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PA Salary

2022 NCCPA Report Shows Increase in PA Salary

PA Salary Increased to $117,381 in 2021

The 2021 Statistical Profile of Certified PAs is an annual report from the NCCPA and it showed a slight increase in mean PA salaries from $115,470 in 2020 to $117,381 in 2021.

The NCCPA is the national certifying organization for PAs. Every year they release a report that has data that is collected from PA profiles that are created through the NCCPA website. They look at profiles that have been updated the past three years; if a PA updated their profile in the past three years their information would be included in the report. As of December, 31 2021, 133,905 provided responses for at least a portion of the profile. This response rate is the highest among any reports on PAs. This is in comparison to the AAPA salary report which only gets a response rate of about 6% of certified PAs.

Only 3% of PAs reported earning more than $200,000, and 4.7% reported earning less than $60,000. The NCCPA profile asks for income from PA positions, so theoretically PAs should be responding with salaries that include base and bonus compensation. This report does not look at base and bonus separately, which the AAPA salary does.

Although, salary is included in this report, it is only a small portion of what is reported. Other reports look focus on the specifics of salary and benefits. This report includes other data such as, PA level of burnout, PA demographics, PA practice settings and more.

The one major takeaway from this report is that PA salaries seem to be back on track after having a down year the previous year from widespread shutdowns and furloughs. Looking at salaries over three years allows for less fluctuations in one down year. As with any report on PA salary it is important to use it for general knowledge and trends on PA salaries as it does not directly compare everything that is a part of a job offer. Bonus structure and benefits can play a large part in total compensation and should always be considered when comparing job offers.

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