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Physical Therapist Aides vs Physical Therapists

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Physical Therapist Aides and Physical Therapists 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 Physical Therapists
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$34,520
$101,020
Employment · BLS OEWS
44,010
248,630
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
7th pct
60th pct

At a glance

Dimension Physical Therapist Aides Physical Therapists
Median pay $34,520 $101,020
Employment 44,010 248,630
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+2.8%) Growing fast (+10.9%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 6,600 13,200
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. 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).
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 7th pct Moderate · 60th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 18th pct · 15% of tasks 54th pct · 28% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (58.3%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No 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, Instructing, Time Management, Written Comprehension, Written Expression, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Speech Clarity, Psychology, Complex Problem Solving, Deductive Reasoning, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Judgment and Decision Making.

Specific to Physical Therapist Aides

  • Computers and Electronics
  • Selective Attention
  • Trunk Strength
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Persuasion
  • Category Flexibility
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Multilimb Coordination

Specific to Physical Therapists

  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Education and Training
  • Biology
  • Fluency of Ideas
  • Administration and Management
  • Physics
  • Learning Strategies
  • Systems Analysis

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 , Calendar and scheduling software .

Specific to Physical Therapist Aides

    Specific to Physical Therapists

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Physical Therapist Aides or Physical Therapists — 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 Physical Therapists." 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-physical-therapists

    APA

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

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-physical-therapist-aides-vs-physical-therapists,
  title  = {Physical Therapist Aides vs Physical Therapists},
  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-physical-therapists}
}

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