Physician Assistant Salary in 2026: What PAs Earn
Physician assistants are one of the fastest-growing roles in American healthcare. PAs held about 162,700 jobs in 2024, and according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), they earn a median wage that sits well above the average for healthcare practitioners overall and almost three times the national median across all occupations.
This guide breaks down what PAs actually earn in 2026 — the national median, how pay shifts with work setting and specialty, and how location changes the number. All figures come from the most recent BLS data (the May 2024 release).
What the typical physician assistant earns
The median annual wage for physician assistants was $133,260 in May 2024. Median means half of all PAs earned more than that figure and half earned less. For comparison, the median wage across all U.S. occupations was $49,500, and the median for healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners as a group was $101,370.
The full range is wide:
- The lowest-paid 10% of PAs earned less than $95,240.
- The highest-paid 10% earned more than $182,200.
That spread — roughly $95,000 to $182,000 — is the most important thing to understand about PA pay. "PA salary" is not a single number; it depends heavily on where a PA works, what specialty they practice in, and how long they have been in the role. Even the bottom of the range sits well above the national median wage for all occupations, which is one reason the PA path has become such a popular alternative to medical school.
Physician assistant pay by work setting
Where a PA works is one of the biggest factors in pay. BLS reports these median wages by employer type:
| Work setting | Median PA pay (2024) |
|---|---|
| Government (excluding state/local education/hospitals) | $151,470 |
| Outpatient care centers | $147,650 |
| Hospitals (state, local & private) | $136,630 |
| Offices of physicians | $129,640 |
| Educational services | $127,900 |
Offices of physicians employ the majority of PAs — about 52% — and pay close to the national median. Hospitals account for another 26% of PA jobs and pay slightly above the overall median, while outpatient care centers employ about 8% of PAs and pay well above the median, often because those settings include high-volume surgical centers and specialty clinics. The highest-paying setting is federal government work outside hospitals, which includes roles with agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Educational services and physician offices sit at the lower end of the table. The gap between the top-paying and lowest-paying setting is more than $23,000 a year for the same core credential.
Experience and specialty move the number
The other major factor is specialty. New-graduate PAs typically start near the lower end of the range, while PAs with years of experience — especially in high-acuity or procedure-heavy specialties such as emergency medicine, surgical subspecialties, and dermatology — earn toward the top. Primary care specialties like family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics generally pay less than surgical and procedural specialties, but they remain the largest single category of PA practice.
Specialty choice also shapes the day-to-day. A PA in primary care or family medicine handles routine visits, preventive care, and chronic-disease management. A PA in surgery may close incisions and provide care before, during, and after operations, often spending long stretches on their feet in the operating room. A PA in emergency medicine works shifts on rotating schedules that frequently carry night and weekend differentials. A PA in dermatology may build a procedure-heavy practice doing biopsies and cosmetic work that pushes total compensation toward the top of the range. Each of those paths sits at a different point on the wage curve, and movement between specialties over a career is common — many PAs change focus area at least once.
Where physician assistants earn the most
PA wages vary widely from state to state, and even between metro areas within the same state. Two forces drive that: local cost of living and local demand. A median wage in a high-cost coastal metro can sit tens of thousands of dollars above the same role in a lower-cost rural area — though rural and medically underserved areas sometimes pay premiums because PAs there function as primary care providers with limited physician backup. State scope-of-practice laws also matter; in states where PAs have broader authority to prescribe and treat with less direct supervision, employers tend to compete harder on pay.
Because those figures are updated every year and differ for all 50 states, the most reliable source for a location-specific number is the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, which publishes median PA wages for every state and metropolitan area. Anyone weighing a PA job offer should check the figure for their specific state and city rather than relying on the national median.
The job outlook for physician assistants
Pay is only half the picture; job security is the other. BLS projects employment of physician assistants to grow 20% from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the 3% average for all occupations and well ahead of the 8% projected for healthcare diagnosing and treating practitioners as a group. About 12,000 openings for PAs are projected each year over the decade, with many of those positions coming from the need to replace workers who move into other roles or retire. An aging population, a rise in patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease, and the continued shift toward team-based care drive that demand. PAs can be trained more quickly than physicians and can deliver many of the same services, which makes them a critical part of how the healthcare system is scaling — especially in primary care and in underserved areas.
How physician assistants qualify
PAs reach the role through a master's degree from an accredited physician assistant program, which typically takes at least two years of postbaccalaureate study and combines classroom work in subjects like anatomy, clinical medicine, and pharmacology with supervised clinical rotations in multiple specialties such as family medicine, internal medicine, surgery, and emergency medicine. Applicants generally enter with a bachelor's degree, science coursework, and direct patient-care experience as a medical assistant, EMT, paramedic, or similar role; many programs require hundreds of documented patient-care hours before they will consider an applicant. After graduation, candidates must pass a national qualifying exam to earn the Physician Assistant-Certified (PA-C) credential, and every PA must hold a license in the state where they practice. Most states also require a written collaboration agreement with a supervising physician, though that physician does not need to be onsite at all times. Maintaining certification requires ongoing continuing education and a recertification exam on a set schedule.
A note on your PA diploma
A physician assistant diploma is a credential many PAs want to display once they have earned it. If your original has been lost or damaged, your PA program can issue an official replacement for any formal purpose. For a framed copy to hang at home or in an office, DiplomaCraft also offers replica graduate diplomas for display and novelty use.
Sources
- Wage, employment, and outlook data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Physician Assistants, reflecting the May 2024 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release (updated August 2025).
- State and metro wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS).
All wage figures are medians and reflect the most recent BLS data available as of 2026. Actual pay varies by employer, location, experience, and specialty.