Physician Assistant Salary in Chicago, IL 2026, $127,940 Median | BLS + Market Data
PA pay across the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro, where a resident-heavy academic staffing model holds the median below the national figure even as surgical and specialty roles pay well.
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 →
Chicago Median
$127,940
$61.51/hr BLS
P75
$145,600
$70.00/hr
Sector Peak
$164,200
Metro P90
BLS Workers
3,050
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA
vs IL Median
−$4,010
−3% below IL
Direct Answer
How much do physician assistants make in Chicago, IL in 2026?
Chicago physician assistants earn a BLS MSA median of $127,940/yr ($61.51/hr), 3% below the Illinois statewide median and 5.8% below the US figure. The metro band runs $105,160 to $164,200. The reason a metro this size pays under the national rate is structural: with a location quotient of 0.65, PAs are far less concentrated here than nationally, because Chicago's teaching hospitals staff services with residents and fellows that other markets staff with PAs. → Full physician assistant career guide, career path, IDFPR licence, and Chicago job placement →
Key takeaways
Chicago physician assistants earn a BLS MSA median of $127,940/yr ($61.51/hr) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 29-1071, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA), with a metro P10–P90 range of $105,160 to $164,200.
Chicago PAs earn 5.8% below the US figure and 3% below the Illinois median, unusual for a metro of this size.
PAs are much less concentrated here than nationally (location quotient 0.65) because teaching hospitals staff with residents rather than PAs.
Surgical and procedural specialty roles still reach $164,200, so specialty rather than location is the lever that matters locally.
Chicago Physician Assistant Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025
Chicago Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do Chicago physician assistants earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended metro wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute this MSA's own published percentile range across the tiers Chicago employers actually hire at.
Level
MSA Median (BLS percentile-aligned)
New-graduate PA-C, first year
$105,160
Licensed PA-C, ambulatory or primary care
$127,940
Emergency medicine or hospitalist PA
$145,600
Surgical specialty PA with first-assist role
$164,200
Level medians are aligned to this metro's own published BLS OEWS May 2025 percentiles for SOC 29-1071; BLS does not publish a wage by credential level. GlobalCybers holds no verified placement sample for Chicago physician assistants, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1071, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN MSA. No verified placement data: GlobalCybers has no placement sample for Chicago physician assistants, so every figure on this page is a published BLS estimate and no verified median is claimed. MSA sample size: an OEWS metro cell is drawn from a much smaller establishment sample than the statewide cell, so metro medians carry wider uncertainty and move more between releases. Where BLS suppresses or top-codes the metro wage for this occupation, this page reports the national figure and says so rather than asserting a Chicago median. Employer names mentioned on this page (e.g. in sector or FAQ copy) are illustrative examples of who hires in each market, not a claim of partnership. Full statewide methodology → · Full site methodology & data sources →
Full Data
How much do physician assistants make in Chicago IL in 2026?
Metric
Value
Source
BLS MSA Median (Annual)
$127,940
BLS OEWS May 2025
BLS Median Hourly
$61.51/hr
BLS OEWS May 2025
P10 (Bottom 10%)
$105,160/yr · $50.56/hr
BLS OEWS
P25
$122,780/yr · $59.03/hr
BLS OEWS
P75
$145,600/yr · $70.00/hr
BLS OEWS
P90 (Top 10%)
$164,200/yr · $78.94/hr
BLS OEWS
vs Illinois Median
−$4,010 (−3%)
vs $131,950 IL
vs National Median
−$7,940 (−5.8%)
vs $135,880 US
Illinois State Income Tax
4.95%
Illinois Tax Code
Licensing Authority
IDFPR (Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Physician Assistant Board)
State board
Reading this page's sources:BLS OEWS is the official published wage, sampled 1–2 years back. Market intelligence rows are directional signals from recruiter conversations and industry sources, not independently verified — treat them as a range, not a benchmark.
Chicago Sectors
Which Chicago sector pays physician assistants the most?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for physician assistants across the whole Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro and does not break it out by industry. The sectors below are ranked in the order Chicago employers actually pay, with each row anchored to this metro's own published percentile ladder (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 29-1071).
Sector
MSA Median
Notes
Surgical and procedural specialty PAs
$164,200
Cardiothoracic, orthopaedic and other surgical-service PAs at the metro's large systems reach the $164,200 top of the published band, with first-assist and call pay on top.
Emergency medicine and inpatient hospitalist PAs
$145,600
Emergency department and hospitalist PAs sit around the $145,600 P75, where shift differentials do a lot of the work.
Health-system primary and ambulatory care
$127,940
The typical Chicago PA in an employed ambulatory or primary-care role sits at the $127,940 metro median.
Urgent care, community health and new-graduate roles
$122,780
Urgent-care networks, community health centres and first-year PA posts cluster near the $122,780 P25.
Real Take-Home
What is the actual take-home pay for a Chicago physician assistant?
Real Chicago scenarios, line by line. Illinois withholds a flat percentage of wage income, applied identically across the PA band including the $127,940 median, with no separate Chicago city income tax. PAs supplementing a salaried post with locum shifts owe Illinois tax on that income too and should reserve for it.
Estimates only. Pre-tax deductions (401k, health premium) reduce taxable income further. Consult a tax professional.
Chicago Physician Assistant Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
How much do physician assistants make in Chicago?
Chicago physician assistants earn a BLS MSA median of $127,940/yr, or $61.51/hr, with a published metro range of $105,160 to $164,200. That is 3% below the Illinois statewide median and 5.8% below the national figure, which is unusual for a metro this size and reflects local staffing structure rather than weak demand.
Do physician assistants earn more in Chicago than elsewhere in Illinois?
No — Chicago sits 3% below the Illinois statewide median. Downstate and suburban Illinois employers rely more heavily on PAs to staff services that Chicago's teaching hospitals cover with residents and fellows, so the metro's concentration of PAs, and its pay, run below the state figure.
Why do Chicago PAs earn less than the national average?
Because the metro's academic medical centres staff inpatient and specialty services with residents and fellows to a degree few markets match. That reduces PA demand relative to population — the location quotient is 0.65 — and a lower demand ratio shows up directly in the published median. Surgical and procedural PA roles here still pay well; there are simply fewer of them per capita.
Which Chicago PA specialties pay the most?
Surgical specialties. Cardiothoracic and orthopaedic PAs with first-assist responsibilities reach the $164,200 top of the published band before call pay, roughly 28% above the metro median. Emergency medicine and hospitalist roles sit around $145,600, and ambulatory primary care anchors the middle.
What licence do Chicago physician assistants need?
An Illinois physician assistant licence from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation through the Physician Assistant Board, plus NCCPA certification. Illinois requires a written collaborative agreement with a physician setting out the scope of practice, and continuing medical education at renewal.
Why a big metro pays PAs below the national rate
PA pay tracks how much of a health system's clinical work the profession is relied on to carry. In markets with few residency programmes, PAs run inpatient services outright and pay reflects that. Chicago has one of the densest concentrations of teaching hospitals in the country, so residents and fellows carry work PAs do elsewhere. The result is a location quotient of 0.65 and a median 5.8% under the US figure.
What this figure does not capture
Call pay and first-assist fees for surgical PAs are excluded, as are the shift differentials that emergency and hospitalist PAs earn. The published median also blends every specialty into one number, which hides a spread of nearly 30% between ambulatory primary care and surgical specialty work in this metro.
The collaboration-agreement mechanic
Illinois requires PAs to work under a written collaborative agreement that defines scope, and the terms of that agreement — which procedures, how much autonomy — vary by employer and specialty. For a Chicago PA that document does more to determine earning potential than seniority does, because a broader scope is what makes first-assist and procedural work available.
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Outlook & openings: BLS projects physician assistant employment to grow 20.4% nationally over 2024–2034; pro-rated by Chicago's share of national employment that is roughly 230 openings a year, taken from the national EP total rather than a Chicago-specific projection. (2024–2034 · national BLS EP 2024–34, pro-rated to the metro)
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