NP VS. PA salary

physio · Feb 10, 2011

There is no "big difference" like it may seem.

Average salary for Male NPs: $102,271

Average salary for Male PAs: $102,669

Average salary of Female NPs: $89,186

Average salary of Female PAs: $91,662

There are just more female NPs (80%) that bring the average down. Unfortunately, females are making less money and for every 1 male NP there are 4 female NPs. PAs pretty much have 1 male PA for 1 female PA.

So, PAs and NPs pretty much make the same money.

core0 · Feb 10, 2011

hello, i am a 4th year fnp/ dnp student. three more semesters to go!!! yay:lol2: i originally applied to another school to be a physician's assistant. this was before i obtained my rn. i was not accepted into the school because my 3.8 gpa was not good enough. unfortunately, there were 3 slots left and there were a couple of people with higher gpa's then me. anyway, i just read this article about np vs. pa salary and was wondering if any of the np's are working alongside a pa that is making more money than them? why do you think that is? here's the link that shows a study that pa's make a lot more that np's.
http://www.advanceweb.com/eblasts/2011/2/noinsertion/792nppa2010salarysurvey_1177_2.html

bottom line the data is probably bad. on the pa side they had a total of 1200 pas which represents less than 1.5% of pas. the aapa census gets around 25% of all pas in practice. the number are much different.

for pas the average salary $93k. this isn't much different than the advance data on nps (which represents around 4% of nps). traditionally the difference has been attributed to the greater percentage of pas who are male (see the comment in advance about the male female difference which also exists among pas). the other difference is the percentage of pas in surgical specialties which traditionally have paid better. the complaints about the data is that its probably a little low since specialty pas are under represented.

http://www.aapa.org/images/stories/data_2009/national_final_with_graphics.pdf

the data from aanp is probably better. it shows an average salary of 97k.

http://www.aanp.org/nr/rdonlyres/ac773a15-35ba-4aac-9734-56516ace8142/0/onlinereport_compensation2.pdf

this is probably a little high since nnps are over represented in the survey.

other problems are not knowing the denominator for some of the specialties. for example the numbers about primary or secondary pas is frankly ludicrous. in the aapa data there are only 31 pas (or .03%) doing this job. i can't imagine this is more than 1 or 2 people. also there are a number of other problems with the data. it relies on self description as a pa or np. this leads to the possibility of manipulation especially given the small numbers.

bottom line the advance data is poorly done and has a number of problems. the aanp data is probably the best thats out there. the aapa data is used by the department of labor as the definitive data on the pa profession. its hard to directly compared aanp and aapa data because they use a different way of measuring salary. the salaries for nps are very close with pas in surgical fields making more than average and nnp making more than average.

frUABgrad · Feb 10, 2011

good info thanks!

Lovanurse · Feb 10, 2011

Thanks for the additional links and the breakdown. I kind of figured these figures would be different in "real life".

ellar76 · Nov 3, 2011

Average Salary means very little for me now that I've been in the job market for 10 years.

The most important factor for your financial well-being is job availability.

From a PA-relative, the PA job market in the DC metro area is over-saturated. He moved for family and has been working admin jobs for 3 years.

I hear that nursing unions mandate the hiring of NP's over PA's in certain HC organizations.

What is your experience with the job market?

Is there an overabundance of NP's as well?

ivanh3 · Nov 4, 2011

Average Salary means very little for me now that I've been in the job market for 10 years.
The most important factor for your financial well-being is job availability.
From a PA-relative, the PA job market in the DC metro area is over-saturated. He moved for family and has been working admin jobs for 3 years.
I hear that nursing unions mandate the hiring of NP's over PA's in certain HC organizations.
What is your experience with the job market?
Is there an overabundance of NP's as well?

I think that it is market to market, and the only disadvantage I think NPs face other than market saturation is amount of experience. For RNs there are all kinds of options to get that experience. It is a little tougher for NPs. But once you do get that experience there are many opportunities. The role of the NP/PA is only going to get bigger and bigger.

And David makes good points about the differences in pay. I would only add that some of these differences are further reduced by taxes.

Ivan

79Tango · Nov 5, 2011

In the Federal Contract world they are paid exactly the same.. Some facilities will actually specify PA or NP but that has nothing to do with pay. Most of the time it doesnt even matter as long as you have 24 of the last 36 months experience, BLS, DEA and board certification.

allennp · Nov 10, 2011

Most of the time there is no difference......

But

I am aware of institutions that the NP's are forced in the RN nursing union and paid on a much lower pay scale as a result, rather than the PA's who are under the MD contract. Group Health and the University of Washington are two that come to mind, however the UW is now hiring NP's as faculty under school of medicine which improves pay scale.

A

79Tango · Nov 10, 2011

I shouldve also mentioned the SCA Federal Wage Determination that doesnt even have NP listed... We count them as RN-3 or what ever the highest RN is listed. Sometimes it will say $5/HR more for PA, but we will take the hit and pay the NP the same rate.

caliotter3 · Nov 10, 2011

I remember seeing several job postings for NP and PA where the pay range was virtually identical, supporting the observation that they are similar in compensation.

GucciBeaR143, BSN · Feb 22, 2015

That is good information regarding WA NP's. Would you be able to forward/pm me literature or a more current website with some info? I am debating myself whether NP or PA. Thank you.