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Physical Therapist Assistants vs Surgical Assistants

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Physical Therapist Assistants and Surgical 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 Assistants Surgical Assistants
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$65,510
$60,290
Employment · BLS OEWS
108,010
22,860
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
8th pct
2nd pct

At a glance

Dimension Physical Therapist Assistants Surgical Assistants
Median pay $65,510 $60,290
Employment 108,010 22,860
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+22.0%) About average (+5.1%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 19,800 1,600
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 · 2nd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 22nd pct · 17% 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, Oral Expression, Active Listening, Oral Comprehension, Education and Training, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Speaking, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Written Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Medicine and Dentistry, Biology, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, Written Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Selective Attention, Coordination, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Information Ordering, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Category Flexibility, Perceptual Speed.

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

  • Therapy and Counseling
  • Psychology
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Active Learning
  • Instructing
  • Static Strength
  • Persuasion
  • Time Management

Specific to Surgical Assistants

  • Finger Dexterity
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Control Precision
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Hearing Sensitivity

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 , Presentation software .

Specific to Physical Therapist Assistants

Specific to Surgical Assistants

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Physical Therapist Assistants or Surgical 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 Assistants vs Surgical 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; 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-surgical-assistants

    APA

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

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-physical-therapist-assistants-vs-surgical-assistants,
  title  = {Physical Therapist Assistants vs Surgical Assistants},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; 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-surgical-assistants}
}

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