Physician Assistant Salary in Wisconsin 2026,
$133,950 Median | BLS Data by City

Wisconsin physician assistants earn a median $133,950 a year, $64.40 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $125,640 and $156,800 and a full range of $102,420 to $169,150. That is 1.4% below the $135,880 national median, though Wisconsin's cost base makes the real position stronger.

Fond du Lac at $136,700, then Janesville-Beloit at $135,830, Kenosha at $135,800, Oshkosh-Neenah at $135,790 and Milwaukee-Waukesha at $135,040. Every published metro sits above the statewide $133,950, which means the rural posts outside the metros are what pull the state figure down.

Yes, in effect. Wisconsin licenses PAs through a dedicated affiliated credentialing board at the Department of Safety and Professional Services on which the profession is represented, rather than regulating them solely through the Medical Examining Board. Wisconsin's framework is built on collaboration with a physician rather than direct supervision, and prescriptive authority is exercised within it.

Recruitment. Fond du Lac, Janesville-Beloit, Kenosha and Oshkosh-Neenah all sit above the state median because their health systems compete for clinicians who could work in Milwaukee or Madison instead, and the rural posts beyond the metros are harder still. In Wisconsin, unlike most states, taking a smaller market is a pay increase rather than a sacrifice — and the cost of living falls at the same time.

Wisconsin uses a graduated income tax topping out at 7.65%, with no municipal income tax. At this earnings level it is less favourable than the flat rates in several neighbouring states, and increasingly so toward the top of the band — but the combination of above-median small-market pay and low living costs more than compensates.

It gives a physician assistant more practical room than a supervisory model does, and that matters most where it is used most. Wisconsin's health systems cover very large rural geographies, and a PA in a small-town clinic or critical access hospital may be the primary clinical presence for long stretches, working under a collaborative arrangement rather than direct oversight. Having the profession represented on its own credentialling board means the rules governing that scope are written with the reality of rural Wisconsin practice in view.

The occupation code spans an enormous range of clinical work, and the $102,420 to $169,150 band reflects specialty mix more than career progression. The published figure also excludes production bonuses and call stipends, which in surgical and emergency practice can be a meaningful share of total compensation. And the rural premium comes attached to conditions — isolation, wide scope, limited specialist backup — that no wage table conveys.

Specialty first, then scarcity. Moving from primary care into emergency medicine, hospital medicine, orthopaedics or another procedural specialty is the largest reliable step toward the $156,800 seventy-fifth percentile. Call coverage and first-assist responsibility add layers. And Wisconsin's geography produces genuine premiums in the northern and rural counties, where health systems pay above their cost of living because they cannot recruit otherwise — the metro table's inversion, with Fond du Lac above Milwaukee, is that same effect visible at the edge.