Top 10 Highest Paying Specialties in the PA Profession in 2022

Cardiovascular/cardiothoracic Surgery Specialty Tops 2022 Compensation

June 8, 2023

By AAPA Research

The PA profession includes clinicians who work in over 60 specialties, ranging from family medicine and urgent care to transplant surgery and dermatology. The amount of money, or compensation, a PA earns can vary significantly by specialty. Compensation may be comprised of base pay and/or bonuses. Within the AAPA Salary survey, base pay is collected in the form of salaries, hourly wages, or guaranteed pay within a productivity model.

To assess the overall compensation of PAs by specialty, we calculated annualized hourly wages, including compensation for PAs paid hourly, those with a productivity pay model, and those paid a salary. In addition to the base pay we included the bonus amount that they received in 2022 to produce their total compensation. The clinicians in the 10 specialties within Figure 1 reported the highest amounts of median total compensation.

Figure 1: Top 10 Highest Paying Specialties for PAs in 2022

Only specialties with 100 or more respondents nationwide are included. Median total compensation includes PAs who worked more than 32 hours and were paid a base salary, an hourly wage, or had productivity pay. Hourly wage data was annualized. Total compensation includes bonuses awarded in 2022.

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The following sections detail the median compensation amount, median bonus, and hours worked for each specialty listed in Figure

10. Orthopaedic surgery: Total Compensation $128,000
Approximately 10.1% of PAs are working within orthopaedic surgery, and they have a median of 7 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the majority (93.1%) of orthopaedic surgery PAs are paid a salary and 61.6% received a bonus. Their median base salary was $120,000 and their bonus was $7,750. They worked a median of 45 hours per week in 2022.

9. Urgent care: Total Compensation $128,980
Approximately 6.2% of PAs are working within urgent care, and they  have a median of 6 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the most (49.0%) urgent care PAs are paid an hourly wage and 57.3% received a bonus. Their median hourly wage was $65.00 and their bonus was $5,574. They worked a median of 39 hours per week in 2022.

8. Neurosurgery: Total Compensation $129,000
Approximately 2.7% of PAs are working within neurosurgery, and they have a median of 6 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the majority (92.9%) of neurosurgery PAs are paid a salary and 49.2% received a bonus. Their median base salary was $124,000 and their bonus was $7,500. They worked a median of 45 hours per week in 2022.

7. Psychiatry: Total Compensation $130,000
Approximately 2.7% of PAs are working within psychiatry, and they have a median of 5 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the majority (79.9%) of psychiatry PAs are paid a salary and 47.2% received a bonus. Their median base salary was $120,000 and their bonus was $5,000. They worked a median of 40 hours per week in 2022.

6. Surgical Subspecialties (other): Total Compensation $130,000
Approximately, 1.3% of PAs are working within other surgical subspecialties – such as oral maxillofacial, podiatric, or gynecological oncology. PAs working in other surgical subspecialties had a median of 7 years of experience. Among other surgical subspecialty PAs, a majority (84.8%) of were paid a salary and 46.9% received a bonus. Their median base salary was $121,639 and their bonus was $6,000. They worked a median of 40 hours per week in 2022.

5. Critical Care: Total Compensation $133,000
Approximately 2.3% of PAs are working within critical care, and they have a median of 5 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the majority (79.5%) are paid a salary and 48.4% received a bonus. Their median base salary was $124,500 and their median bonus was $8,000. They worked a median of 40 hours per week in 2022.

4. Occupational Medicine: Total Compensation $133,120
Approximately 1.1% of PAs are working within occupational medicine, and they have a median of 13 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the majority (78.7%) are paid a salary and 47.5% received a bonus. Their median base salary was $129,000 and their median bonus was $5,000. They worked a median of 40 hours per week in 2022.

3. Emergency Medicine: Total Compensation $133,990
Approximately 7.2% of PAs are working within emergency medicine, and they have a median of 6 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the majority (54.5%) are paid hourly and 52.1% received a bonus. Their median hourly wage was $73.00 and their median bonus was $6,000. They worked a median of 38 hours per week in 2022.

2. Dermatology: Total Compensation $145,000
Approximately 3.2% of PAs are working within dermatology, and they have a median of 6 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the majority (69.3%) are paid a salary and 55.1% received a bonus. Their median base salary was $112,000 and their median bonus was $20,000. They worked a median of 40 hours per week in 2022.

1. Cardiovascular/cardiothoracic surgery: Total Compensation $152,500
Approximately 2.3% of PAs are working within cardiovascular/cardiothoracic surgery, and they have a median of 9 years of experience. In terms of compensation, the majority (90.9%) are paid a salary and 48.7% received a bonus. Their base salary was $145,000 and their bonus was $7,500. They worked a median of 48 hours per week in 2022.

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Sean Kolhoff, Ph.D., is AAPA’s Senior Research Analyst. He can be reached at [email protected].

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