How Much do PAs Make? Physician Assistant Salary and Compensation

PA Salary and Compensation

How much money does a physician assistant make?

In 2018, the median annual salary for PAs working full-time in the United States is $102,000 - $106,873 per year.

PAs who receive an hourly wage, rather than an annual salary, earn an average of $60.00 per hour.

PAs working in emergency medicine and surgical subspecialties continue to make the most money. While PAs in primary care are among the lowest paid in our profession.

Most (79.4%) of PAs are paid an annual (versus an hourly) salary. PAs who work in emergency medicine, urgent care, or are independent contractors are more likely to receive an hourly wage.

In addition to their base salary, half of full-time clinically practicing PAs receive a bonus of $6,000 or more with the average bonus being $6,118. Sadly, the average bonus for a female PA is $3,000 less than their male counterpart.

PA salaries and the buying power of those salaries vary significantly by region. While PAs in California have the highest median salary of $118,000, PAs in Kentucky, Iowa, and Mississippi have some of the highest cost-adjusted median wages in the nation.

Below is the latest statistical data aggregated from the AAPA Salary and Compensation Report and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Earnings and Hours Worked for Primary Employer by Part-time and Full-time Status

Earnings	10th percentile	25th percentile	50th percentile	75th percentile	90th percentile
Part Time
Base Salary	$45,000	$60,000	$78,000	$95,000	$112,000
Base Hourly	$45	$50	$55	$65	$75
Bonus	$600	$1,000	$3,000	$10,000	$21,000
Hours Worked	16	20	24	30	32
Full Time
Base Salary	$83,000	$90,000	$102,000	$117,000	$134,000
Base Hourly	$45	$51	$60	$68	$80
Bonus	$100	$2,500	$6,000	$14,000	$30,000
Hours Worked	35	40	40	50	55

Median Base Salary and Bonus From Primary Employer by Work Setting and Years of Experience

Years of experience matters with salary peaking for PAs with 15-19 years of experience. Those in this group can make up to $30,000 more per year than their new-grad counterparts.

	0-1 yrs	2-4 yrs	5-9 yrs	10-14 yrs	15-19 yrs	20+ yrs
Clinic	$90,000	$90,000	$98,000	$104,000	$108,000	$110,000
Hospital Inpatient	$90,000	$96,5000	$104,000	$112,000	$119,000	$125,000
Emergency	$95,300	$100,000	$112,000	$110,000	$116,000	$119,500
Operating Room	$92,000	$101,000	$107,341	$120,000	$132,000	$130,000
Urgent Care	$92,5000	$96,000	$105,000	$108,000	$120,000	$111,000
ICU	$94,8000	$100,000	$105,000	$118,000	$140,000	$130,000

Proportion of Professional Expenses Paid

The vast majority (87%) of PAs receive professional development compensation from their primary employer

Did receive professional development funds: 87.3%
Did not receive professional development funds: 12.7%

	None	All	Lump Sum
State license fees	19.9%	60.5%	16.3%
DEA	14.9%	62.0%	13.4%
NCCPA fees	28.5%	46.7%	19.9%
AAPA membership	31.7%	38.9%	23.0%
Other professional organization fees	34.8%	25.9%	24.8%
CME expenses	11.5%	26.4%	44.5%
Academic subscriptions	40.6%	12.1%	23.1%
Travel reimbursement	32.7%	17.7%	27.6%
Tec (phones, laptop, tablet)	49.1%	16.2%	8.6%

Insurance Benefits Paid for by Primary Employer

Most full-time PAs continue to have individual health, dental and liability insurance included as a covered benefit

	None	More Than Half	All
Liability insurance	3.0%	1.3%	88.8%
Health insurance	11.6%	41.9%	22.0%
Family health insurance	21.9%	25.5%	9.0%
Dental insurance	23.5%	36.1%	15.3%
Disability insurance	26.8%	19.1%	27.4%
Term life insurance	29.6%	14.2%	27.8%

Retirement Benefits Provided by Primary Employer

The majority (31.5%) of employers match from 3% - 7% of employee 401K contributions. Only 7.3% of PAs have a pension which is roughly half (14% ) the number of non-union employees in the US receiving pensions.

Employer does not contribute to retirement: 15.6%
Employer-provided a 401k/403b option but did not contribute: 6.9%
Employer contributed a set amount to 401k/403b: 12.3%
Employer matched 3% or less of 401k/403b contribution: 25.2%
Employer matched between 3% and 7% of 401k/403b contribution: 31.5%
Employer matched more than 7% of 401k/403b contributions: 5.9%
Employer-provided a pension: 7.3%

Paid Days Off

The average PA receives 17 paid vacation days per year and six days of sick leave. For those who receive paid time off the average PA is given 20 days of general PTO. The majority of PAs receive 4.4 hours of CME with 26.4% who are lucky enough to have their CME paid for them.

General PTO 20.0
Vacation 17.1
Sick 8.0
Parental leave 18.0
Bereavement 2.7
Holidays 6.0
CME 4.4

PA Call Status

The majority of PAs (64%) do not take a formal call.

Did not take call: 64%
Took some call: 23.2%
Took some call do not know hours: 8.8%
Always on call: 3.6%

Hours per Month PAs Took Call

On average PAs working 32 hours or more per week who were required to take call took 48 hours of call per month.

10'th percentile: 6 hours/month
25'th percentile: 16 hours/month
50'th percentile: 48 hours/month
75 percentile: 100 hours/month
90'th percentile: 168 hours/month

PA Participation in Profit Sharing Plans

The majority of PAs (86%) do not participate in profit sharing plans. Those that do receive the majority of their profit share as a bonus.

Participated in profit sharing: 13.9%
Did not participate in profit sharing: 86.1%

Mode of Profit Sharing

If a PA does receive profit sharing they are likely to receive this as a bonus to their annual salary.

Stock options: 26%
Equity: 15%
Bonus: 30.9%
Other: 28.1%

Amount of Additional Forms of Compensation

PAs who receive specific additional compensation from their primary clinical employer is most likely to receive this in the form of student loan repayment.

Honoraria: $2,000
Research stipend: $1,500
Student loan repayment: $10,000
Sign on bonus: $5,000
Relocation expenses: $3,900
Tuition reimbursement: $2,500

PA Compensation by Wage Type

The majority of PAs (79.4%) receive their wages in the form of salary.

Annual salary: 79.4%
Hourly wage: 17.3%
Productivity: 3.3%

Median PA Salary By Region

West: $106,000
Northeast: $102,000
South: $100,100
Midwest: $100,000

Median Base Salary From Primary Employer by Primary Work Setting

The best paid PAs work in the OR, ICU and emergency department receiving (on average) $8,000 more per year.

Hospital: Critical access $110,000
Hospital: Operating room $ 110,000
Hospital: Intensive care/critical care unit $110,000
Hospital: Emergency department $110,000
Hospital: Other units not specified $109,640
Convenient care clinic (including retail clinics) $109,000
Industrial facility/worksite $108,000
Other $106,469
Hospital: Outpatient unit $105,000
Hospital: Inpatient unit (not ICU/CCU) $104,000
School/college/university $103,000
Urgent care center $102,000
National median $102,000
Other freestanding outpatient facilities: $100,000
Patient home $100,000
Correctional facility $99,263
Physician office/clinic $98,900
Ambulatory surgical center $98,500
Rehabilitation facility $96,250
Extended care facility/nursing home $95,000

Median Base Salary From Primary Employer by Employer Type

The least profitable place for a PA to work is for a physician solo practice, community health clinic or certified rural health center. Those receiving the highest salary work as independent contractors or work for non-healthcare related corporations.

Non-healthcare related corporation $124,500
Self-employed/ independent contractor $124,500
Consulting firm $111,500
HMO $110,000
Convenient care (including retail clinics) $110,000
Other healthcare related corporation $110,000
Hospital (including academic medical center) $105,000
Medical staffing agency $105,000
Other $104,500
Government $103,000
College or university $102,989
National median $102,000
Physician practice: Multispecialty group $101,750
Physician practice: Single specialty group $100,000
Federally Qualified Health Center $100,000
Certified Rural Health Clinic $97,500
Community health clinic $95,500
Physician Solo practice $93,000

Median Base Salary From Primary Employer by Major Specialty Area

Once again, the poor primary care PA is the lowest paid among all PA specialties.

Emergency Medicine: $110,000
Surgical subspecialties: $105,560
Pediatric subspecialties: $103,000
All other specialties: $103,000
Internal medicine subspecialties: $100,000
Primary care: $95,000

The PA Profession Affords Flexibility

The PA profession is more flexible than other healthcare professions, allowing PAs to change specialties and work settings relatively easily throughout their careers. Different specialties and settings enjoy unique benefits and different compensation levels.

About one-sixth (17.7%) of PAs made a change in one or more of these areas. The most common change was in employer; 11.6% of PAs find a new employer in a given year, while almost 7% of PAs switch their role, setting, or specialty.

Career Changes by PAs

Employer change: 11.6%
Setting change: 6.9%
Role change: 6.6%
Speciality change: 6.3%

The Relationship Between Salary and Gender for PAs

Gender-Based Salary Discrepancies: On average, female PAs are paid less than male PAs, about 91 cents for every dollar a man made.

The median base salary for female PAs is $10,000 lower than male PAs, and the median bonus is $3,000 lower.

Meanwhile, Labor Department data show women across all industries earned about 82 cents for every dollar a man made in 2016.

Year	Percent of male salary
1997	87%
1998	90%
1999	86%
2000	90%
2001	87%
2002	88%
2003	87%
2004	88%
2005	87%
2006	85.5%
2007	86%
2008	86%
2009	NO DATA
2010	85%
2011	NO DATA
2012	89.5%
2013	NO DATA
2014	90%
2015	90.5%
2016	91%

Cost Adjusted Median Salary by State

Just because a particular state post a larger or smaller wage doesn't mean you will actually be living a larger life. When adjusted for costs of goods the results can be surprising. Below is the cost-adjusted median salary of PAs living in all 50 states. Kentucky fried chicken anybody?

If you are moving for work or just want to get an idea of how good or bad your situation is head over to the AAPA website and use their free Cost of Living Calculator. Doximity also publishes an interactive map with PA compensation and housing costs by county and specialty.

State	Actual Median Salary	Cost-Adjusted Median Salary
Kentucky	$100,902	$119,552
Iowa	$105,000	$118,539
Mississippi	$96,000	$117,216
Texas	$106,000	$115,974
Idaho	$99,809	$115,520
Indiana	$100,000	$115,473
Michigan	$100,000	$115,207
Oklahoma	$98,000	$113,295
Nebraska	$100,000	$111,857
Minnesota	$106,000	$111,228
Georgia	$100,000	$111,111
North Carolina	$99,939	$110,797
Missouri	$97,500	$110,670
Ohio	$979,809	$110,269
Tennessee	$95,000	$109,700
Arkansas	$93,480	$109,333
West Virginia	$97,494	$108,690
Utah	$100,000	$107,759
Montana	$100,002	$107,645
Wisconsin	$100,000	$107,066
Washington	$113,000	$106,604
Wyoming	$102,000	$106,250
Arizona	$105,000	$106,168
New Mexico	$100,000	$105,374
Kansas	$95,000	$105,205
North Dakota	$100,000	$105,042
South Carolina	$97,000	$104,413
Louisiana	$94,000	$104,329
Florida	$99,300	$103,762
Oregon	$107,500	$102,871
Nevada	$102,500	$102,603
Alabama	$88,750	$102,011
Virginia	$100,050	$101,988
Colorado	$98,250	$99,142
South Dakota	$94,000	$98,636
Delaware	$97,700	$98,488
Illinois	$97,000	$96,517
Rhode Island	$110,000	$95,819
Vermont	$107,000	$94,942
New Jersey	$107,500	$94,464
Pennsylvania	$9,400	$93,532
California	$118,000	$91,972
Maryland	$105,000	$91,384
Alaska	$110,000	$89,869
New Hampshire	$103,500	$89,844
Maine	$99,250	$89,738
Connecticut	$110,000	$88,638
Massachusetts	$105,000	$85,227
District of Columbia	$109,249	$80,627
New York	$104,500	$79,832
Hawaii	$93,000	$69,403

Cost-Adjusted Median PA Salary by State

When it comes to salary, like many things in life, bigger does not always mean better.

Where you live determines how far your salary (and your dollar) goes. So before you move across the country to take that snazzy $104,000 per year job in New York State, realize that in real cost adjusted dollars this equates to only about $80,000 in purchasing power.

For example in Arkansas, it takes only $0.86 to purchase $1.00 of goods and services. Versus my home state of California where it takes $1.28 to obtain $1 of similar products or services. So, in reality, each $1 earned in California is really only worth 0.78 cents of purchasing power, or in terms of hourly wage, my $60 per hour salary is worth $47 per hour when adjusted for the high cost of living in the Bay Area.

Using cost-of-living data, you can determine not only your adjusted cost-of-living salary but you can use this data to calculate the salary you will need to maintain the same standard of living in a different location.

A cost-adjustment of 1.0 indicates that a salary of $104,000 has $102,000 of buying power for purchasing goods and services. In many of the states where PAs report lower wages, such as South Dakota, Mississippi, and Ohio, PAs may find that they have greater purchasing power than their absolute salary appears when cost-of-living adjustments are taken into account.

To determine the salary needed to maintain your current standard of living in a different location simply multiply your current salary by the number in the buying power column for that particular state. For example, say I make 118,000 in before-tax salary in California but I want to move to New York State. Currently, my cost adjusted median salary is $91,972. The same 118,00 salary in New York would (118,000 x .76) $89,680. In other words, if I want to live the same life I can either make some budget cuts or ask for $120,000 per year at my new job.

wdt_ID	State	Relative Costs of Goods/ Services	Actual Median Salary	BUYING POWER	Cost-Adjusted Median Salary
1	Alabama	0.87	88,750	1.15	102,011
2	Alaska	1.22	110,000	0.82	89,869
3	Arizona	0.99	105,000	1.01	106,168
4	Arkansas	0.86	93,480	1.17	109,333
5	California	1.28	118,000	0.78	91,972
6	Colorado	0.99	98,250	1.01	99,142
7	Connecticut	1.24	110,000	0.81	88,638
8	Delaware	0.99	97,700	1.01	98,488
9	District of Columbia	1.36	109,249	0.74	80,627
10	Florida	0.96	99,300	1.04	103,762
	State	Relative Costs of Goods/ Services	Actual Median Salary	BUYING POWER	Cost-Adjusted Median Salary