Average PA Salary in 2019 of $113,186
The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) 2019 Statistical Profile of Certified Physician Assistants showed an average PA salary of $113,186 in 2019. This was an increase from $110,567 in 2018.
The NCCPA is the only certifying organization for PAs and they generate an annual report from the online profiles of certified PAs who were certified as of December 31. Profiles needed to be updated between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2019, to be included in this year’s report. Of the 139,688 certified PAs, 124,458 provided responses to at least a portion of the PA professional profile; this was a response rate of 89.1%.
This report provides overall statistics on PAs and does not focus on salary alone. Although it does not provide in-depth statistics on salary it has the highest response rate of any PA salary report. The AAPA salary report does a great job of breaking down compensation, however, it only has a response rate of 10-15% of certified PAs.
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Another thing to keep in mind with the NCCPA report is that the data is from a three-year span, so some of the salaries that are included could be from three years ago. If a PA had a raise since they last updated their profile, their current income would not be reflected in this report. The income from this report is for total income and is not separated into base salary and bonus, with this in mind we would hope to see a higher salary compared to the AAPA report.
PAs working in dermatology and critical care reported the highest salaries. Dermatology PAs reported a mean salary of $129,246 and critical care PAs a mean salary of $125,522. PAs treating young patients had the lowest salaries, with adolescent medicine and pediatrics reporting the lowest salaries. PAs in adolescent medicine reported a mean salary of $91,045 and those in pediatrics reported a mean salary of $94,526. Beyond salary, the report provides other data on PAs, including practice setting, education, and demographics.
PA salary reports like this one can give you a general idea about how much PAs are making, but there are many factors that contribute to PA salary that are not accounted for in these reports. As you look for your first PA job or negotiate a new one, it is important to keep this in mind. It is important to look at the entire package in evaluating a job offer.
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