Nurse Practitioner: main tradeoff

One of the fastest-growing occupations with strong compensation and a large national workforce, but it requires graduate nursing education and state-dependent practice rules.

Physician Assistant: main tradeoff

High pay, strong growth, and a much shorter training path than physician make PA unusually attractive, though graduate education and clinical intensity remain significant.

Which should you choose?

Physician Assistant has the higher national median pay in the BLS data. Nurse Practitioner has the higher projected 2024–2034 growth rate. The larger decision is whether you prefer the training path, work style, and occupation-specific tradeoffs of Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant.