Healthcare practitioners
Physical therapist
Assess, plan, organize, and participate in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, relieve pain, increase strength, and improve or correct disabling conditions resulting from disease or injury.
Median pay
$102,760
Growth to 2035
+12%
faster than average
Openings a year
13,400
Time to qualify*
4.2 years
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Physical therapist
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- On-the-job training
- None
- Prior experience
- None
- Required
- NPTE licensing exam · State PT license
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Exposure to disease
Physical therapist: 11% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.
- Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
- Record prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer.
- Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
- Evaluate effects of treatment at various stages and adjust treatments to achieve maximum benefit.
- Confer with the patient, medical practitioners, or appropriate others to plan, implement, or assess the intervention program.
- Administer manual exercises, massage, or traction to help relieve pain, increase patient strength, or decrease or prevent deformity or crippling.
- Obtain patients' informed consent to proposed interventions.
Also called: Acute Care PT (Acute Care Physical Therapist) · Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) · Home Care Physical Therapist (Home Care PT) · Inpatient Physical Therapist (Inpatient PT) · Outpatient Physical Therapist (Outpatient PT) · Pediatric Physical Therapist (Pediatric PT) · Registered Physical Therapist (RPT) · Therapist
Outlook and AI
Physical therapists held 283,700 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 317,600 by 2035 (+12%, faster than average; all jobs: +3.5%).
Compare with
- Physical therapist vs. Occupational therapist
- Physical therapist vs. Physician assistant
- Physical therapist vs. Physical therapist assistant
- Physical therapist vs. Physician (other specialties)
- Physical therapist vs. Physical therapist aide
- Physical therapist vs. Occupational therapy assistant
- Physical therapist vs. Occupational therapy aide
- Physical therapist vs. Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric
- Physical therapist vs. Registered nurse
- Physical therapist vs. Pediatric surgeon
- Physical therapist vs. Recreational therapist