The Oregon Employment Department predicts strong job growth for physician assistants between 2012 and 2022. The agency expects this rate of increase to be 38.7% in Oregon and even higher in some regions of the state:
- Portland-Metro: 43.2%
- East Cascades: 41%
- Mid-Valley: 40.3%
- Rogue Valley: 39.5%
It is likely that these rates have increased since 2015, because the demand for physician assistants has recently increased as more people enjoy health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Despite having 1,337 certified physician assistants in 2014, Oregon ranks 25th in the country in terms of the number of certified physician assistants per capita according to a statistical analysis released by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants.
Oregon’s physician assistants won a legislative victory when Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 1548 in 2015. This legislation defined physician assistants as medical providers and greatly expanded their scope of practice.
Location and Experience Affect the Salaries of Physician Assistants in Oregon
Salary data from the Oregon Employment Department indicated that experienced physician assistants in the 90th percentile earned 74.3% more than entry-level physician assistants earning in the 10th percentile as of 2015. Experienced physician assistants in Oregon earned an average of $139,214, while physician assistants new to the profession earned $79,849 on average. The median salary for Oregon’s physician assistants was $101,962 that year.
An analysis of the salaries of physician assistants by region indicated that physician assistants in Clackamas county earning in the 90th percentile made $42,286 more than those in the next highest paying region:
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides salaries for physician assistants in Oregon’s major metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan regions as of 2014. Physician assistants in Medford earned the highest median salary that year: