Get people moving again after injury, surgery or stroke. Seven years of school for a job that exists in every town.
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Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $102,760 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $77,140 at the lower end to about $135,140 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
7 to 8 years after high school, on the usual route.
$96,000 to $187,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a license or registration before you can work.
Very high demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$102,760
Bottom tenth
$77,140
Top tenth
$135,140
The 2025 national median is $102,760 a year, and the bottom tenth earn $77,140 or less. The range is narrow. Everyone in it holds the same doctorate and the same license.
$77,140 to $86,160
The bottom tenth to the bottom quarter of the national wage survey, 2025
This covers everyone in the job, not only beginners, because the survey publishes no separate starting figure.
$121,160 a year or more
The 75th percentile of therapists paid a wage, 2025
The survey does not say who is at the top. Owning an outpatient clinic is a small business with insurance billing at the heart of it.
Roughly, all in
$96,000 to $187,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a cheap undergraduate route, community college credits then an in state public university, followed by a public Doctor of Physical Therapy program near $20,000 a year, plus the national exam and a first state license. The high end is four full years of undergraduate tuition then a doctoral program at around $40,000 a year, with several program applications and interviews on top. Most people apply to several schools, which costs a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars before anyone admits you. Large federal loans are common, and nonprofit hospital, school district or government clinic work qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness after ten years of payments.
Roughly $96,000 to $187,000 in all, and large federal student loans are common. If you work for a nonprofit hospital, a school district or a government clinic, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program can clear the remaining balance after ten years of qualifying payments. Fill in the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) every single year.
Outpatient clinics
Knees, shoulders, backs and post-surgery rehabilitation. The most common setting and the most competitive.
Hospitals
Getting people out of bed after surgery, stroke or intensive care. Shift work and real medical complexity.
Skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities
Older patients and longer recoveries.
Home health
Driving between patients' houses. Often paid per visit, and independent.
Schools and sports teams
Working with children with disabilities, or on a sideline. Fewer jobs and a lot of applicants.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A bachelor's degree, then a three year clinical doctorate. There is no shorter route in most states.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology, chemistry, physics and math. Start collecting observation hours in a clinic while you are still in school.
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Any major, as long as you complete the prerequisite science courses. Exercise science, biology and kinesiology are the usual choices, and grades matter.
Doctor of Physical Therapy
3 years
Three years at a program accredited by CAPTE (the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education). Roughly three quarters classroom and lab, one quarter clinical placement.
Clinical rotations
Within the doctorate
Full time supervised practice across settings such as outpatient, hospital, neurological and pediatric care.
National exam and state license
Months after graduation
Pass the National Physical Therapy Examination, then license with your state board, which may also set a law exam.
Biology
Anatomy and physiology are the backbone of the whole degree.
Physics
Forces, levers and load. Human movement is applied physics.
Chemistry
A prerequisite for nearly every doctorate program.
Psychology
Rehabilitation is slow and painful, and patients quit. Motivating them is the job.
You cannot practice anywhere in the United States without a license from that state's board. The exam behind it is the NPTE (National Physical Therapy Examination), run by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy and used by every jurisdiction. Your degree must come from a program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education, which accredits both physical therapist and physical therapist assistant programs. States differ on direct access, meaning whether a patient can come to you without a doctor's referral first, and on how many continuing education hours you need to renew.
Public university health science campuses
In-state tuition is by far the cheapest route to the same accredited doctorate.
Combined bachelor's and doctorate tracks
Some schools run a three plus three format so you move straight into the professional program without reapplying.
Straight from high school
A limited number of programs admit students directly out of high school into a guaranteed track.
The centralized application service
Most programs are applied to through one shared application system, which also lists their prerequisites.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Orthopedics
Joints, sports injuries and post-surgical recovery.
Neurologic therapy
Stroke, spinal cord injury and Parkinson's disease. Slow, technical and deeply rewarding work.
Pediatrics
Children with developmental and physical disabilities, often in schools or early intervention programs.
Geriatrics
Balance, falls and staying independent.
Travel therapy
Short contracts filling gaps in understaffed clinics, often with housing.
Observation hours
Almost every program requires documented hours in different settings before it will look at you.
Work as a rehabilitation aide or technician
Paid, and it tells you whether you actually like this before the loans start.
A high grade point average
Admission is competitive and largely decided on prerequisite grades.
A second language
You explain painful exercises in detail, over and over. Doing it in a patient's own language matters.
This is a common complaint inside the profession: the doctorate is expensive, and only a quarter of physical therapists earn more than $121,160. The math works if you keep tuition down with an in-state public program, work somewhere that qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or take travel contracts early and attack the loans. It works much less well if you pay private school prices.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In outpatient work, patients every 30 to 60 minutes from 7am. Assess, then coach: hands-on work on a joint, then exercises you watch and correct rep by rep. Explaining the same thing to the fourth person that day, and persuading someone who has stopped doing their home program. Documentation after every visit, because the insurance company pays on what you wrote. In a hospital it is walking someone to the door of their room for the first time since surgery, and counting that as a win.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The American Physical Therapy Association describes a typical Doctor of Physical Therapy program as about 77 percent classroom and laboratory work and about 23 percent clinical education. It is a science degree with placements, not an apprenticeship.
Federal projections give physical therapists a Bright Outlook: much faster than average growth from 2025 to 2035 and about 13,400 openings a year.
The same commission accredits physical therapist assistant programs, which take about two years at a community college. If seven years of school is too much, that is a real route into the same clinics for a fraction of the time and cost.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Therapy and rehab first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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