Salary by Years Experience for Physical Therapist (PT) Jobs

What is the Starting Salary of a Physical Therapist?

Because of the depth of knowledge of the human body necessary to become a physical therapist, years of school and training are required of all licensed physical therapists. As graduation nears, one of the first questions on these students' minds is, "What is the starting salary of a physical therapist?" It's no surprise that physical therapy is such a popular career choice; looking at the chart above, we can see that even the starting salary of a physical therapist is quite high when compared to Starting Salaries for Massage Therapy, the Starting Salary of a Recreational Therapist or entry-level salaries for other similar occupations. There is also plenty of room for the average salary of a physical therapist to grow with experience. Even after just five years of experience, the average physical therapy salary increases dramatically. The high starting salary of a physical therapist isn't the only attraction for this career, of course. The report on Physical Therapist Salaries by Employer Type tells us that the average salary of a physical therapist tends to be higher for those who are self-employed, making physical therapy a great career choice for a hands-on, active person who wants to be his or her own boss. For more information on physical therapist salaries and careers, see the Physical Therapist Job Description page.