The job outlook and salary expectations for physical therapist assistants in Utah is so promising that the state’s Department of Workforce Services gave it a four-star rating in 2015, a rating reserved only for high-paying, high-growth professions.
The median salary among physical therapist assistants in Utah was $49,460 a year or $23.78 an hour according to the Department’s 2015 report. Inexperienced physical therapist assistants new to the profession earned an average annual salary of $36,190 or $17.40 an hour that year.
Where the Jobs are for Physical Therapist Assistants in Utah
The job growth rate for physical therapist assistants in Utah is expected to be faster than the national average for this profession. The Utah Department of Workforce Services expects a 42% increase in the number of jobs for licensed PTAs in the state during the ten-year period from 2012 to 2022. The number of physical therapy jobs should grow at an even faster rate in the Provo-Orem metropolitan area, where the projected increase is 49%.
The projected increase in the number of jobs for physical therapist assistants in Utah is expected to generate an average of 30 positions a year. Most of these jobs will come from business expansion rather than the need to replace physical therapist assistants that will be retiring or advancing in their careers to become licensed PTs.
The Utah Department of Workforce Services provides a detailed breakdown of the industries that employ the most physical therapist assistants in Utah. Nearly half of all of Utah’s PTAs are employed in specialized physical therapy, orthopedic and sports medicine clinics:
- PT/Orthopedic/Sports Medicine Clinics – 47.06% (1,543 licensed PTAs)
- Nursing Care Facilities – 8.82% (122 licensed PTAs)
- Home Health Care Services – 5.88% (306 licensed PTAs)
How Physical Therapist Assistant Salaries Vary by Location in Utah
The Utah Department of Workforce Services provides salary data for physical therapist assistants throughout Utah as of 2015, showing that the median salary among PTAs varied by more than $13,500 depending on location:
For comparison, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a more detailed analysis of PTA salaries in Utah’s major metropolitan areas as of 2014. Physical therapist assistants in the Provo-Orem area earning salaries that fell within the top ten percent (typically highly experienced) earned the highest average salary statewide: