Nurse Practitioner / Physician Assistant

Also known as: NP, PA, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, PA-C, APRN, Mid-Level Provider

Healthcare & BiotechMaster's DegreeStrong Growth

Diagnose illnesses, prescribe medications, and manage patient care independently or alongside physicians in clinics and hospitals.

Salary Range

Entry Level

$105K

Starting salary

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Top Level

$225K

Top salary

Lead PA (Surgical Specialty)

The highest-paid specialization or seniority level for nurse practitioner / physician assistants.

About 1 in 200 reaches this level

About 170K PAs in the US; surgical PAs are the highest-paid PA specialty at $140-180K. Those in cardiac, neuro, and ortho subspecialties can reach $200K+ total comp. PA Program Director is an academic role paying less (~$120K). 0.5% reflects the fraction reaching top surgical specialty comp.

Salary data based on 2025 BLS, Glassdoor, and industry reports. Actual compensation varies by location, experience, and employer.

How to Become One

This career typically requires a master's degree. Here are the top colleges for it:

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AI Risk Assessment

Moderate Risk (Level 2/5)How we score ›

AI assists meaningfully with documentation and diagnostic support, but demand growth far outpaces those gains. BLS projects NP employment up 35% from 2024-2034 (among the three fastest-growing occupations in the entire economy, ~32,700 annual openings) and PA employment up 20% (~12,000 openings/year). Ambient scribes are now widely adopted — a 2026 Wolters Kluwer survey found 56% of PAs use AI daily and 48% use ambient scribe tools — but the productivity gain is modest: a JAMA study of 1,800 clinicians published in 2026 found AI scribes save about 16 minutes per 8-hour shift and enable roughly one additional patient every two weeks. That is not nearly enough to offset 20-35% demand growth driven by an aging population and a 3M+ healthcare worker shortfall.