Physician Assistant Pay in the Great Plains Region

Data published recently by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) put physician assistant (PA) employment in the U.S. at just over 125,000 as of May 2020.  The Great Plains region of the country was home to about 7,700 of those physician assistants according to the BLS data.  BLS data revealed a mixed story about physician assistant pay levels in the region.  Two Great Plains states, Minnesota and North Dakota, collectively the home of more than 36% of the region's PAs, were among the fifteen best states in the country in terms of physician assistant annual mean wages.  However, another 36% of the region's physician assistants worked in Kansas, Missouri or South Dakota, three states that ranked in the bottom third nationally for average PA annual mean wage levels.  A closer examination of BLS data from May 2020 revealed the following about physician assistant pay in the Great Plains region:

Physician Assistant Pay in the Great Plains Region

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
IA	940	$117,770	18th
KS	1,030	$109,640	35th
MN	2,570	$122,280	12th
MO	1,240	$94,020	47th
NE	1,150	$113,240	28th
ND	250	$119,270	13th
SD	510	$109,290	36th
U.S.	125,280	$116,080	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on April 24, 2021