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NPs & PAs

Physician assistant salary

Open physician assistant jobs post a median of $76 an hour, with the middle half paying $67.50–$93: about $158,100 a year full time. Measured from 214 jobs at 62 employers that state their pay, read from each employer's own job board.

$76
Median posted /hr
$68–$93
Middle half /hr
$158,100
A year, full time
estimate, 2,080 hours
$65.33
BLS median /hr
May 2025

The jobs themselves: Physician assistant jobs

What physician assistants are paid

Each bar counts the open jobs posting an hourly rate in its step of pay (a range at its midpoint). The middle half of employers' rates is in the darker color.

Posted hourly rates of 214 open jobs. The chart spans the 2nd to the 98th percentile; the lowest rate posted is $45, the highest $149.39.

Posted on open jobs

$67.50–$93/hr

Middle half of 113 employer rates (each employer's advertised range once), median $76. 18% of the 1,220 open physician assistant jobs state an hourly rate. 1 more state an "up to" ceiling, a weekly travel rate, a per-visit fee, or a rate far from the rest (a differential read as pay), left out.

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Physician assistant pay by employer

What each employer posts for physician assistants, the employers with the most jobs stating pay first. An employer with at least 5 such jobs has a page of its own with every range it posts.

EmployerMedian postedPosted rangeJobs stating pay
Kaiser Permanente$107.75$72.30–$116.9216
Confluence Health$72.25$65.87–$84.6212
Mount Sinai Health System$81.75$64.89–$99.3011
Westchester Medical Center Health Network$67.75$62.23–$73.0511
RWJBarnabas Health$74.50$57.69–$93.4110
Catholic Health (Long Island)$95$74.67–$1009
One Medical$62.25$59.10–$65.509
UPMC$63$48.17–$87.368
Northwell Health$107.50$80–$1357
NewYork-Presbyterian$100$70.30–$1007
Rochester Regional Health$75$65–$757
Northwestern Medicine$72.75$61–$86.207
Cedars-Sinai$101$74–$126.186
ConvenientMD$87.25$52–$1256
Atlantic Health$84.50$61.18–$131.446
Endeavor Health$79.25$56.25–$95.815
MarinHealth$100.75$85.95–$108.454
Kaweah Health$91.25$72.90–$110.394
Mass General Brigham$71.25$59.04–$93.504
Adventist HealthCare$63.50$50.80–$76.204
Sharp HealthCare$89.25$77.91–$110.583
Legacy Health$86.25$72.84–$103.983
Capital Health$77.25$62.43–$92.193
Advocate Health$68.75$54.90–$82.353
Sutter Health$109.50$89.07–$133.462
Stanford Health Care$106.50$91.68–$121.482
Community Memorial Hospital - Ventura$96$82.27–$109.692
Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital$76.50$70.33–$82.472
Tufts Medicine$72$64–$802
HealthPartners$69.50$53.93–$90.142
Allina Health$67.25$56.48–$78.152
Illinois Bone and Joint Institute$66.50$49–$752
Ascension$66.25$60–$73.422
Boston Medical Center$65$52.40–$78.132
Trillion Health and Hormone$56.50$45–$682
John Muir Health$124.50$99.60–$149.391
Mille Lacs Health System$115$1151
Valley Health System (New Jersey)$106$1061
UCSF Health$105.75$90.17–$121.361
South Shore Health$100$90–$1101

Median of each employer's own jobs (a range at its midpoint), and the lowest and highest rate it posts. Jobs stating pay link to the employer's open jobs.

Physician assistant pay by state

States where at least 8 open jobs from 3 employers state an hourly rate, highest median first. Each opens the state's own page, with its towns and employers.

StateMedian postedMiddle halfBLS medianJobs
California$96.50$91–$103$79.64 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)44
New York$80.75$70–$95.75$77.35 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)55
New Jersey$79.25$74.75–$90$79.66 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)21
Illinois$72.75$66.50–$77.75$63.44 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)17
Washington$72.75$68.50–$75$79.02 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)15
Massachusetts$71.75$65.50–$80.75$68.47 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)11
Maryland$66.50$65–$75$66.13 (source: BLS OEWS, state medians, opens in a new tab)10

Median and middle half of employers' rates in the state. BLS medians are for the occupation's main SOC code in the state (May 2025).

Night shift physician assistant pay

Where one employer posts both night and other physician assistant jobs in the same state (3 such employers and states), the night jobs post the same base rate as the rest (the median gap is $0): most employers state their night differential apart from the base pay, so check the posting for it.

Employer, stateNight jobs, medianOther jobs, median
RWJBarnabas Health, NJ$74.50 (3)$74.50 (7)
NewYork-Presbyterian, NY$82 (1)$100 (6)
Endeavor Health, IL$80.75 (2)$64.25 (3)

A job counts as a night job when its title names nights ("Nights", "NOC", "7p-7a"). Jobs in brackets.

Physician assistant jobs that state a yearly salary

Some jobs state a salary for the year instead of an hourly rate. They are measured on their own here, never converted.

273 open jobs from 86 employers state a yearly salary: a median of $142,500, the middle half $130,500 to $158,500, from $30,000 to $296,691 posted.

Best-paid open physician assistant jobs

The open jobs posting the highest hourly rates tonight, at most two from one employer.

Every open job: Physician assistant jobs

What BLS measures

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys what people employed in the occupation earn, at every level of experience. A posting advertises what a new hire is offered, so the two measure different things.

Hourly wages, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Each figure opens its BLS page.
BLS occupation10th pct25th pctMedian75th pct90th pctEmployed
Physician Assistants (29-1071)$47.78 (source: BLS OEWS, Physician Assistants, opens in a new tab)$58.02 (source: BLS OEWS, Physician Assistants, opens in a new tab)$65.33 (source: BLS OEWS, Physician Assistants, opens in a new tab)$78.84 (source: BLS OEWS, Physician Assistants, opens in a new tab)$91.48 (source: BLS OEWS, Physician Assistants, opens in a new tab)162,150 (source: BLS OEWS, Physician Assistants, opens in a new tab)

The posted median ($76) is $10.67 above the BLS median ($65.33 (source: BLS OEWS May 2025, Physician Assistants, opens in a new tab)). Posted ranges run from a new hire's rate to an experienced one's, and their midpoint is counted here.

Physician assistant salary: common questions

How much does a physician assistant make an hour?

Open physician assistant jobs on CareJobs.Now that state an hourly rate post a median of $76, with the middle half between $67.50–$93 (214 jobs from 62 employers, each employer's advertised range counted once). Postings advertise a base rate, usually before shift differentials and bonuses. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics measured a median of $65.33/hr ($135,880 a year) for physician assistants in May 2025.

How much does a physician assistant make a year?

At the posted median of $76 an hour, full time (2,080 hours a year) comes to about $158,100, and the middle half to $140,400 to $193,400. That is arithmetic on the hourly rate, not a salary any job states. 273 open jobs state a yearly salary instead, a median of $142,500.

Which states pay physician assistants the most?

By the median hourly rate open jobs post: California ($96.50), New York ($80.75) and New Jersey ($79.25). The lowest: Maryland ($66.50), Massachusetts ($71.75) and Washington ($72.75). Each state's page breaks its pay down by town and employer.

Which employers pay physician assistants the most?

Among employers stating a rate on at least 5 open jobs: Kaiser Permanente ($107.75), Northwell Health ($107.50) and Cedars-Sinai ($101). The employer table lists the 40 employers with the most jobs stating pay.

Do night shift physician assistants earn more?

Not in the base rate employers post: where one employer posts both night and other physician assistant jobs in the same state (3 such employers and states), the median gap is $0. Most state their night differential separately in the posting.

Where do these figures come from?

From the pay CareJobs.Now's open jobs state, read every night from each employer's own job board: 214 of 1,220 open physician assistant jobs (18%) state an hourly rate. No pay is estimated for a job that states none, "up to" ceilings and weekly travel rates are left out, and each employer's advertised range counts once in the median, so no single employer sets it.

More pay by job: NPs & PAs

Physician assistant jobs →Every healthcare salary →Pay explorer →

Sources and method

Only pay a job states is used: a plain hourly or yearly figure or range in US dollars, read from the job's own posting. A range counts at its midpoint. In the median and the middle half each employer's advertised range counts once, so an employer posting one range in many towns does not set the figure; an employer's own figures count its jobs one by one. "Up to" ceilings, weekly travel rates and rates under a third or over three times the occupation's median are left out. The yearly estimate is the hourly rate times 2,080 hours (40 a week). A job counts under its occupation and every occupation above it, and under every state it is open in. A page exists while at least 8 jobs from 3 employers state a rate. BLS figures are as published.
  1. CareJobs.Now job board: the pay open jobs state, read nightly from each employer's own careers site, published October 24, 2026
  2. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Physician Assistants (SOC 29-1071), published May 15, 2026
  3. BLS OEWS May 2025: Physician Assistants by state, published May 15, 2026
  4. BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035: Physician Assistants (Occupational Outlook Handbook), published August 27, 2026

Cite this page

CareJobs.Now. (2026). Physician assistant salary. Data as of October 24, 2026. https://carejobs.now/salaries/physician-assistant

How the board counts