Physician assistant salary in Kentucky

Physician assistant pay by percentile

Ten percent of Kentucky physician assistants earned less than $79,550 and ten percent earned more than $161,820, a spread of $82,270. Where you land depends mostly on specialty, setting, experience and how the productivity pay is built, which is why two offers in the same city can be far apart.

Physician assistant pay by metro area

BLS published PA pay for 6 metro areas that include part of Kentucky. Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN has the highest median at $130,830. Metro estimates rest on smaller samples than the statewide figure, so treat a low-precision row as a direction, not a number.

How PA pay compares with other clinicians in Kentucky

The Kentucky PA workforce

BLS counts 1,360 physician assistants on Kentucky payrolls, or 0.68 for every 1,000 jobs in the state, less concentrated than in the country as a whole. The federal NPI registry, which also counts self-employed and part-time clinicians, lists 2,308 physician assistants with a Kentucky practice address, and 112 new PA NPIs there in the past twelve months.

Using these numbers when you negotiate

A state median is a reference point, not a target. If an offer comes in under $102,430, it sits in the bottom quarter of what Kentucky physician assistants earn, and you should know why before you sign: a new-grad rate, a light schedule, or a base kept low because a productivity bonus is supposed to make up the difference. If it is above $136,080, ask what is expected in return, such as call, volume targets or a longer non-compete.

Compare the whole package, not the base: how the bonus is calculated, call pay, CME, PTO and who pays malpractice tail coverage. The negotiation guide and the contract checklist walk through each term.