenty-five percent. Surgical subspecialties, emergency medicine, dermatology and interventional practice sit toward the upper end; primary care and outpatient internal medicine toward the middle. Choosing a specialty is the only lever with real magnitude in this occupation.

The wage will not decide it. Iowa $134,770, Utah $134,740, Nevada $134,660, Arizona $134,650 and Texas $134,550 are all within a fraction of a percent of Colorado's $134,540. What decides it is tax and cost of living: Nevada and Texas levy no income tax, Colorado applies a flat 4.4%, and Iowa, Utah and Arizona apply their own. Colorado's non-wage attractions are real but they are lifestyle rather than financial.

That the usual advice about metros and states is close to useless here, and something else has to take its place. When a Colorado PA can earn essentially the same in Pueblo as in Denver, and essentially the same in Colorado as in Iowa, Utah, Nevada, Arizona or Texas, the geographic decision becomes purely about where you want to live and what it costs — which is liberating rather than limiting. The variable that does move earnings is specialty, and the $124,100-to-$156,400 interquartile range is where that shows up. A PA choosing between a primary care post and a surgical subspecialty post is making the decision that matters.

Because Boulder's mechanism does not work on a nationally-priced credential. Throughout this Colorado unit, Boulder pays a premium because its cost of living and constrained housing force local employers to bid up for locally-supplied labour — a dental assistant, a welder, a lineman all have to live within reach of the job. A physician assistant is recruited from a national pool against a national shortage, and a Boulder health system competing for one is competing with Phoenix and Des Moines rather than with Longmont. Boulder's $136,540 is two percent above Denver's $134,540, and that is essentially noise.

The most consequential open issue for this profession. Many states have been moving toward reduced supervision requirements for experienced physician assistants, allowing practice arrangements that do not require a named supervising physician for every clinician. That affects where PAs can practise — rural and underserved areas in particular — and over time it affects bargaining position, because a clinician who can practise with less structural dependence has more options. Colorado has been active in this area, and any PA relying on the specifics should confirm the current position with the Colorado Medical Board rather than with general guidance.