Physician Assistant
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the Physician Assistant occupation series (code 0603).
The verdict
Physician Assistant is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 3,861 employees (0.2% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family. At an average salary of $169,981 it pays well above the federal average, and headcount edged down from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- -0.2%
- Pay change
- +0.5%
- Avg tenure
- 10.4 yrs
- Rank in family
- #15 of 45
FedScope read on Physician Assistant (dense series)
On pay, the move between reporting periods was a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change. On length of service, this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved down versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path.
Physician Assistant sits inside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family (code 06), which contains 45 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Physician Assistant postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family. The Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family totals 339,162 employees, and Physician Assistant accounts for 1.1% of them. Its average salary ranks in the top half (91st percentile) of pay among Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Physician Assistant pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$169,981
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+44.9%
Where Physician Assistant ranks on rich federal pay
Physician Assistant earns more on average than 96% of federal occupation series (519 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Physician Assistant sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Physician Assistant.
Related Occupations in Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse | 106,218 | $132,267 | 10.2 yrs |
| Medical Support Assistance | 39,856 | $58,279 | 8.2 yrs |
| Medical Officer | 34,687 | $301,569 | 11.6 yrs |
| General Health Science | 17,434 | $133,765 | 11.9 yrs |
| Practical Nurse | 16,755 | $75,898 | 10.4 yrs |
| Pharmacist | 14,529 | $167,390 | 11.1 yrs |
| Nursing Assistant | 14,498 | $55,851 | 7.8 yrs |
| Health Aid and Technician | 12,490 | $61,276 | 10.8 yrs |
| Health System Specialist | 7,966 | $110,534 | 15.9 yrs |
| Pharmacy Technician | 7,658 | $70,794 | 9.5 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Physician Assistant outside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (3,861 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($169,981 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Physician Assistant pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Physician Assistant postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.