State of the Profession 2024

Recently, the NCCPA released its 2024 statistics report. Every few years, I like to present a summary of some of that data because, as educators, I believe it’s important that we have our finger on the pulse of what is happening in our profession at the national level. 

All of the information presented here is from the 2024 Statistical Profile of Recently Board-Certified PAs. The data is from first-time board-certified PAs in 2024. The survey had a response rate 69.4%. Data was compared to previously collected data from previous years. 

• There was a record 12,400 PAs certified in 2024, up 25% from 2020. 
• New York, California, and Pennsylvania had the highest number of newly certified PAs. 
• Of the 8600 survey respondents, 54% felt somewhat prepared to begin clinical practice, with 41% stating they felt very prepared. 
• National job availability was reported at 70%, and among those who had secured employment, 78% had received multiple offers. 
• It took an average of 2.5 months to find a PA position. 
• The majority, just over 50%, work in a hospital setting, up 5% since 2020, with another 29% in office-based private practice. 
• 24% of the newly certified PAs in 2024 work in a primary care specialty (family medicine, general internal medicine, or general pediatrics), down slightly from 2020. 16.5% in Emergency Medicine and 16.6% in surgical subspecialties. 
• 44% of these new PA providers’ salaries ranged from $100,000 to $120,000, with 18% making between $120,001 and $130,000. 
• The median salary was $115,000, up from $95,000 in 2020, and the mean salary was $114,000, up from $98,400 in 2020. 
• The highest salaries were observed in surgical, pediatric, and internal medicine subspecialties, and in radiology-intervention. 
• PAs are having an impact on closing the gaps in healthcare in underserved areas, with 32% of those who accepted positions in rural settings having grown up in those communities, and 26% of those practicing in urban underserved areas having connections to those communities. 
• 77% of newly certified PAs are female, up 2.7%.  22% are male, down 3.5%. 
• 66% are within the 25-29 age range, 14% are age 30-34.  The overall median age of the newly certified PAs is 27, whereas the median age of all PAs is 38. 
• 72% are white, down 5% from 2020; 11% Asian, up just under 2%; Black/African American 4.8%, also up just under 2%; those identifying as Hispanic/Latino(a)/Spanish origin was 11% up from 8.9%. 
• Education debt, which includes undergraduate and graduate training, shows that 55% of new graduates carry between $100,000 to $225,000 of debt, with the median in 2024 of $137,500 and a mean of $129,000. 

These are just some highlights from the report. Please see the link below for the full report.

References/Resources 

National Commission on Certification of PAs. (2025). NCCPA 2024 Statistical profile of recently board-certified PAs. Annual Report. https://www.nccpa.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2024-Statistical-Profile-of-Recently-Board-Certified-PAs.pdf