Data Scientists vs Physician Assistants
Physician Assistants earns $15,650 more at the middle. Every figure is US government data you can check.
| Data Scientists | Physician Assistants | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay in the middle median annual wage, May 2025 | $120,230 | $135,880 |
| Pay range 10th to 90th percentile | $67,240 to $199,130 | $99,380 to $190,280 |
| Years of school you pay for our own estimate from published entry requirements, not a BLS figure | 4 | 6 |
| Typical entry education | Bachelor's degree | Master's degree |
| Jobs opening up each year | 24,800 | 11,500 |
| Growth by 2035 | 34.6% | 21.1% |
| People doing it now | 275,600 | 168,900 |
| Where the pay is highest and lowest state medians, not adjusted for cost of living or taxes | $163,350 in Washington down to $69,490 in Mississippi | $165,690 in New Jersey down to $104,960 in Alabama |
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Jobs that use what you already know
Same skills, same knowledge, same daily tasks. Most of these are not on this site.
Data Scientists
- Statisticians
- Statistical Assistants
- Financial Quantitative Analysts
- Operations Research Analysts
- Bioinformatics Scientists
- Bioinformatics Technicians
What these usually take: Usually a four-year degree, plus a few years of experience.
Physician Assistants
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
- Family Medicine Physicians
- Pediatric Surgeons
- Cardiologists
- Nurse Practitioners
- Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric
What these usually take: Graduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
O*NET 30.3 Database, U.S. Department of Labor. These are jobs that use similar skills, knowledge and daily tasks. It is a measure of how alike two jobs are — not a record of people moving between them.
Jobs that take more training than this one
A job zone is the U.S. Department of Labor’s published measure of how much preparation a job takes. It says nothing about pay.
- StatisticiansGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- Financial Quantitative AnalystsGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- Operations Research AnalystsGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- Bioinformatics ScientistsGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- MathematiciansGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- Computer and Information Research ScientistsGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
- BiostatisticiansGraduate school — a master's, or a doctorate.
O*NET 30.3 Database and O*NET Job Zones, U.S. Department of Labor. A job zone is a published measure of how much preparation an occupation takes, not a measure of pay or of whether a job is better. Pay differences are BLS median annual wages, May 2025, and are shown only where both jobs are on this site.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment and wage data, May 2025, and employment projections 2025-35. Years of school is our own estimate from published entry requirements, not a BLS figure. State medians are not adjusted for cost of living or taxes, and that difference could be large either way. No advice, just data.