Skip to content
Singulariki

Physical Therapist Assistants vs Occupational Therapy Aides

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Physical Therapist Assistants and Occupational Therapy Aides 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 Therapy Aides
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$65,510
$37,370
Employment · BLS OEWS
108,010
5,000
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
8th pct
9th pct

At a glance

Dimension Physical Therapist Assistants Occupational Therapy Aides
Median pay $65,510 $37,370
Employment 108,010 5,000
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+22.0%) About average (+2.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 19,800 600
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 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 · 8th pct Low · 9th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 22nd pct · 17% of tasks 18th pct · 15% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (60.8%)
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, Computers and Electronics, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Service Orientation, Written Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Coordination, Instructing, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Information Ordering, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Persuasion, Time Management, Category Flexibility.

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

  • Biology
  • Selective Attention
  • Static Strength
  • Fluency of Ideas
  • Perceptual Speed

Specific to Occupational Therapy Aides

  • Public Safety and Security
  • Learning Strategies
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Trunk Strength
  • Administrative

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 , Presentation software , Word processing software , Billing and invoicing software , Calendar and scheduling software .

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

Specific to Occupational Therapy Aides

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Physical Therapist Assistants or Occupational Therapy Aides — 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 Therapy Aides." 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-therapy-aides

    APA

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

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-physical-therapist-assistants-vs-occupational-therapy-aides,
  title  = {Physical Therapist Assistants vs Occupational Therapy Aides},
  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-therapy-aides}
}

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