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Role hub · Physician Assistants

Physician Assistant: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of physician assistants earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$135,880
Hourly
$65.33
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Physician Assistants provide healthcare services typically performed by a physician, under the supervision of a physician. The median pay is $135,880 a year ($65.33 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a master's degree (81% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$135,880
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
162,150
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 5 of 5
extensive preparation
Most common education
Master's Degree
81% of workers
Explore the role

Every page for Physician Assistants

SalaryPhysician Assistant salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomePhysician Assistant how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumePhysician Assistant resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsPhysician Assistant interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Career changePhysician Assistant career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What physician assistants do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Make tentative diagnoses and decisions about management and treatment of patients.
  2. Interpret diagnostic test results for deviations from normal.
  3. Prescribe therapy or medication with physician approval.
  4. Obtain, compile, and record patient medical data, including health history, progress notes, and results of physical examination.
  5. Examine patients to obtain information about their physical condition.
  6. Administer or order diagnostic tests, such as x-ray, electrocardiogram, and laboratory tests.
  7. Instruct and counsel patients about prescribed therapeutic regimens, normal growth and development, family planning, emotional problems of daily living, and health maintenance.
  8. Perform therapeutic procedures, such as injections, immunizations, suturing and wound care, and infection management.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Reading ComprehensioncoreCritical ThinkingcoreSocial PerceptivenesscoreService OrientationJudgment and Decision MakingActive ListeningWritingSpeakingComplex Problem Solving

Knowledge areas: Medicine and Dentistry, Biology, English Language, Psychology, Therapy and Counseling, Customer and Personal Service.

Tools and technology

Software physician assistants use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Epic SystemsMedical softwareIn demand
  • MEDITECH softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • eClinicalWorks EHR softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • ChartWare EMRMedical software
  • Electronic medical record EMR softwareMedical software
  • Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCSMedical software
  • Medical condition coding softwareMedical software
  • Medical procedure coding softwareMedical software
  • Patient management softwareMedical software
  • Patient records software for personal digital assistants PDAsStorage media loading software
  • Teleradiology systemsMedical software
  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology

Also called: Cardiology Physician Assistant, Certified Physician Assistant (PA-C), Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant (Emergency Medicine PA), Family Practice Physician Assistant, Orthopaedic Physician Assistant, Orthopedic Physician Assistant.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).