There is a strong demand for physical therapist assistants in Oregon due to a shortage of trained professionals in this field according to the state’s Department of Employment. Physical therapist assistants in Oregon earned an average salary of $53,427 as of 2015.
The salaries of Oregon’s physical therapist assistants varied greatly depending on their level of experience. Physical therapist assistants with salaries that fell within the top ten percent (typically experienced) earned an average of $66,622, while PTAs with salaries that fell within the bottom ten percent (typically entry-level) earned an average of $41,642.
Job Growth Expectations for Oregon’s Physical Therapist Assistants
The Oregon Employment Security Commission expects a high rate of growth for physical therapist assistants in the state. This agency predicts an increase of 32% in the number of jobs for PTAs between 2012 and 2022. Job growth is expected to be even higher in some regions of Oregon. The Portland-Metro area should see job growth of 43.9%, while the number of physical therapist assistants in the East Cascade region should increase by 37.2% during this ten-year period.
More than 90% of Oregon’s physical therapists worked in the healthcare field. A small percentage worked for government employment and educational services departments. Nearly three quarters of the 582 physical therapist assistants employed in Oregon during 2015 worked in two types of health care industries. Fifty percent were employed in specialty physical therapy clinics (excluding physician’s offices), while 22% worked at general medical and surgical hospitals.
How Salaries for PTAs Differ Throughout Oregon
The Oregon Employment Department provides salaries for physical therapist assistants throughout Oregon as of 2015. The average salary for a physical therapist assistant varied by more than $9,000 depending on the region they were employed in:
For comparison, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics also provides the salaries of physical therapist assistants in Oregon’s major metropolitan areas as of 2014. Physical therapist assistants in the Eugene-Springfield area earned the highest average salary in the state that year: