What BLS will and will not break out
CRNA pay has its own SOC line. The OOH page for nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners reports a May 2025 median annual wage of $236,590 for nurse anesthetists, with employment projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035. That is the figure this site already uses on the nurse anesthetist pay page.
Anesthesiologist assistants (often titled CAA when certified) assist anesthesiologists with anesthesia care. O*NET OnLine classifies them as 29-1071.01 and prints the wage banner Wage data collected from Physician Assistants. The national median shown there for May 2025 is $135,880 a year ($65.33 an hour), with a 10th–90th band of about $99,380 to $190,280. Those dollars describe the parent physician-assistant series, not a CAA-only survey.
For what physician assistants do in general, see what does a physician assistant do and physician assistant salary.
Side-by-side: CRNA series vs PA bucket used for AA
| Dimension | CRNA | Anesthesiologist assistant (as published) |
|---|---|---|
| SOC / detail code | 29-1151 Nurse Anesthetists | 29-1071.01 under 29-1071 Physician Assistants |
| May 2025 median (BLS/ONET) | $236,590 | $135,880 (PA series wages) |
| Median gap vs CRNA | $100,710 higher for the CRNA median than the PA-series median shown on the AA ONET wage page | |
| Separate AA-only OEWS median? | n/a | No: ONET states wages are from Physician Assistants |
| Typical entry education (BLS/ONET) | Doctoral entry programs now standard for new CRNAs; OOH still discusses advanced nursing pathway | Master's degree reported by 96% of O*NET education respondents for 29-1071.01 |
The $100,710 gap is arithmetic on two published medians. It is not a controlled study of CAA versus CRNA contracts inside the same hospital. Private salary surveys can show higher CAA means than the PA median; those surveys are not OEWS and should be labeled as such.
Practice and training differences that pay tables ignore
CRNAs are advanced practice registered nurses. Anesthesiologist assistants are trained to work with anesthesiologist supervision models that vary by state authorization. Scope, title protection, and which facilities hire CAAs are legal and credential questions, not wage-table questions. This page reports federal wage series only; it is not career advice and not a claim that one credential is better.
When a job ad says anesthesiologist assistant and a dashboard quotes physician-assistant OEWS, the dashboard is following O*NET's parent-series mapping. Ask whether the offer is priced against local CAA contracts or against a blended PA median before treating the national gap as your personal raise.
How to read recruiter graphics
Graphics that label a bar Anesthesiologist Assistant Salary and cite BLS without mentioning SOC 29-1071 are usually relabeling the physician-assistant series. Prefer sources that show the SOC code. Prefer CRNA figures that cite 29-1151 or the OOH nurse anesthetist line. If a chart mixes ASA or AAAA member surveys with OEWS, demand separate footnotes for each series.