Updated July 2026 with the latest available national data on salaries, student debt, work hours, student loans, and taxes.
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Physician Assistant vs. Physician: Show Me the Money
Often, the decision between PA and physician is considered difficult—but should it be?
This was the first in a series of posts designed to help answer the age-old PA-versus-physician question. And because one of the most common searches after “physician assistant” is “salary,” I thought I would begin by addressing the elephant in the room and showing you the numbers.
Annual salary numbers by themselves are nearly useless. They do not account for the hidden variables: time spent in training, education debt, residency, taxes, career length, and hours worked each week.
So this post addresses those variables with one equation and calculates a much more useful number:
True Hourly Wage
This post is heavy with numbers, so grab your glasses—and perhaps a calculator. The results remain interesting, even after bringing the original analysis into 2026.
A quick note about the math
This is an illustrative comparison, not personal tax or financial advice. To make the three careers comparable, the updated model uses the same rules for everyone:
- May 2025 national mean wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—the newest BLS occupational wage data, released in May 2026
- A married California household with two qualifying children, one income, the standard deduction, and no other income
- 2026 federal income-tax rules, employee FICA taxes, and the latest available California tax schedule (2025)
- A 20-year level-payment loan model using 2026–27 federal rates: 8.07% for graduate/professional debt and 6.52% for undergraduate debt
- No loan forgiveness, income-driven repayment, refinancing, origination fees, autopay discount, investment growth, raises, inflation, or geographic pay adjustments
- No employer retirement match, pension, health insurance, or other benefits for any of the three careers
That final point matters. The original post credited a pension to the teacher and a retirement match to the PA but not to the physician. Because benefits vary enormously by employer and state, this revision excludes them from every calculation.
The tax calculation is also a standardized snapshot, not a literal lifetime tax forecast. It holds the married-with-two-children household constant across each career so the occupations can be compared under identical rules; real tax rates, filing status, deductions, and qualifying dependents change over time.
| 2026 model input | Internal medicine physician | PA | High school teacher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual gross wage | $267,200 | $141,280 | $76,320 |
| Estimated annual income after modeled taxes | $199,126 | $117,549 | $70,015 |
| Education-debt principal used | $215,000 | $112,500 | $29,560 |
| Modeled lifetime loan payments | $433,854 | $227,016 | $52,978 |
| Weekly work hours used | 56.5 | 40 | 53 |
Debt figures describe borrowers, not every graduate. Many people finish school with less debt—or no debt at all—and others owe considerably more.
So let’s get going.
Physician (MD or DO): True Hourly Wage
Becoming a Physician Is Expensive
For the 2025–26 academic year, the average published undergraduate tuition and fees are $11,950 for an in-state student at a public four-year university and $45,000 at a private nonprofit four-year university. Once housing, food, books, transportation, and other expenses are added, the average annual student budgets rise to $30,990 and $65,470, respectively.
The sticker price is not the same as the debt. Grants, scholarships, family support, school choice, and employment all affect what a student actually borrows. Among 2023–24 bachelor’s degree recipients who borrowed, the average cumulative debt was $29,560.
Then comes medical school. The AAMC reports a median four-year cost of attendance for the class of 2026 of $297,745 at public medical schools and $408,150 at private medical schools. Those totals include more than tuition, but they are still sobering.
Fortunately, the average student does not borrow the full cost of attendance. According to the AAMC, 70% of the medical school class of 2025 graduated with education debt. Among those indebted graduates, the median education debt—including premedical debt—was $215,000.
Service scholarships, loan-repayment programs, and programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness can radically change the outcome for an individual physician. But they are not universal, so they are not included in the central calculation below.
The federal student-loan interest deduction is also too limited to rescue the economics. It remains capped at $2,500 and is subject to income phaseouts. More importantly, a tax deduction reduces taxable income; it does not reimburse the borrower dollar for dollar. To keep this comparison clean, the model does not include the deduction for any profession.
What Does $215,000 of Debt Cost?
The fixed rate on new federal graduate and professional Direct Unsubsidized Loans first disbursed from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, is 8.07%. At that rate, repaying $215,000 with equal payments over 20 years would require about $1,808 per month and approximately $433,854 in total payments.
That is an illustration, not a prediction. Actual medical graduates commonly have loans issued in several years at several rates, and their repayment paths may include residency-era income-based payments, interest subsidies, forgiveness, refinancing, or accelerated repayment.
Federal graduate lending also changed on July 1, 2026. Grad PLUS borrowing ended for most new graduate and professional students, with transition exceptions for certain continuing borrowers, and new federal borrowing limits took effect. That change may push some future students toward institutional or private financing, so the economics of medical and PA education deserve even closer attention going forward.
Physician Income, Taxes, Hours, and Training
The latest BLS occupational wage release places the May 2025 national mean annual wage for general internal medicine physicians at $267,200.
Under the household and tax assumptions described above, that becomes an estimated $199,126 after federal income tax, California income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax. This is not a paycheck estimate for every physician; it is one standardized tax case used for all three careers.
Internal medicine requires a three-year residency. The AAMC’s projected 2025 first-year resident stipend was $67,400. For simplicity, this model holds that stipend constant for all three years. After modeled payroll and income taxes, the resident earns approximately $62,244 per year, or $186,732 over three years.
The original article estimated that an internal medicine physician spends about 34,000 hours training after high school, including college, medical school, and residency. There is no single nationally standardized “training hours” figure, so that estimate is retained for continuity.
In the AMA’s 2024 data, internal medicine physicians reported 56.5 hours per week on work-related activities. We will continue to assume 48 working weeks per year.
If our hypothetical physician finishes residency at age 29 and retires at age 65, that creates a 36-year attending career.
Let’s Run the Numbers
True Hourly Wage for an Internal Medicine Physician
[($199,126 × 36) + $186,732 − $433,854] ÷ [(56.5 × 48 × 36) + 34,000]
$52.58 per hour
And Now the Moment You Have All Been Waiting For...
Physician Assistant/Associate: True Hourly Wage
The latest BLS occupational wage data place the May 2025 national mean annual wage for PAs at $141,280. That number is reassuringly close to AAPA’s newer profession-specific finding: the 2026 AAPA Salary Report found median PA compensation of $140,000 in 2025.
Under the same household and tax assumptions, the BLS wage becomes an estimated $117,549 after modeled federal, California, and employee payroll taxes.
PAs are educated at the master’s level. Most PA programs are approximately 27 months and include more than 2,000 hours of clinical rotations. Many programs also require or strongly prefer hands-on healthcare experience before admission, although the amount varies by program.
The original article estimated about 12,400 total training hours after high school for a PA, including a bachelor’s degree, pre-PA patient-care experience, didactic education, and clinical rotations. Again, no single official national “total training hours” figure exists, so the estimate remains in the model for continuity.
The latest PAEA student-debt report is Student Report 6, published in January 2025 from the association’s 2022 matriculating and end-of-program surveys. It found that 83.0% of responding graduating PA students had borrowed for graduate PA education. The report publishes debt ranges rather than one exact median: the midpoint graduate borrower fell in the $100,000–$124,999 range.
For the calculation, I use $112,500, the rounded midpoint of that median range. This is a modeling estimate, not a PAEA-reported exact median. The same report found that 47.4% of responding graduates also had outstanding pre-PA education debt, with the midpoint borrower in the $25,000–$49,999 range. It would be misleading to add that earlier debt to every PA, so pre-PA debt is not added to the central model.
At 8.07% over 20 years, repaying $112,500 requires about $946 per month and $227,016 in total payments.
NCCPA data place the typical PA workweek near 40 hours; AAPA also reported a 40-hour median in several PA specialties in 2025. We will use 40 hours per week and 48 working weeks per year.
If our hypothetical PA finishes school at age 27 and retires at age 65, that creates a 38-year career.
Let’s Run the Numbers
True Hourly Wage for a PA
[($117,549 × 38) − $227,016] ÷ [(40 × 48 × 38) + 12,400]
$49.67 per hour
And Just for Fun—Because Both of My Parents Are Teachers
High School Teacher: True Hourly Wage
The latest BLS occupational wage data place the May 2025 national mean annual wage for secondary school teachers, excluding special and career/technical education, at $76,320.
Under the same household and tax assumptions, that becomes an estimated $70,015 after modeled federal, California, and employee payroll taxes.
Teachers spend about 6,400 hours training after high school in the original model—the estimated classroom and study time required for a bachelor’s degree. State licensing requirements vary, and many teachers later earn graduate degrees, so an individual teacher’s training time and debt can be higher.
Among 2023–24 bachelor’s degree recipients who borrowed, the average cumulative education debt was $29,560. At the 2026–27 undergraduate federal loan rate of 6.52%, paying that balance over 20 years would require approximately $221 per month and $52,978 in total payments.
The original version assumed teachers worked only 40 hours per week for 38 weeks. That excluded too much real labor. BLS notes that teachers commonly spend evenings and weekends grading and preparing lessons, and RAND’s 2024 State of the American Teacher survey found that teachers reported an average of 53 total work hours per week, even though their contracts averaged 38 hours.
We will therefore use 53 hours per week for 40 weeks per year. If a teacher finishes college at 22 and retires at 65, that creates a 43-year career.
Many public-school teachers participate in defined-benefit pension systems, but benefit formulas, vesting, employee contributions, Social Security coverage, retirement age, and cost-of-living adjustments vary widely. Rather than invent one national pension, the model excludes retirement benefits for the teacher—just as it excludes them for the PA and physician.
Let’s Run the Numbers
True Hourly Wage for a High School Teacher
[($70,015 × 43) − $52,978] ÷ [(53 × 40 × 43) + 6,400]
$30.32 per hour
For the Love of Money
| Career | Gross annual wage | Modeled after-tax income | True hourly wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal medicine physician | $267,200 | $199,126 | $52.58 |
| PA | $141,280 | $117,549 | $49.67 |
| High school teacher | $76,320 | $70,015 | $30.32 |
After accounting for estimated training time, borrower debt, years worked, work hours, residency income, and taxes, the adjusted net hourly wage in this model is $52.58 for an internal medicine physician, $49.67 for a PA, and $30.32 for a high school teacher.
The physician’s annual gross wage is about 1.89 times the PA wage, but the physician’s true hourly wage is only about 1.06 times the PA true hourly wage in this model. The extra years of training, residency pay, higher debt, and longer workweek erase much of the apparent salary gap.
PA vs. Physician Round 1 still goes to the physician—but by an extremely narrow margin.
That conclusion is not universal. A physician in a higher-paying specialty, a PA with a large bonus, a teacher with an excellent pension, a graduate with no debt, or a borrower who receives forgiveness could produce a very different result. Career satisfaction, autonomy, time with family, professional risk, call schedules, geographic flexibility, and the work itself also matter—and none of them fits neatly into a salary equation.
But the central lesson survives the update: do not choose a career by comparing annual salaries alone. Compare the full path required to earn that salary and the life you will live while earning it.
Oh yeah, and how about that stay-at-home 35-year-old living in the basement in our poll? If anyone has time to run that calculation, post it in the comments. We may all be working way too hard!
If you liked this post, please feel free to share it.
—Stephen Pasquini, PA-C
Have You Seen the PA vs. Physician Infographic?
View the PA vs. Physician Infographic
Sources and Methodology
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: May 2025 national occupational employment and wage estimates
- AAMC: Medical school debt and cost of attendance
- AAMC: Resident and fellow stipends
- PAEA Student Report 6: PA education debt
- AAPA: PA education and clinical training
- AAPA 2026 Salary Report highlights
- AMA: 2024 physician work hours by specialty
- NCCPA 2024 Statistical Profile of Board-Certified PAs by State
- RAND: 2024 State of the American Teacher survey data
- College Board: Trends in College Pricing 2025
- College Board: Trends in Student Aid 2025
- Federal Student Aid: 2026–27 Direct Loan interest rates
- U.S. Department of Education: Federal graduate loan changes effective July 1, 2026
- IRS: 2026 federal tax brackets and standard deduction
- Social Security Administration: 2026 FICA rates and taxable maximum
- California Franchise Tax Board: 2025 tax rates, deductions, and exemptions
Calculation precision: displayed annual figures are rounded to the nearest dollar, while the final hourly calculations use unrounded values. “True hourly wage” is an illustrative career-adjusted earnings measure created for this article; it is not a standard labor-economics metric.
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It’s really interesting how PAs begin to compare themselves to MDs or even want to beat the hierarchy of MD. Remember, PA still carries the word “assistant behind”. If one wants to get rid of it and become a true medical doctor, please go through the intense training MDs have received during med school and residency. Personally, I have seen lots of incompetent PAs out there practicing medicine that kind of endanger the lives of patients. Luckily, they would mostly be fixed later by MDs. Just saying, MDs are much more competent in taking care of patients. And financial consideration shouldn’t be the major factor to determine which is a better career. At the end, patients lives are in our hands. Competence matters. Stay where ever you are staying and stop challenging MDs unless you are as educated as MDs.
Elephant in the Room Anyone?? First we get the sob story of the Dr. with all college loan costs and interest and interest on interest numbers flying left right and center to mystify the eyes as the $34 an hour income is revealed.
PA’s turn… Hey where did all the Education calculations go? Is someone paying for PA’s education?? Nope! Just the bait and switch of this article obviously written to deflate the Doctors income and nowhere mentioning the overcharges and other tricks Doctors use to increase their bottom line.. Hey anyone waited in office for 3 hours lately? Why? Not because your Dr had a sudden influx of emergency cases (though they might tell you that) Heck No! That’s your Dr. Booking double booking, triple booking! Then they slip the PA in to see half the patients with orders to not waste the Drs time… And they bill you the Co-Pay for the Dr visit and your insurance pays for Drs visit… PA Doesn’t see or get paid more for helping the Dr ring up 3-4 times the income that he would have had if people had a reasonable time with the Dr. and saw the DR not a PA. So for this article try increasing the Dr hourly wage 4 maybe 5 or more times to what they are really billing for. Then take that PA’s income and slash it ohh say 25% to apply the cost of learning they applied to the Dr. Now check out the “Slim” difference the article is talking about for the “Poor” Dr. Yeah Right…
The teacher calculations are inaccurate. I’m a high school English teacher considering the PA route, but that’s another story.
Anyways, the reason why teachers get summers off, get winter break, and spring break is because teachers work a 12 month job in 10 months. Personally, it would be physiologically and psychologically scarring to turn school into a 12 month job. I truly think no one would do it. I actually spent 2 weeks of the summer doing professional development, to better myself as an educator, so I claim 40 weeks of work, not 38. I won’t use that number in my example though.
Thank you for acknowledging that yes, teachers take a LOT of work home: grading student work, planning activities for the week, constructing props and teaching materials, making phone calls to parents, preparing documentation for individualized educational plans (state-mandated btw), reading resources for professional development, documenting implementation of professional development, tutoring outside of school day hours, some run extra curricular organizations, and some serve on committees for their school district.
Sure, let’s say I work just 38 weeks a year. STILL!!!! At minimum, your average teacher (not even the best or most dedicated to their profession: just your average teacher) puts in more like 50 hours of “compensated work” as you term it, and about an additional 12 hours, as cited by NEA, of non-compensated work time in other duties.
http://www.nea.org/home/12661.htm
38 weeks * (62 total actual hours work – 12 hours of non-compensated work) 50 hours a week = 1900 hours a year
1900 hours per year
$45,700 (what my actual pay stub states as my income) + $12,488 (net pension borrowed from your numbers, although I think it might work out differently in actuality, since my income is Texas-based. Just for brevity’s sake, let’s work with these numbers)
=$58188.
($58,188/62 hours of actual work)/38 weeks =
$24.69 an hour
I have roughly $24,000 dollars worth of student loans. I’m making payments of $291 a month right now. I’m locked in for the next 7 years at about 6.8% interest rate. So, 291*12 = $3492, and 38*62 =2365
Thus, $3492/$2365 = $1.47 dollars deducted from the hourly wage for the next seven years…
Your average teacher is actually making:
$23.21 an hour, assuming he/she has a much lower student loan debt than what you have calculated. I’m scared to even think about the average your using for student loan debt.
Anyways, I loved reading this article. I found it fascinating. It may even sway me more towards becoming a PA. You’re insights have a great informative and engaging web presence.
Thanks so much Alex for your excellent breakdown! It is nice to get a detailed analysis from someone like yourself who is actually working in the field. I may have to go back and update these numbers and will certainly reference your comment.
I heard a depressing statistic the other day that most teachers now a days only stay in the field for about 3 years. Do you find this to be true? My parents loved teaching but towards the end of their 30+ year careers they were fed up with much of the administrative process. Hopefully this changes, as I think teaching is a very rewarding career. In my opinion teachers should be compensated as well as doctors or lawyers.
Stephen
Stephen
You are completely missing the point, I would not choose M.D. vs PA for the economics of it, but for the level of training and how competent I will be when I come out. And it is night and day. Just take a close look at the amount of time a Medical Student spends glued to the books during the first two years of Medical School . I calculated to be the equivalent of about 34 college credit hours per semester.
And what about residency ? I was on call every third night and worked from 7 am to 5pm the following day sometimes without sleep that is a 34 hour shift. For 3 years!!! How can a PA or NP ever cover that gap in knowledge and clinical experience? It is just impossible, and that my friend, is why I went to Medical School and residency, to be COMPETENT, not to BE RICH.
I tried to do a similar comment. Thanks Alex! As an High School English teacher I concur. With 13 years experience I’m at 37k a year…also factor in paying for supplies out of pocket…I average 300-500 a year.
You don’t know what you don’t know till you become a doctor. That s what one doctor says and she used to be an NP. You shouldn’t just focus on money.
My loans were paid off in ten years not twenty. And you cannot put a price on satisfaction of being a doctor
If I could choose the Dr to be there when my life was at stake I’d pick You!
Interesting and of course it isn’t nor should be an “us vs them” mentality. What IS a problem I see with both MD owners and especially hospital admins and clinic admins is they see the PA as the “cheap doctor”. But it’s a strange relationship. They WANT to use just like they do the doctor, but they want to pay you less, yet you tend to make what they do or more, so the admins often have this resentment toward the midlevel even though they feel they can use you exactly like they do the doctor. I am not insinuating I am at that level. I AM competent, I am above the board in terms of my learning and college, but I am still NOT a doctor.
My point: PA’s are NOT cheap doctors! If we can’t be one, can’t get paid like one, then you can’t use us in the place of one. We have our role. But it has limitations even if it doesn’t seem like it in some settings
This is very true JB,
I am actually very concerned by this as well especially as I watch new graduates “thrown to the wolves” without appropriate supervision and little in the form of support or a chance to learn the trade. Many organizations see PAs as you have defined here “low cost” docs with the ability to bill patients on par with their physician counterparts. But great PAs are nurtured, and we have very little in the form of rules and regulations to make sure this is happening at an effective level. I am afraid that in our own pursuit for autonomy and increased pay we will end up shooting ourselves in the proverbial foot… Which places the reputation of our profession in danger. This is certainly a topic for discussion… on top of that new PA programs are popping up like weeds, and I hear occasional horror stories from students which shock me. So we need to be vigilant and not become careless!
Stephen
I am above the board in terms of learning and college? what does that mean?. and I am just curious to know what you think about the huge gap in classroom breath of knowledge as well as the lack of residency for a PA or NP. IT is a HUGE difference , a PA or NP will never ever have the knowledge in pharmacology, anatomy, physiology, pathology , microbiology, etc. or will ever receive the experience that a physician did during the intense clinical years that a residency provides. Don’t mean to insult your profession but comparing the degree of a NP or PA vs an MD is comparing apples and monkeys , not even in the same category.
Respect to PA’s, but serioisly someone went a long way to make themself feel better that they didn’t take the path to be a physician…
Unique way to look at the salaries though.
I think it’s time we stop thinking about the choice to study as a physician assistant as a form of “settling”, and accept it as an excellent career option in its own right!
Stephen
really? How competent do you feel vs an M.D. And how do you compare your training vs a physician that went through the intensity of Medical School and residency? Is all the extra training and classroom work useless? do we really need Medical Schools? How confident are you in pharmacology, microbiology, pathology, anatomy and physiology?
How long did you spend in direct patient care of NICU, ICU patients so you can understand the severe complications of common illnesses and obscure diseases that you may encounter and miss in the clinic? I will argue that your profession provides a cost effective alternative for healthcare but not a very competent one. You really don’t have a clue of what you don’t know.
You fit the bill of the stereotypical MD with a God complex.
A PA has a place just like a MD/DO.
Imagine what clinical life would be like without nurses?
I think we can all agree an MD is going to have to learn a lot more. But does that mean that a PA is incompetent? Absolutely not. Any MD that believes they don’t need nurses and PAs to function with fluidity has spent their head too deep in a book and too fair up their own…
And in my mind, are everything that is wrong with healthcare.
Agreed.
I work with MD/DOs and PA/NPs and the PA/NPs are called mid-level practitioners (MLP) for a reason. They are competent in many of medical aspects but have the docs available to consult on more complex cases. It helps free up the doctors to have the PAs/NPs available to for more routine scenarios, so the docs can focus on more advanced scenarios. It doesn’t lessen the competency of the MLP. I work in the ER and the docs and MLPs work together seamlessly and collaboratively. It’s really a great thing. I don’t like working with the “God complex” types just as the nurses and other support personnel don’t….They tend to carry that complex with them with everyone they encounter — patients included.
I’ve also found, from my work and as a patient, that many MLPs seem to be able to spend more time listening to me and seem to not be so rushed as so many doctors do. It comes off as more compassionate, in my honest opinion, when a provider slows down, looks away from the screen, and takes the time to actually listen and chat with the patient in a meaningful way. MLPs often have the time to this.
lol .. people dont go to med school just to get rich or make more money then a PA.
What are the pro and cons of PA vs NP? Which has a better scope of practice and more autonomy?
Why are you ignoring comments regarding your inflated values? The amount of MDs that take 20 years to pay off their debt is probably below 5%. The vast, VAST majority pay it off in 10 or less. Then you go ahead and double that? Lol..
$183,000 is the average amount of medical school debt graduates had in 2014 according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
If a physician wanted to pay back $176,000 at 6% interest over 10 years, that would be around $1,954 a month every month for ten years. This includes nearly $58,500 in interest charges over the life of the loan.
While $2,000 a month might be a small portion of a physician’s paycheck, it is definitely not a small number in general. Consistently investing that amount in a retirement account would have massive wealth-building potential over time. Not to mention after taxes, family, mortgage, insurance and savings there will be little left.. Sorry no BMW for another 15 years. If you factor into this that doctors spend so much time in school that the lost decade of work costs a cool half-million dollars, if you assume this individual could have earned just $50,000 annually, and the typical medical school candidate is smart and successful enough to earn considerably more. Add in the time and cost it takes to pay off medical school debt and a dissatisfied physician may well consider pursuing medicine a $1 million mistake. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/1-million-mistake-becoming-a-doctor/
Don’t get me wrong, I love doctors and I appreciate everything they do but the time/money equation is not good, especially when you think about how debt affects freedom. Which in my opinion explains some of why so many doctors report being dissatisfied with their jobs:
this is awesome! Writing a paper about how supplementing more PA’s could be beneficial to the American healthcare system.
Hi Ian,
There is a lot of evidence showing how PAs bring down healthcare costs, increase patient satisfaction, decrease wait times and improve patient outcomes. Doctors are also catching on really quickly how adding PAs to the healthcare team can help the bottom line. We PAs rock 🙂
Stephen
I just wish the name physician assistant can be changed. It’s a poor choice, people who don’t know the profession continue to think is just someone that assist and no matter how you explain people are still ignorant..that’s the
big problem am having with “people “
If you do what you do because you are seeking accolades from other people your stuck. Because you can’t control other people. Changing the name of the profession may help pad the egos of PAs who feel like they are defined by their name tag. In my 13 years as a PA I have found we are defined not by the name of our profession but how we choose to go about our day. Respect is not granted by a a label… It is earned, and we each must wake up every day and earn it.
Thanks for the reply.
Hello,am so glad you posted this, am tired of reading different post of how much pa vs Md make, however am still worried if I can live comfortably as a pa in new York City. Also is it true that a pa can’t make more than 150000 yearly. Thanks
That is not true I have several colleagues that work for ortho or neuro in Kaiser (California) who are making $75/hr plus over time. They make more than 150k per year
Thanks for the reply.
A PA that can do orthopedic Surgery can make over 200k per year! The physician probably makes 500,000 dollars before taxes, though
This is a great point Sam, I think where PAs take the proverbial cake is in the triad of Family + Fitness + Freedom. And in reality, I do believe that once our financial needs are met (as a PA in orthopedics they are easy to meet) the triad takes precedence and in both the short and long term will make for a better quality of life.
– Stephen
No physician, or other highly–paid professional, in their right mind, is going to pay off that sort of debt over a period of 20 years – especially since, as you have correctly stated, they can’t write off the interest into their income taxes. Your total debt payment numbers are artificially inflated by a wide margin; that is, unless you’re talking about some sort of surgery or other extremely long residency – but, then they can expect to make a much higher income once they do finish the residency. I’m not here to argue PA vs MD, but, financially, in the long run, unless the person totally mismanages their money, the MD is going to net more by a wide margin.
I am not certain the training hours for a PA with Master’s degree are estimated correctly. It should be more unless I was not clear about the calculation. It’s 4 years college plus about 30 months for didactic classes and clinical rotations. Nevertheless, the job satisfaction from helping patients trumps the amount of money earned. One may also want to count the anxiety impact on the health about job loss and the impact of job loss on the health and family and relationships.
Oh, I really liked Jerry McGuire the movie. Cuba Gooding Jr. was simply amazing in it.
Hi Jonathan,
Studies show that happiness levels max out at around $55,0000/yr in annual salary, so money is obviously not everything. It is wonderful to have a job that impacts people in a positive way, that offers job security and a very good salary. This is why PA as a career continues to rank in the top 5 jobs year after year. Of course what we are all trading on a daily basis is time – time traded for impact, time traded for money, time traded for goods and services. And PA has a very good time – to earnings ratio – which can result in a very nice life balance.
And yes, Cuba Gooding Jr. is the man 🙂
Take care,
Stephen
So money is the only thing that matters? Such a sad state of affairs. May your soul find peace.
Of course not, time is what matters, and this is what truly separates PA from MD.
I’m still weighing out my options, but my tentative plan now is to try for PA school, and learn computer programming on the side. I feel that learning programming will enable me to make extra money and learn something different, although both are difficult paths. If I become an MD I will simply have less time to pursue side endeavors (while I am young, at least). The entrepreneurial opportunities in computer science seem to vastly outweigh those in healthcare, too. Thoughts on this? It is very difficult to make such impactful decisions.
The computer programming degree to PA path is EXACTLY the one I’m contemplating too! So many difficult choices! I would love to read any replies on the subject.
currently majoring in web design for bachelor’s and contemplating if i should do Dental School or PA school for my career choice. I know both career paths, actually all three topics are completely different, but I am a big dreamer and sometimes I go too far of into space that my friends have to bring me back to reality on earth lol did you end up finalizing your decision?
Competence is what matters, above everything else!!!
And that is what separates M.D.s from PAs LOL
You are the definition of an ass, I’d rather see a PA/NP over you anyday of the week.
I’d wager $100 that this troll is a surgeon.