Physical Therapists
Health ScienceO*NET 29-1123.00United States
Assess, plan, organize, and participate in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, relieve pain, increase strength, and improve or correct disabling conditions resulting from disease or injury.
- Median annual earnings
- $101,619
- Projected change
- +14.5%
- Typical education
- Doctoral degree or more
- Employment
- 286.59K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
47.1% of the workforce
Growing to 328.27K by 2035
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ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What physical therapists do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.
- Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
- Record prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer.
- Evaluate effects of treatment at various stages and adjust treatments to achieve maximum benefit.
- Administer manual exercises, massage, or traction to help relieve pain, increase patient strength, or decrease or prevent deformity or crippling.
- Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
- Confer with the patient, medical practitioners, or appropriate others to plan, implement, or assess the intervention program.
- Obtain patients' informed consent to proposed interventions.
- Test and measure patient's strength, motor development and function, sensory perception, functional capacity, or respiratory or circulatory efficiency and record data.
- Direct, supervise, assess, and communicate with supportive personnel.
- Review physician's referral and patient's medical records to help determine diagnosis and physical therapy treatment required.
- Identify and document goals, anticipated progress, and plans for reevaluation.
- Provide information to the patient about the proposed intervention, its material risks and expected benefits, and any reasonable alternatives.
- Provide educational information about physical therapy or physical therapists, injury prevention, ergonomics, or ways to promote health.
- Discharge patient from physical therapy when goals or projected outcomes have been attained and provide for appropriate follow-up care or referrals.
- Inform patients and refer to appropriate practitioners when diagnosis reveals findings outside physical therapy.
- Administer treatment involving application of physical agents, using equipment, moist packs, ultraviolet or infrared lamps, or ultrasound machines.
- Refer clients to community resources or services.
- Construct, maintain, or repair medical supportive devices.
- Evaluate, fit, or adjust prosthetic or orthotic devices or recommend modification to orthotist.
- Teach physical therapy students or those in other health professions.
- Conduct or support research and apply research findings to practice.
- Participate in community or community agency activities or help to formulate public policy.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $74,518
- 25th percentile
- $84,384
- 50th percentile
- $101,619
- 75th percentile
- $121,019
- 90th percentile
- $139,225
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $101,619 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+14.5%faster than average
2025286,593 jobs
2035 projected328,265 jobs
41,672 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Doctoral degree or more
- 47.1%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 38.3%
- Bachelor's degree
- 8.3%
- Associate degree
- 6.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Physical Therapists106,045 postings
- 02Travel Physical Therapists42,633 postings
- 03Home Health Physical Therapists18,505 postings
- 04Outpatient Physical Therapists17,714 postings
- 05School Physical Therapists4,180 postings
- 06Acute Physical Therapists3,170 postings
- 07Inpatient Physical Therapists3,042 postings
- 08Outpatient Travel Physical Therapists3,003 postings
- 09Pediatric Physical Therapists2,206 postings
- 10Licensed Physical Therapists2,158 postings
- 11Home Care Physical Therapists1,853 postings
- 12Physical Therapists/Rehabilitation Managers1,673 postings
- 13Facility Managers/Physical Therapists1,429 postings
- 14Orthopedic Physical Therapists1,387 postings
- 15Outpatient Orthopedics Physical Therapists1,376 postings
- 16Acute Care Physical Therapists1,226 postings
- 17Skilled Nursing Facility Travel Physical Therapists1,224 postings
- 18Allied Health Physical Therapists983 postings
- 19Long Term Care Physical Therapists956 postings
- 20Rehabilitation Travel Physical Therapists805 postings
Top employers
- 01AMN Healthcare10,202 postings
- 02Jackson Therapy Partners7,324 postings
- 03Soliant Health7,289 postings
- 04CompHealth5,733 postings
- 05Triage Staffing4,173 postings
- 06Encompass Health3,859 postings
- 07Fusion Medical Staffing3,443 postings
- 08UnitedHealth Group2,771 postings
- 09MedPro Healthcare Staffing2,664 postings
- 10MAS Medical2,646 postings
- 11Medical Solutions2,590 postings
- 12Supplemental Health Care2,455 postings
- 13CoreMedical Group2,417 postings
- 14Upstream Rehabilitation2,226 postings
- 15Optum2,223 postings
- 16Aya Healthcare2,170 postings
- 17Select Medical2,108 postings
- 18Anders Group2,096 postings
- 19Genesis HealthCare2,081 postings
- 20Cora Physical Therapy1,962 postings
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