Published on
The proportion of physician assistants (PAs) who are working in urgent care increased by 0.5% nationally from 2020 to 2024, according to the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants’ (NCCPA) 2024 annual statistical profile of PAs. About 5.6% of all certified PAs work in an urgent care setting. Only hospitals (42.3%) and office-based private practices (36.4%) show a larger proportion of PAs. Hawaii gained the most urgent care PAs from 2020 to 2024 with a 3.2% increase, while Arkansas lost the most with a 1.9% decline. It’s interesting that only 52.3% of PAs across the nation in all care settings say they see patients during evening or weekend hours. The data comes from approximately 159,500 survey responses, and the NCCPA says as of December 31, 2024, there were 189,907 board certified PAs in the United States.
Comparing income: Overall, the mean income for PAs in 2024 was $129,291. The top 5 states for highest annual PA income include: California ($151,351); Nevada ($143,054); Connecticut ($140,744); Alaska ($140,579); and Washington ($139,411). Thinking about access, Alaska has the highest number of PAs per 100,000 population at 94.1—far above the national average of 55.6 per 100,000. Mississippi ranks lowest at 14.4 PAs per 100,000.