Physician Assistants
Provide healthcare services typically performed by a physician, under the supervision of a physician. Conduct complete physicals, provide treatment, and counsel patients. May, in some cases, prescribe medication. Must graduate from an accredited educational program for physician assistants.
- O*NET-SOC code
29-1071.00 - Preparation Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Wages
Median annual wage, U.S.$135,880
Employment, U.S.162,150
Median hourly wage$65.33
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $99,380 | $120,670 | $135,880 | $163,980 | $190,280 |
By state (51)
| State | Employment | Median annual | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 930 | $104,960 | 0.42 |
| Alaska | 700 | $150,700 | 2.07 |
| Arizona | 3,750 | $134,650 | 1.11 |
| Arkansas | 850 | $118,430 | 0.62 |
| California | 13,600 | $165,650 | 0.72 |
| Colorado | 3,270 | $134,540 | 1.09 |
| Connecticut | 3,570 | $139,860 | 2.02 |
| Delaware | 860 | $139,350 | 1.69 |
| District of Columbia | 470 | $135,140 | 0.64 |
| Florida | 9,310 | $129,620 | 0.90 |
| Georgia | 5,610 | $115,390 | 1.10 |
| Hawaii | 530 | $164,050 | 0.81 |
| Idaho | 1,320 | $133,790 | 1.48 |
| Illinois | 3,790 | $131,950 | 0.60 |
| Indiana | 2,110 | $132,050 | 0.63 |
| Iowa | 1,200 | $134,770 | 0.74 |
| Kansas | 890 | $125,640 | 0.59 |
| Kentucky | 1,360 | $120,760 | 0.65 |
| Louisiana | 1,360 | $128,870 | 0.68 |
| Maine | 1,030 | $131,170 | 1.54 |
| Maryland | 2,950 | $137,560 | 1.02 |
| Massachusetts | 4,470 | $142,410 | 1.18 |
| Michigan | 6,310 | $131,510 | 1.37 |
| Minnesota | 3,660 | $141,190 | 1.19 |
| Mississippi | 320 | $105,920 | 0.26 |
| Missouri | 2,300 | $135,130 | 0.75 |
| Montana | 600 | $141,470 | 1.13 |
| Nebraska | 1,330 | $133,040 | 1.24 |
| Nevada | 1,090 | $134,660 | 0.67 |
| New Hampshire | 1,060 | $150,960 | 1.49 |
| New Jersey | 4,790 | $165,690 | 1.07 |
| New Mexico | 700 | $139,920 | 0.78 |
| New York | 19,140 | $160,880 | 1.90 |
| North Carolina | 7,490 | $129,360 | 1.45 |
| North Dakota | 510 | $133,450 | 1.15 |
| Ohio | 4,900 | $132,090 | 0.85 |
| Oklahoma | 1,770 | $136,550 | 0.99 |
| Oregon | 2,250 | $155,780 | 1.09 |
| Pennsylvania | 9,020 | $127,070 | 1.43 |
| Rhode Island | 810 | $139,930 | 1.56 |
| South Carolina | 2,250 | $122,490 | 0.94 |
| South Dakota | 680 | $133,200 | 1.43 |
| Tennessee | 2,240 | $118,240 | 0.65 |
| Texas | 10,110 | $134,550 | 0.69 |
| Utah | 1,610 | $134,740 | 0.89 |
| Vermont | 410 | $150,490 | 1.30 |
| Virginia | 4,340 | $135,940 | 1.01 |
| Washington | 3,540 | $164,360 | 0.96 |
| West Virginia | 1,080 | $128,610 | 1.47 |
| Wisconsin | 3,580 | $133,950 | 1.17 |
| Wyoming | 330 | $136,080 | 1.12 |
Similar occupations
Similarity is our measure: the cosine of importance x level over all 120 O*NET skills, knowledge areas and abilities. It is not an O*NET finding. More.
Circles are the 20 most similar occupations, coloured by Job Zone. Lines join pairs where one is among the other's 10 most similar; darker lines are pairs O*NET also lists as related. Drag a circle to move it out of the way; select one to open it.
| # | Occupation | Job Zone | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nurse Practitioners | 5 | 0.990 |
| 2 | Nurse Midwives | 5 | 0.987 |
| 3 | Hospitalists | 5 | 0.985 |
| 4 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | 5 | 0.984 |
| 5 | Obstetricians and Gynecologists | 5 | 0.982 |
| 6 | Family Medicine Physicians | 5 | 0.981 |
| 7 | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians | 5 | 0.981 |
| 8 | Sports Medicine Physicians | 5 | 0.979 |
| 9 | Clinical Nurse Specialists | 5 | 0.979 |
| 10 | Pediatricians, General | 5 | 0.976 |
One skill away
Among the 50 occupations most similar to Physician Assistants, those at the same Job Zone or lower, where exactly one skill rated at least 3 in importance needs a level more than 0.75 points higher (on O*NET's 0-7 level scale). Our definition. Change the thresholds.
| Occupation | Skill to build | Level gap | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse Practitioners | Active Listening | 0.76 | 0.990 |
| Family Medicine Physicians | Active Listening | 0.76 | 0.981 |
| Clinical Nurse Specialists | Operations Analysis | 0.87 | 0.979 |
| Acute Care Nurses | Operations Monitoring | 1.12 | 0.973 |
| Urologists | Operations Monitoring | 1.00 | 0.973 |
| Critical Care Nurses | Operations Monitoring | 1.12 | 0.972 |
| Midwives | Social Perceptiveness | 0.76 | 0.971 |
| Neurologists | Learning Strategies | 0.87 | 0.970 |
| Clinical Neuropsychologists | Social Perceptiveness | 0.76 | 0.960 |
| Podiatrists | Active Learning | 0.76 | 0.960 |
Software to learn next
Software used by at least 3 of the 20 occupations most similar to Physician Assistants, excluding software Physician Assistants already lists and any you named. Ranked by how many of them use it, weighted by how much more common it is among them than across all occupations (lift). Our ranking.
| Software | Similar jobs using it | Lift |
|---|---|---|
| e-MDs software | 10 of 20 | 38.5x |
| Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR | 10 of 20 | 25.6x |
| Allscripts Professional EHR | 9 of 20 | 34.6x |
| SOAPware EMR | 8 of 20 | 28.4x |
| Texas Medical Software SpringCharts EMR | 6 of 20 | 34.6x |
| Greenway Medical Technologies PrimeSUITE | 6 of 20 | 25.2x |
| GE Healthcare Centricity EMR | 7 of 20 | 14.7x |
| Amkai AmkaiCharts | 5 of 20 | 33.0x |
| Medscribbler Enterprise | 5 of 20 | 33.0x |
| StatCom Patient Flow Logistics Enterprise Suite | 5 of 20 | 33.0x |
Skills
From O*NET data. Importance is rated 1 to 5 and level 0 to 7.
| Skill | Type | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | Essential skill | 4.12 | 4.75 |
| Critical Thinking | Essential skill | 4.12 | 4.62 |
| Active Listening | Essential skill | 4.00 | 4.12 |
| Judgment and Decision Making | Transferable skill | 4.00 | 4.12 |
| Service Orientation | Transferable skill | 4.00 | 4.12 |
| Social Perceptiveness | Transferable skill | 4.00 | 4.12 |
| Speaking | Essential skill | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| Writing | Essential skill | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| Active Learning | Essential skill | 3.88 | 4.12 |
| Complex Problem Solving | Transferable skill | 3.88 | 4.00 |
| Monitoring | Essential skill | 3.88 | 4.00 |
| Science | Essential skill | 3.62 | 3.88 |
| Coordination | Transferable skill | 3.25 | 4.00 |
| Systems Evaluation | Transferable skill | 3.25 | 3.75 |
| Time Management | Transferable skill | 3.25 | 3.75 |
| Persuasion | Transferable skill | 3.25 | 3.50 |
| Instructing | Transferable skill | 3.12 | 4.00 |
| Learning Strategies | Essential skill | 3.12 | 3.38 |
| Negotiation | Transferable skill | 3.12 | 3.12 |
| Systems Analysis | Transferable skill | 3.12 | 3.12 |
| Management of Personnel Resources | Transferable skill | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Mathematics | Essential skill | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Operations Analysis | Transferable skill | 2.62 | 2.75 |
| Quality Control Analysis | Transferable skill | 2.38 | 2.25 |
| Operations Monitoring | Transferable skill | 2.25 | 2.00 |
| Management of Material Resources | Transferable skill | 2.25 | 1.50 |
| Management of Financial Resources | Transferable skill | 2.12 | 1.25 |
| Troubleshooting | Transferable skill | 2.00 | 1.12 |
| Programming | Transferable skill | 1.88 | 1.12 |
| Technology Design | Transferable skill | 1.88 | 1.12 |
| Equipment Selection | Transferable skill | 1.12 | not rated |
| Equipment Maintenance | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
| Installation | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
| Operation and Control | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
| Repairing | Transferable skill | 1.00 | not rated |
Knowledge (33) and abilities (52)
| Name | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 5.00 | 6.46 |
| Biology | 4.81 | 5.65 |
| English Language | 4.62 | 5.00 |
| Psychology | 4.57 | 6.05 |
| Therapy and Counseling | 4.50 | 5.97 |
| Customer and Personal Service | 4.16 | 5.65 |
| Education and Training | 3.97 | 4.89 |
| Sociology and Anthropology | 3.61 | 4.27 |
| Computers and Electronics | 3.54 | 4.05 |
| Chemistry | 3.47 | 4.41 |
| Mathematics | 3.41 | 3.76 |
| Public Safety and Security | 3.19 | 3.08 |
| Communications and Media | 2.97 | 3.00 |
| Administrative | 2.92 | 4.00 |
| Law and Government | 2.89 | 3.16 |
| Administration and Management | 2.61 | 3.35 |
| Telecommunications | 2.57 | 1.92 |
| Personnel and Human Resources | 2.50 | 2.89 |
| Philosophy and Theology | 2.36 | 3.16 |
| Physics | 2.31 | 2.38 |
| Foreign Language | 1.86 | 1.76 |
| Economics and Accounting | 1.73 | 1.46 |
| Mechanical | 1.70 | 1.19 |
| Engineering and Technology | 1.69 | 1.30 |
| Sales and Marketing | 1.57 | 1.46 |
| Geography | 1.57 | 1.39 |
| Production and Processing | 1.56 | 1.19 |
| Transportation | 1.51 | 1.14 |
| Design | 1.49 | 1.16 |
| History and Archeology | 1.41 | 0.70 |
| Building and Construction | 1.16 | not rated |
| Fine Arts | 1.11 | not rated |
| Food Production | 1.08 | not rated |
| Name | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Oral Comprehension | 4.12 | 5.00 |
| Inductive Reasoning | 4.12 | 4.88 |
| Problem Sensitivity | 4.12 | 4.75 |
| Deductive Reasoning | 4.12 | 4.38 |
| Oral Expression | 4.00 | 4.62 |
| Written Comprehension | 4.00 | 4.50 |
| Written Expression | 4.00 | 4.12 |
| Information Ordering | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| Speech Recognition | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| Speech Clarity | 4.00 | 3.50 |
| Near Vision | 3.88 | 4.00 |
| Category Flexibility | 3.38 | 3.88 |
| Flexibility of Closure | 3.25 | 3.75 |
| Fluency of Ideas | 3.00 | 3.25 |
| Arm-Hand Steadiness | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Far Vision | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Finger Dexterity | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Mathematical Reasoning | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Perceptual Speed | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Visual Color Discrimination | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Number Facility | 2.88 | 3.00 |
| Originality | 2.88 | 3.00 |
| Selective Attention | 2.88 | 3.00 |
| Speed of Closure | 2.88 | 3.00 |
| Memorization | 2.88 | 2.88 |
| Visualization | 2.88 | 2.88 |
| Time Sharing | 2.88 | 2.75 |
| Trunk Strength | 2.88 | 2.75 |
| Manual Dexterity | 2.88 | 2.38 |
| Multilimb Coordination | 2.25 | 2.12 |
| Control Precision | 2.25 | 2.00 |
| Hearing Sensitivity | 2.25 | 2.00 |
| Static Strength | 2.12 | 2.12 |
| Explosive Strength | 2.12 | 1.25 |
| Auditory Attention | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| Extent Flexibility | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| Gross Body Coordination | 2.00 | 2.00 |
| Depth Perception | 2.00 | 1.88 |
| Dynamic Strength | 2.00 | 1.88 |
| Stamina | 2.00 | 1.88 |
| Gross Body Equilibrium | 2.00 | 1.25 |
| Reaction Time | 1.88 | 1.00 |
| Speed of Limb Movement | 1.75 | 0.88 |
| Response Orientation | 1.50 | 0.62 |
| Wrist-Finger Speed | 1.12 | not rated |
| Dynamic Flexibility | 1.00 | not rated |
| Glare Sensitivity | 1.00 | not rated |
| Night Vision | 1.00 | not rated |
| Peripheral Vision | 1.00 | not rated |
| Rate Control | 1.00 | not rated |
| Sound Localization | 1.00 | not rated |
| Spatial Orientation | 1.00 | not rated |
Software used
Examples from O*NET data. "Hot" and "in demand" are O*NET flags for technologies often listed in job postings.
- Epic Systems in demand
- MEDITECH software hot
- Microsoft Excel hot
- Microsoft Office software hot
- Microsoft Outlook hot
- Microsoft Word hot
- eClinicalWorks EHR software hot
- ChartWare EMR
- Electronic medical record EMR software
- Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS
- Medical condition coding software
- Medical procedure coding software
- Patient management software
- Patient records software for personal digital assistants PDAs
- Teleconferencing software
- Teleradiology systems
- Web browser software
Where it concentrates
Metro areas ranked by BLS location quotient: the occupation's share of the area's jobs divided by its share of all US jobs. Above 1 means more concentrated than the nation. Metros employing fewer than 100 are left out.
| Metro area | Employment | Location quotient | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ithaca, NY | 230 | 4.62 | $138,920 |
| Rochester, MN | 480 | 3.73 | $137,340 |
| Ann Arbor, MI | 810 | 3.53 | $135,310 |
| Altoona, PA | 190 | 3.12 | $123,270 |
| Williamsport, PA | 150 | 2.94 | $124,920 |
| Midland, MI | 110 | 2.90 | $129,860 |
| Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC | 130 | 2.87 | $131,770 |
| La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN | 230 | 2.67 | Not available |
| Winston-Salem, NC | 730 | 2.57 | $130,730 |
| New Haven, CT | 740 | 2.51 | $149,960 |