Physician assistants earned an average income of more than $104,000 in 2016, but in some specialties, average pay was nearly $120,000, according to survey data from the National Commission on Certification of Physician assistants.
The survey includes information from 94 percent of certified PAs.
The profession is relatively young — the first PAs graduated 50 years ago — but is growing quickly to meet provider demand, particularly as the physician shortage grows. The number of PAs in the country increased 44 percent over the past six years to number 115,547 at the end of 2016, according to the survey. More than 70 percent of those PAs practice in non-primary care specialties.
Here is the mean total income for PAs by specialty in 2016. Specialties are listed in alphabetical order.
Adolescent medicine — $81,607
Anesthesiology — $98,435
Critical care medicine — $114,235
Dermatology — $118,145
Emergency medicine — $116,661
Family medicine (general practice) — $96,468
Gynecology — $87,609
Hospice and palliative medicine — $97,778
Hospital medicine — $105,413
Internal medicine (general practice) — $96,575
Internal medicine (subspecialty) — $97,245
Neurology — $95,606
Obstetrics and gynecology — $89,942
Occupational medicine — $101,924
Ophthalmology — $94,545
Otolaryngology — $96,451
Pain management — $103,154
Pathology — $119,000
Pediatrics — $88,764
Pediatrics (subspecialties) — $98,733
Physical medicine/rehabilitation — $96,231
Preventive medicine/public health — $93,231
Psychiatry — $101,630
Radiation oncology — $100,211
Radiology — $103,932
Surgery (general) — $106,504
Surgery (subspecialties) — $113,752
Urology — $102,197
Read the full report here.
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