Physician assistants job market in California
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
California industry employment changed 2.2 percentage points above the U.S. benchmark
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Physician assistants in California.
Occupation pay
What Physician assistants earn in California
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$165,650California- Middle 50% of published wages
- $136,730 – $206,990
- U.S. median annual wage
- $135,880
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around California
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Physician assistants, compared with the California median of $165,650.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA$223,640+35.0% vs. state
Bakersfield-Delano, CA$198,070+19.6% vs. state
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$184,380+11.3% vs. state
Yuba City, CA$183,460+10.8% vs. state
Vallejo, CA$179,520+8.4% vs. state
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA$172,750+4.3% vs. state
View 12 more published metro areas
Napa, CA$172,170+3.9% vs. state
Salinas, CA$170,180+2.7% vs. state
Visalia, CA$166,510+0.5% vs. state
Modesto, CA$165,730Same as state at displayed precision
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA$165,490−0.1% vs. state
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA$165,160−0.3% vs. state
Chico, CA$164,780−0.5% vs. state
Merced, CA$164,080−0.9% vs. state
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA$162,790−1.7% vs. state
Stockton-Lodi, CA$162,110−2.1% vs. state
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$161,890−2.3% vs. state
Hanford-Corcoran, CA$161,470−2.5% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the California median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in California’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 890,525 represented establishments, 94.88% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for physician assistants in California
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market
The largest metro employment market in this California comparison is Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, with 3,890 estimated jobs and median annual pay of $161,890 in OEWS May 2025. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has the highest median pay, $223,640, alongside an employment estimate of 1,030. Among 25 metros with both usable measures, its median pay is 38.1% higher than the largest market's. The employment estimates describe existing jobs, not available vacancies.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSSome metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
California's share of employment in physician assistants differs from the national share in OEWS May 2025. The published location quotient of 0.72 expresses the state share as 0.72 times the national share. The state estimate is 13,600 jobs, 8.4% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.75 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. The ratio describes employment concentration, not current hiring or future growth.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
Private education and health services has the largest positive weighted contribution
Private education and health services supplies 99.5% of the positive weighted contributions to this occupation's industry employment-growth proxy in California in January to March 2026. Its own year-over-year employment change was +4.4%. Each leading industry group is weighted by its share of the occupation's national industry mix, and the groups examined cover 99.7% of that mix. These contributions do not count occupation jobs created.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWPublished median pay is above the U.S. median
Median annual pay in California stands 21.9% above the U.S. estimate for physician assistants. The underlying OEWS May 2025 figures are $165,650 for the state and $135,880 nationally. This is a nominal wage comparison; living costs and individual pay differences are outside its scope.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
California industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- California · 2026 Q1+4.1%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+1.9%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | California | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +5.8% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +5.9% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +6.3% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +4.4% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | +5.5% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +5.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | +4.5% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | +4.1% | 100% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows California’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- +1.9%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Physician assistants Work
The occupation mix determines which California industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private education and health services | 94.6% | +4.4% | 890,525 | $1,277 |
| Federal | 2.3% | -6.7% | 3,392 | $2,366 |
| Professional and business services | 1.8% | +0.4% | 259,522 | $2,887 |
| State and local | 0.8% | +1.6% | 33,535 | $1,827 |
| Other services | 0.2% | +0.1% | 110,116 | $1,083 |
| Financial activities | 0.1% | +0.8% | 121,513 | $3,795 |
Which industries are growing?
4 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive California employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+4.4%
- State and local+1.6%
- Financial activities+0.8%
- Professional and business services+0.4%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Selected state comparison
California vs. other states
A selected set of other states with valid reports for this occupation, not every available state. Each state’s own published industry employment change for QCEW 2026 Q1, ordered with this report first and then alphabetically. This is not a ranking and there is no state-level score.
How to read this
Same occupation, same release
Every state shown published its own verified QCEW 2026 Q1 figure for the industries weighted to Physician assistants. Bars are proportional to each published change; left of centre is a decline.
Current California context
Current California Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in California. They are not Physician assistants demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · California
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 85.61 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 85.81 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 85.07 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 85.18 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 85.00 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 84.96 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 85.33 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 86.03 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 86.72 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 86.52 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 86.28 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 86.26 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 86.29 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 86.51 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Statewide layoff notices
Statewide WARN notices
California statewide313 notices in this source
Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: This is the number of WARN notices with notice dates in this period in California’s official statewide list. It is a statewide count only, and does not identify any employer.
Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. WARN covers qualifying large layoffs and closures under applicable law, not all layoffs, and thresholds vary by state.
California Employment Development Department About WARN data
Source last checked
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Physician assistants in California FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Physician assistants in California?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the California industries weighted to Physician assistants changed +4.1% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +1.9% nationwide.
Are wages for Physician assistants rising in California?
QCEW does not publish pay for Physician assistants in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +1.0% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this California industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Physician assistants openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Physician assistants
- SOC code
- 29-1071
- State
- California
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- +4.1%State data coverage 100%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- +1.9%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +2.2 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +12.3%State data coverage 100%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +1.0%State data coverage 100%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/physician-assistants/california#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.