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Physical Therapist Assistants vs Occupational Therapists

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Physical Therapist Assistants and Occupational 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 Assistants Occupational Therapists
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$65,510
$98,340
Employment · BLS OEWS
108,010
152,280
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
8th pct
32nd pct

At a glance

Dimension Physical Therapist Assistants Occupational Therapists
Median pay $65,510 $98,340
Employment 108,010 152,280
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+22.0%) Growing fast (+13.8%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 19,800 10,200
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. 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 · 8th pct Low · 32nd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 22nd pct · 17% of tasks 32nd pct · 20% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Automation-leaning (50.0%)
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, Therapy and Counseling, English Language, Oral Expression, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Education and Training, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Speaking, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Written Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Psychology, Medicine and Dentistry, Biology, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Service Orientation, Written Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Selective Attention, Coordination, Instructing, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Information Ordering, Time Management, Fluency of Ideas, Category Flexibility.

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

  • Computers and Electronics
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Static Strength
  • Persuasion
  • Perceptual Speed

Specific to Occupational Therapists

  • Learning Strategies
  • Originality
  • Sociology and Anthropology
  • Operations Analysis
  • 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 , Data base user interface and query software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Word processing software , Billing and invoicing software .

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

Specific to Occupational Therapists

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Physical Therapist Assistants or Occupational 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 Assistants vs Occupational 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-assistants-vs-occupational-therapists

APA

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

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-physical-therapist-assistants-vs-occupational-therapists,
  title  = {Physical Therapist Assistants vs Occupational 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-assistants-vs-occupational-therapists}
}

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