Occupation salary profile

Physical Therapists

SOC 29-1123 BLS OEWS May 2025 H-1B LCAs, last 12 months

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.

National median · BLS
$102,760
▲ +1.72% YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$81,058
▼ -0.1% YoY · 1,845 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$105,280
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
267,330
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.

Pay range for Physical Therapists

Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 1,845 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.

Percentile All U.S. workers (BLS) H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay$77,140$70,408
25th$86,160$76,274
Median (50th)$102,760$81,058
75th$121,160$94,000
90th — top pay$135,140$110,000
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $81,058 for Physical Therapists — 21.1% below the BLS national median of $102,760.

Hourly ⇄ annual pay

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Based on hrs/week × weeks/year = 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035

Job outlook for Physical Therapists

BLS projects employment of physical therapists to grow 11.9% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the 3.5% average for all occupations. About 13,400 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.

Jobs 2025 → 2035
283,700 → 317,600
+33,800 jobs
Projected change
+11.9%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
13,400
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
No related experience required
Self-employed
4.2% of workers (2025)
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 5)
Extensive Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Fastest-growing jobs → Best-paying jobs that need a doctoral or professional degree →

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook →

H-1B sponsored pay

Pay by H-1B wage level

Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.

H-1B median $81,058
Change vs prior year -0.1%
After inflation (CPI-U) -3.13%
Wage level LCAs Share P25 Median P75
Level I 1,312 71.1% $74,110 $78,354 $81,058
Level II 366 19.8% $93,309 $95,056 $104,000
Level III 121 6.6% $106,080 $110,635 $124,488
Level IV 38 2.1% $118,920 $125,500 $150,000
H-1B job titles

Salaries by job title in Physical Therapists

The 4 most-filed job titles inside SOC 29-1123, from 1,845 H-1B filings. Seniority words and level numbers are grouped (“Senior Data Engineer II” counts as Data Engineer). Tap a title for its full range, wage levels and the exact titles employers used.

Job title LCAs Share P25 Median P75 YoY
Physical Therapist 1,693 91.76% $75,858 $80,330 $92,747 +0.41%
Clinic Director 17 0.92% $95,000 $100,000 $112,000 +3.09%
Staff Physical Therapist 12 0.65% $83,000 $86,835 $90,051 +5.14%
Director of Rehabilitation 10 0.54% $109,627 $132,600 $153,000 -10.47%

Titles are cleaned from the employer's own LCA text (codes and typos removed, nothing invented). Rows need 10+ filings in this SOC.

Skills & tools

Skills needed for Physical Therapists

How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.

Top skills
  • Active Listening4.0
  • Critical Thinking4.0
  • Reading Comprehension4.0
  • Service Orientation4.0
  • Social Perceptiveness4.0
  • Speaking4.0
  • Monitoring3.9
  • Writing3.9
  • Judgment and Decision Making3.8
  • Time Management3.6
Top knowledge areas
  • Customer and Personal Service4.6
  • Therapy and Counseling4.6
  • Medicine and Dentistry4.6
  • Psychology4.1
  • Education and Training4.0
  • English Language4.0
  • Biology3.7
  • Administration and Management3.2
Software and technology used
eClinicalWorks EHR softwareMEDITECH softwareMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft WordAdvantage Software Physical Therapy AdvantageBiometrics video game softwareCedaron Dexter Evaluation & Impairment RatingClinicient InsightExercise routine creation softwareHands On Technology TheraWriter.PTMedical condition coding softwareMedical procedure coding softwareMediGraphPatient charting softwarePrognosis Innovation Healthcare ChartAccessRecordkeeping software

Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

About the job

What physical therapists do

  • 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.
  • Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
  • Evaluate effects of treatment at various stages and adjust treatments to achieve maximum benefit.
  • Confer with the patient, medical practitioners, or appropriate others to plan, implement, or assess the intervention program.
  • Administer manual exercises, massage, or traction to help relieve pain, increase patient strength, or decrease or prevent deformity or crippling.
  • Obtain patients' informed consent to proposed interventions.
Also called
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)Home Care Physical Therapist (Home Care PT)Inpatient Physical Therapist (Inpatient PT)Pediatric Physical Therapist (Pediatric PT)Acute Care PT (Acute Care Physical Therapist)Outpatient Physical Therapist (Outpatient PT)Registered Physical Therapist (RPT)Therapist
More job titles for this occupation (15)
Acute Physical Therapist (Acute PT)Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapist (Cardiopulmonary PT)Geriatric Physical Therapist (Geriatric PT)Home Health Physical Therapist (Home Health PT)KinesiotherapistLPT (Licensed Physical Therapist)Orthopedic Physical Therapist (Orthopedic PT)Outpatient Orthopedics Physical Therapist (Outpatient Ortho PT)Outpatient Travel Physical Therapist (Outpatient Travel PT)PhysiotherapistPulmonary Physical Therapist (Pulmonary PT)School Physical TherapistSkilled Nursing Facility Physical Therapist (SNF PT)Sports Physical Therapist (Sports PT)Travel Physical Therapist (Travel PT)

Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.