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Physical Therapist Aides vs Nursing Assistants

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Physical Therapist Aides and Nursing Assistants on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Physical Therapist Aides Nursing Assistants
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$34,520
$39,530
Employment · BLS OEWS
44,010
1,388,430
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
7th pct
5th pct

At a glance

Dimension Physical Therapist Aides Nursing Assistants
Median pay $34,520 $39,530
Employment 44,010 1,388,430
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+2.8%) About average (+2.3%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 6,600 204,100
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 7th pct Low · 5th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 18th pct · 15% of tasks —
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No —

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Therapy and Counseling, Monitoring, Service Orientation, Problem Sensitivity, Speech Recognition, Reading Comprehension, Social Perceptiveness, Coordination, Oral Expression, Near Vision, Writing, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Time Management, Written Comprehension, Written Expression, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Trunk Strength, Speech Clarity, Psychology, Public Safety and Security, Deductive Reasoning, Category Flexibility, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Finger Dexterity, Static Strength, Judgment and Decision Making.

Specific to Physical Therapist Aides

  • Computers and Electronics
  • Instructing
  • Persuasion
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Administrative

Specific to Nursing Assistants

  • Administration and Management
  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Education and Training
  • Stamina
  • Manual Dexterity

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Medical software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Word processing software .

Specific to Physical Therapist Aides

Specific to Nursing Assistants

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Physical Therapist Aides or Nursing Assistants — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Physical Therapist Aides vs Nursing Assistants." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/physical-therapist-aides-vs-nursing-assistants

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Physical Therapist Aides vs Nursing Assistants. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/physical-therapist-aides-vs-nursing-assistants

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-physical-therapist-aides-vs-nursing-assistants,
  title  = {Physical Therapist Aides vs Nursing Assistants},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/physical-therapist-aides-vs-nursing-assistants}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.