Physician Assistants salary

SOC 29-1071 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$135,880

per year, nationally

Middle half

$120,670–$163,980

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

162,150

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+20.4%

12,000 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$99,380$190,280

10th: $99,380
25th: $120,670
Median: $135,880
75th: $163,980
90th: $190,280

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Master's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where physician assistants earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	New Jersey	$165,690	108.8	4,790	1.07×
2	California	$165,650	110.7	13,600	0.72×
3	Washington	$164,360	107.0	3,540	0.96×
4	Hawaii	$164,050	110.0	530	0.81×
5	New York	$160,880	107.9	19,140	1.90×
6	Oregon	$155,780	103.4	2,250	1.09×
7	New Hampshire	$150,960	104.2	1,060	1.49×
8	Alaska	$150,700	102.4	700	2.07×
9	Vermont	$150,490	98.0	410	1.30×
10	Massachusetts	$142,410	105.8	4,470	1.18×
11	Montana	$141,470	94.6	600	1.13×
12	Minnesota	$141,190	98.6	3,660	1.19×
13	Rhode Island	$139,930	102.3	810	1.56×
14	New Mexico	$139,920	92.2	700	0.78×
15	Connecticut	$139,860	103.6	3,570	2.02×
16	Delaware	$139,350	99.8	860	1.69×
17	Maryland	$137,560	105.0	2,950	1.02×
18	Oklahoma	$136,550	87.8	1,770	0.99×
19	Wyoming	$136,080	92.7	330	1.12×
20	Virginia	$135,940	101.1	4,340	1.01×
21	District of Columbia	$135,140	109.9	470	0.64×
22	Missouri	$135,130	90.8	2,300	0.75×
23	Iowa	$134,770	87.8	1,200	0.74×
24	Utah	$134,740	98.9	1,610	0.89×
25	Nevada	$134,660	100.0	1,090	0.67×
26	Arizona	$134,650	100.7	3,750	1.11×
27	Texas	$134,550	97.1	10,110	0.69×
28	Colorado	$134,540	103.1	3,270	1.09×
29	Wisconsin	$133,950	94.1	3,580	1.17×
30	Idaho	$133,790	95.5	1,320	1.48×
31	North Dakota	$133,450	89.0	510	1.15×
32	South Dakota	$133,200	88.6	680	1.43×
33	Nebraska	$133,040	90.1	1,330	1.24×
34	Ohio	$132,090	92.8	4,900	0.85×
35	Indiana	$132,050	93.3	2,110	0.63×
36	Illinois	$131,950	100.0	3,790	0.60×
37	Michigan	$131,510	96.2	6,310	1.37×
38	Maine	$131,170	97.0	1,030	1.54×
39	Florida	$129,620	103.4	9,310	0.90×
40	North Carolina	$129,360	94.3	7,490	1.45×
41	Louisiana	$128,870	88.2	1,360	0.68×
42	West Virginia	$128,610	89.5	1,080	1.47×
43	Pennsylvania	$127,070	97.6	9,020	1.43×
44	Kansas	$125,640	90.1	890	0.59×
45	South Carolina	$122,490	93.7	2,250	0.94×
46	Kentucky	$120,760	90.2	1,360	0.65×
47	Arkansas	$118,430	86.9	850	0.62×
48	Tennessee	$118,240	91.9	2,240	0.65×
49	Georgia	$115,390	96.3	5,610	1.10×
50	Mississippi	$105,920	87.0	320	0.26×
51	Alabama	$104,960	88.8	930	0.42×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where physician assistants wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for physician assistants

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$223,640	110.4	1,030	0.87×
2	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$198,070	100.9	350	0.99×
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$184,380	115.6	1,830	0.74×
4	Yuba City, CA	$183,460	104.2	40	0.82×
5	Vallejo, CA	$179,520	108.5	150	1.01×
6	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$172,750	107.8	140	0.67×
7	Napa, CA	$172,170	112.6	50	0.56×
8	Salinas, CA	$170,180	109.0	130	0.65×
9	Urban Honolulu, HI	$170,060	111.0	390	0.83×
10	Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	$168,080	103.9	60	1.11×
11	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$167,650	112.6	16,800	1.70×
12	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$167,290	111.1	1,920	0.88×
13	Visalia, CA	$166,510	99.8	100	0.53×
14	Modesto, CA	$165,730	104.1	210	1.03×
15	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$165,490	106.4	1,020	0.57×
16	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$165,160	111.9	1,370	0.86×
17	Fairbanks-College, AK	$164,910	103.2	70	1.84×
18	Chico, CA	$164,780	101.2	130	1.59×
19	Merced, CA	$164,080	98.3	50	0.64×
20	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$163,810	105.4	1,110	0.88×
21	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$163,560	100.9	200	1.61×
22	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$162,790	108.6	100	0.76×
23	Barnstable Town, MA	$162,330	98.4	100	1.06×
24	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$162,110	105.1	150	0.49×
25	Walla Walla, WA	$161,980	98.5	30	1.26×
26	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$161,890	113.6	3,890	0.60×
27	Springfield, MA	$161,770	96.1	320	1.55×
28	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$161,470	101.6	40	0.69×
29	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$161,470	106.7	1,070	0.95×
30	Bellingham, WA	$161,260	103.3	120	1.26×
31	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$159,030	109.9	120	1.14×
32	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$158,360	108.8	210	1.02×
33	Midland, TX	$158,200	95.8	60	0.49×
34	El Centro, CA	$156,730	95.2	40	0.59×
35	Fresno, CA	$155,440	102.2	360	0.72×
36	Medford, OR	$155,110	101.4	210	2.30×
37	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$154,760	110.5	210	0.63×
38	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$154,610	109.4	510	1.81×
39	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$154,230	100.1	120	0.89×
40	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$153,940	103.7	90	0.67×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where physician assistants wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.