For the second consecutive year, physician assistant positions ranked 3rd in the Annual U.S. News & World Report 100 Best Jobs listing.

The 2022 report ranks physician assistants trailing nurse practitioners at number 2 and information security analysts at number 1. In the individual healthcare sector listing, nurse practitioners were number 1 followed by physician assistants at number 2.

“It is truly inspiring to see the projected growth in opportunities for both physician assistants and nurse practitioners,” said SDPA Board of Directors President Renata Block, MPAS, PA-C. “We are an essential part of high-performing medical teams that effectively manage patient diagnoses and treatments and deliver positive patient outcomes. Growth in our field ensures greater access to quality medical care for all patients.”

To calculate the Best Jobs listing, U.S. News & World Report draws data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to identify jobs with the greatest hiring demand. Jobs are scored based on growth potential, salary, employment rate, future job prospects, stress level, and work-life balance.

Employment of physician assistants is projected to grow 31% from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the BLS. 

About 12,200 openings for physician assistants are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire, BLS said.

Healthcare jobs also continue to rank high among the “Best Jobs that Pay More Than $100K,” with that industry capturing 9 of the list’s top 10 jobs. Physicians were number 1 while oral and maxillofacial surgeons landed at number 2, and obstetrician/gynecologists tied with anesthesiologists at number 3. These have a median salary of more than $200,000.

2022 U.S. News Best Jobs Rankings
See the full list of the Best Jobs here.

100 Best Jobs

1. Information Security Analyst
2. Nurse Practitioner
3. Physician Assistant
4. Medical and Health Services Manager
5. Software Developer

Best Health Care Jobs

1. Nurse Practitioner
2. Physician Assistant
3. Speech-Language Pathologist
4. Physician
5. Registered Nurse

Best Business Jobs

1. Medical and Health Services Manager
2. Financial Manager
3. Statistician
4. Market Research Analyst
5. Operations Research Analyst  

Best Technology Jobs

1. Information Security Analyst
2. Software Developer
3. Data Scientist
4. IT Manager
5. Computer Systems Analyst

Additional information may be found at:

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Physician Assistants, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physician-assistants.htm

2. U.S. News and World Report, U.S. News Best Jobs Ranking at https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings

3. U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News Reveals the 2020 Best Jobs, https://www.usnews.com/info/blogs/press-room/articles/2020-01-07/us-news-reveals-the-2020-best-jobs