The prospects are so promising for physician assistants in Massachusetts that the state’s Labor and Workforce Development agency rated it as the 25th fasting growing occupation between 2012 and 2022 out of a list of 670 different occupations. It is likely that the field would rate even higher now, since demand for physician assistants has exploded with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
According to this agency, the number of physician assistants in Massachusetts is expected to increase by 28.83% between 2012 and 2022. This level of growth should result in an average of 136 jobs becoming available each year during this time frame. The Labor and Workforce Development agency predicts growth to be even higher in the Hampden County region with a projected increase of 35.34% for this ten-year period.
Many physician assistants do their clinical rotations at Massachusetts General Hospital, which was just ranked the best hospital in the country for 2015 according to the annual survey by US News and World Report. This is the second time that MGH had this honor since 2012.
Salary Ranges for Physician Assistants in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Labor and Workforce agency provides the salaries for physician assistants of varying levels of experience in the state as of 2014:
- Experienced: $117,030
- Median: $101,040
- Entry-level: $72,810
The median salary for physician assistants in Massachusetts was $5,220 higher than the national median for this field as reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Physician assistants just starting out in Massachusetts also earned a higher average salary than the national average for this category. The average salary reported for entry-level physician assistants in Massachusetts was $8,710 higher than the national average reported by the BLS.
Physician Assistant Salaries in Major Metropolitan Areas of Massachusetts
The BLS reports the wide range of salaries earned by physician assistants in the major metropolitan areas of Massachusetts as of 2014. The salaries of experienced physician assistants in the Brockton and Leominster areas were exceptionally high. The Lowell area had the highest median salary for physician assistants in the state:
*Values are greater than $90/hour or $187,199/year. The BLS does not report salaries that exceed these values.