Kinesiology Degree Programs

Salary · SOC 29-1123

Physical Therapist Salary

Physical Therapists earn a median of $102,760 a year, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025. Here is the full distribution, every state BLS publishes, and how that physical therapist salary compares with the other careers a kinesiology degree leads to.

Taylor Rupe, Founder & Editor

Edited by Taylor Rupe B.A. Psychology (UW-Seattle), B.S. Computer Science (Oregon State)

A physical therapist supporting a patient's arm through a shoulder range-of-motion stretch in a treatment room
Photograph by Yan Krukau on Pexels

How Much Do Physical Therapists Make?

The figure normally quoted for an occupation is its median, which is the midpoint of a distribution rather than an offer. Both published tails are below.

Annual wages, U.S.

BLS OEWS · May 2025

$77,140 $135,140
10th pct
$77,140
25th pct
$86,160
Median
$102,760
75th pct
$121,160
90th pct
$135,140

267,330 people were employed in this occupation nationally, and the median hourly wage was $49.40.

What the spread actually tells you

Half of physical therapists earn more than $102,760 and half earn less. The bottom tenth are under $77,140 and the top tenth clear $135,140, so the published range is about $58,000 wide. Put another way, the top tenth earn about 1.8x what the bottom tenth do. That is a relatively tight spread, so the median is a reasonable planning figure for this occupation.

The middle half of the workforce sits between $86,160 and $121,160. If you want one number to plan against, that band is more honest than the median alone, because it shows where most people actually land rather than where the exact midpoint falls.

BLS counts 267,330 people employed in this occupation nationally. Size matters when you read wage data: a high median in a small occupation can mean fewer openings and less room to negotiate, not a better market.

Physical Therapist Salary by State

All 51 states with published data, alphabetically. 14 of them pay above the national median. States are absent when BLS withheld the estimate because the sample was too small.

State 10th pct Median 90th pct Employed
Alabama $74,770 $97,290 $133,710 3,040
Alaska $97,950 $115,280 $133,690 680
Arizona $81,560 $103,220 $134,050 5,170
Arkansas $73,050 $99,010 $127,210 2,680
California $85,580 $124,190 $163,960 26,580
Colorado $76,460 $102,030 $132,010 5,630
Connecticut $82,110 $104,360 $127,150 4,060
Delaware $79,930 $102,050 $136,350 1,260
District of Columbia $85,620 $101,640 $129,470 610
Florida $73,630 $101,040 $122,880 16,290
Georgia $78,580 $102,700 $130,630 6,780
Hawaii $78,630 $101,700 $123,280 950
Idaho $74,570 $99,000 $122,100 1,030
Illinois $83,000 $105,250 $140,410 9,800
Indiana $76,960 $101,560 $125,390 6,130
Iowa $73,780 $97,560 $120,730 2,530
Kansas $72,290 $98,290 $122,130 2,660
Kentucky $73,900 $100,710 $126,920 3,390
Louisiana $60,150 $98,530 $127,640 3,280
Maine $78,020 $99,720 $121,030 1,860
Maryland $79,990 $106,890 $138,630 3,940
Massachusetts $82,760 $103,790 $130,220 6,850
Michigan $79,600 $100,900 $123,980 8,630
Minnesota $83,570 $102,010 $121,340 5,180
Mississippi $73,700 $99,990 $121,740 1,980
Missouri $76,110 $99,310 $124,530 4,900
Montana $78,490 $91,450 $115,540 1,180
Nebraska $77,540 $97,090 $120,190 2,140
Nevada $86,260 $111,250 $190,620 2,030
New Hampshire $76,180 $99,850 $122,560 1,960
New Jersey $84,640 $112,140 $140,040 9,750
New Mexico $77,260 $106,880 $146,400 1,330
New York $73,580 $100,660 $136,120 20,940
North Carolina $78,020 $99,910 $125,940 7,350
North Dakota $75,290 $85,330 $113,600 830
Ohio $79,070 $103,050 $126,060 10,280
Oklahoma $68,330 $98,590 $128,000 2,560
Oregon $79,440 $103,510 $133,950 3,210
Pennsylvania $76,960 $101,380 $127,060 11,710
Rhode Island $80,770 $99,400 $125,390 1,020
South Carolina $72,810 $101,330 $123,480 3,930
South Dakota $77,890 $92,660 $107,870 1,060
Tennessee $67,280 $100,140 $127,500 4,800
Texas $76,600 $105,810 $139,050 21,870
Utah $66,160 $99,880 $136,970 2,300
Vermont $75,040 $97,970 $115,860 760
Virginia $75,720 $101,450 $132,860 7,630
Washington $78,300 $105,950 $137,560 5,370
West Virginia $73,130 $96,600 $126,380 1,310
Wisconsin $80,740 $101,840 $124,640 5,580
Wyoming $75,900 $100,400 $125,930 560

A blank cell means BLS suppressed that value for this occupation in that state.

Highest and Lowest Paying States for Physical Therapists

Employment sits beside each median deliberately. A high median resting on a few dozen jobs describes a thin local market rather than a strong one.

Highest median

  • California $124,190 26,580 jobs
  • Alaska $115,280 680 jobs
  • New Jersey $112,140 9,750 jobs
  • Nevada $111,250 2,030 jobs
  • Maryland $106,890 3,940 jobs

Lowest median

  • North Dakota $85,330 830 jobs
  • Montana $91,450 1,180 jobs
  • South Dakota $92,660 1,060 jobs
  • West Virginia $96,600 1,310 jobs
  • Nebraska $97,090 2,140 jobs

How Physical Therapist Pay Compares

Among the 8 occupations a kinesiology degree leads to, this one ranks 1 on median pay. Below it sits occupational therapists at $100,330.

Read that ranking with the education in mind. This job needs its own professional degree, so the figure is not what a kinesiology graduate earns on graduating. It is what someone earns after the second degree, and the years and tuition in between belong in the comparison. The career profile sets out the full route.

The full comparison across all 8 occupations, split by whether the degree reaches them directly, is on the salaries overview.

What Moves Physical Therapist Pay Up

BLS publishes wages, not the reasons behind them, so treat this as context rather than data. Three things separate the $135,140 end of this distribution from the $77,140 end.

  • Geography, and it is the one you can verify. California pays a median of $124,190 against $102,760, and the table above shows the whole range.
  • Setting. Within any of these occupations, hospital and home-health roles generally pay above school, community and commercial settings, and the gap is often larger than the difference between states.
  • Specialization. Within this occupation, the sub-fields with the fewest qualified practitioners command the most.

Physical Therapist Salary FAQ

How much does a physical therapist make?
The median is $102,760 a year (BLS, May 2025). The bottom tenth earn under $77,140 and the top tenth clear $135,140. That works out at about $49.40 an hour at the median.
What is the highest paying state for physical therapists?
California, at a median of $124,190. That is $21,430 above the national median. 14 of the 51 states with published data pay above the national figure.
Do physical therapists earn more with experience?
The published distribution suggests so, though BLS reports percentiles rather than years of service. The 25th percentile is $86,160 and the 75th is $121,160, a gap of $35,000 across the middle half of the workforce. Setting and region account for much of that alongside experience.
Is a physical therapist salary good compared to other kinesiology careers?
It ranks 1 of the 8 occupations this site covers. It is the highest-paying of them.
What education do you need to be a physical therapist?
47% of O*NET respondents named doctoral degree. This job requires its own professional degree, so a kinesiology bachelor's is preparation for admission rather than a route into the work.
Are these figures adjusted for cost of living?
No. Every number here is a published BLS figure for a stated area. Adjusting by a regional price index would produce values BLS never published and that you could not check against the source, so we report the survey as released.
Why is my state missing from the table?
BLS suppresses estimates where the surveyed sample is too small to publish reliably. This occupation has published medians for 51 states, so the rest were withheld rather than being zero.

Source