Physical Therapist Salary And Employment Statistics (Get The Facts)

Today there is a wealth of information available for nearly every profession, in terms of employment potential, job outlook, salary levels, and specific information about where individuals in the field work and what they do. All of this information is available for physical therapy as well, and it can help you gain a better understanding for what the field is all about, and why it has become so popular. Take a look at all of these facts and findings to learn about physical therapy as a career in today's world.

A great place to start is the job outlook and prospects for professionals in the field. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, provides decade-long projections for every industry and field. For physical therapy from 2008 to 2018, there is a projected 30% uptick in jobs. That is obviously a very high rate of growth, and is much quicker than average. When you look at the number of jobs that translates you to, you see a total of more than 56,000 new jobs becoming available.

But it's not enough to know that there will be jobs coming available for these professionals. You also have to know what these jobs actually will be, and what you'll be doing. For physical therapists, 60% of jobs are located in hospitals or health practitioner offices, offering a majority of the employment for licensed, practicing physical therapists.

Even though that's a very high number, it still means that there is another 40% of physical therapists who are plying their trade in other environments. For example, physical therapists work in nursing facilities, outpatient and rehabilitation care centers, adult day care, schools, and of course, private practices, just to name a few other potential options.

Now that you know where you'll be working, in addition to knowing that finding a job should be pretty easy with the right education and full licensure, it's also time to take a look at salary levels. In 2008, the most recent data available as of this time, the median annual salary for physical therapists was $73,000. Taking a closer look, the top 10% earned at least $104,000, while the bottom 10% earned less than $50,000.

Those different environments and settings mentioned above translate to slightly different median salaries. Physical therapists working with home healthcare services average the highest wage, $77,500 annually, while nursing care facilities offered $76,500, and hospitals offered $73,000, for example.

Once you take a look at all of these statistics and facts for physical therapy, you can begin to understand why the field is emerging right now. There is a very high rate of job growth, a number of different environments and work settings, high salary levels, and much more. The time to become a physical therapist is now, and then you'll be able to take advantage of all of the above for yourself.