The short answer: a gap of about $3,600
Both figures come from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which draws its pay data from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. For May 2025 the Handbook lists a median annual wage of $135,880 for physician assistants and $132,300 for nurse practitioners. Half of the workers in each occupation earned more than the median and half earned less.
The difference is $3,580 a year in favor of PAs. Spread over a 2,080-hour full-time year, that is roughly $1.72 an hour, which is our own arithmetic, not a BLS figure. Either job pays far more than the typical American worker: BLS gives a May 2025 median of $50,980 for all occupations, and $103,500 for the wider group of healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners.
One caution before comparing the spread of pay. BLS does not publish nurse practitioner percentiles in the Handbook. It reports them only for nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners together, a group that includes nurse anesthetists, whose median of $236,590 is far higher. So the APRN figures in the table below are a wider group than NPs alone, and the top-10% number in particular is pulled up by anesthetists.
| Measure (BLS) | Nurse practitioners | Physician assistants |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage, May 2025 | $132,300 | $135,880 |
| Median hourly wage, May 2025 | Not listed separately for NPs | $65.33 |
| Lowest 10% earned less than | $102,190 (all APRNs combined) | $99,380 |
| Highest 10% earned more than | $224,490 (all APRNs combined) | $190,280 |
| Jobs in 2025 | 336,300 | 168,900 |
| Projected growth, 2025 to 2035 | 41% | 21% |
| Projected new jobs, 2025 to 2035 | 137,800 | 35,700 |
| Typical entry-level education | Master's degree | Master's degree |
Read the table with that caveat in mind. The PA spread runs from under $99,380 at the 10th percentile to over $190,280 at the 90th. The combined APRN spread is wider at the top, but that does not show NPs out-earning PAs at the high end, because the group mixes in a much better paid specialty.
Where they work, and what it pays
The two jobs cluster in the same kinds of workplaces. According to the Handbook, offices of physicians employed 53% of physician assistants in 2025, followed by hospitals at 26% and outpatient care centers at 9%. For the combined group of nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners, offices of physicians employed 46%, hospitals 25% and outpatient care centers 9%.
Pay by industry tells a similar story. The next table shows the medians BLS lists for each occupation in its top industries. Again, the nurse figures are for the combined APRN group, because the Handbook does not split industry pay out for NPs alone.
| Industry, May 2025 median | Nurse anesthetists, midwives and NPs (combined) | Physician assistants |
|---|---|---|
| Outpatient care centers | $143,370 | $153,500 |
| Hospitals; state, local, and private | $142,240 | $141,150 |
| Educational services; state, local, and private | $135,170 | $134,770 |
| Offices of physicians | $131,940 | $132,000 |
| Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals | Not in the top industries listed | $157,040 |
In offices of physicians, the most common workplace for both, the medians are almost identical: $132,000 for PAs and $131,940 for the APRN group. PAs show the highest median in federal and other government jobs outside schools and hospitals, at $157,040, and in outpatient care centers, at $153,500. For PAs alone, the industry medians run from $132,000 to $157,040, a range several times wider than the $3,580 gap between the two occupations.
Training and scope: why the jobs are not interchangeable
Both careers typically require a master's degree, but the paths are different. BLS says nurse practitioners must already be licensed registered nurses before they start advanced practice education, then earn at least a master's degree, pass a national certification exam and get a state APRN license. Most APRN programs prefer applicants with a bachelor's degree in nursing, and some offer bridge programs for RNs with an associate's degree or diploma.
Physician assistants usually come in with a bachelor's degree and patient care experience, often in healthcare or a field such as biology. PA programs typically take at least two years of postbaccalaureate study, with classroom work and supervised clinical rotations in areas such as family medicine, internal medicine and emergency medicine. All states and the District of Columbia require PAs to be licensed, which means passing a qualifying exam; those who pass may use the credential PA-C. Keeping it requires continuing education and a recertification exam.
The scope of practice also differs. The Handbook says physician assistants examine, diagnose and treat patients under the supervision of a physician, and in most states the law requires them to have an agreement with a supervising physician. For nurse practitioners, BLS says many work independently, prescribe medications and order laboratory tests, with the scope varying by state. The Handbook also draws one specific line between the two: nurse practitioners cannot provide surgical care, whereas physician assistants can.
If you are still deciding, our nurse practitioner salary guide and physician assistant pay page cover each job on its own.
What the work looks like day to day
On paper the duty lists overlap heavily. BLS says physician assistants take medical histories, examine patients, order and interpret tests such as x-rays or blood tests, diagnose injuries and illnesses, prescribe medication and provide treatment such as setting broken bones, stitching wounds and giving immunizations. Advanced practice registered nurses, the group that includes NPs, assess patients, order and evaluate tests, diagnose and treat ailments, refer patients to specialists and focus on patient-centered care.
The difference is often in how the job is organized. The Handbook says nurse practitioners typically care for a certain population, for example adult and geriatric health, pediatric health or psychiatric and mental health. Physician assistants work across specialties such as primary care, emergency medicine and psychiatry, and a PA in surgery may close incisions and care for patients before, during and after an operation. In some rural and medically underserved areas, BLS notes, a PA may be the main care provider at a clinic where a physician is present only one or two days a week.
Schedules are similar. Most people in both jobs work full time, and both may work nights, weekends or holidays and be on call, according to the Handbook.
Job growth: the bigger gap
Pay is close; job growth is not. BLS projects nurse practitioner employment to grow 41% from 2025 to 2035, adding about 137,800 jobs. It projects 21% growth for physician assistants, or about 35,700 jobs. BLS classifies both rates as much faster than the 3% average for all occupations.
The Handbook also projects openings, which include replacements for people who retire or change careers. It expects about 11,500 PA openings a year over the decade. For nurse practitioners it gives only the combined APRN figure of about 32,200 openings a year, so we cannot quote an NP-only number.
BLS gives similar reasons for both. For APRNs it points to demand for healthcare services driven by the aging population and the growing prevalence of chronic disease, and to wider use of team-based care. For PAs it cites the same older-patient and chronic-disease demand and adds that PAs can be trained more quickly than physicians.
What the numbers leave out
The OEWS survey behind these medians covers wage and salary workers. The Handbook notes that its pay data do not include the self-employed, so NPs or PAs who own a practice are not in these figures.
These are also national medians for May 2025. The Handbook notes that the OEWS program produces new estimates every year, for the nation, for each state and for metro areas, so check the date on any number you use in a negotiation and look up your own state's figures. For a single year, though, the BLS answer to the salary question is clear: the two jobs pay within about 3% of each other, and the PA median is the higher of the two.