A registered physical therapist's job ranges from diagnosing patients who have health challenges affecting their movement to helping injured people manage their pain and improve movement in the trouble areas. As a registered physical therapist, you have to assist people in restoring their physical mobility. To do this, you will schedule appointments with patients and monitor their improvements.
You will also help enhance patients' general well-being and increase the quality of their lives. Physical therapists can work in so many places, from hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and nursing homes, to outpatient clinics and schools. However, becoming a physical therapist requires serious education and clinical experiences.
A bachelor's degree in a science-related field is usually the starting point. To practice, you need to obtain a master's degree or a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree from an accredited physical therapist program. The median hourly pay for a Registered Physical Therapist is $44.08 an hour or $87,930 yearly.
How to Become a Registered Physical Therapist
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a registered physical therapist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.4 an hour? That's $77,802 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 22% and produce 54,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Registered Physical Therapist Do
There are certain skills that many registered physical therapists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed compassion, detail oriented and dexterity.
How To Become a Registered Physical Therapist
If you're interested in becoming a registered physical therapist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 58.0% of registered physical therapists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 19.3% of registered physical therapists have master's degrees. Even though most registered physical therapists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a registered physical therapist. When we researched the most common majors for a registered physical therapist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on registered physical therapist resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a registered physical therapist. In fact, many registered physical therapist jobs require experience in a role such as physical therapist. Meanwhile, many registered physical therapists also have previous career experience in roles such as physical therapy internship or respiratory therapist.
Average Salary for a Registered Physical Therapist
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Registered Physical Therapists
1. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. Tufts University
Medford, MA • Private
5. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
6. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
7. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
8. Emory University
Atlanta, GA • Private
9. Kettering College
Kettering, OH • Private
10. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
Top Skills For a Registered Physical Therapist
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 24.3% of registered physical therapists listed respiratory care on their resume, but soft skills such as compassion and detail oriented are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Registered Physical Therapist Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Registered Physical Therapist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Registered Physical Therapist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Registered Physical Therapist Demographics
Registered Physical Therapist Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among registered physical therapists, 66.2% of them are women, while 33.8% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among registered physical therapists is White, which makes up 73.6% of all registered physical therapists.
- The most common foreign language among registered physical therapists is German at 33.3%.
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Best States For a Registered Physical Therapist
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a registered physical therapist. The best states for people in this position are California, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington. Registered physical therapists make the most in California with an average salary of $109,215. Whereas in New Jersey and Connecticut, they would average $106,908 and $103,061, respectively. While registered physical therapists would only make an average of $95,502 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New Jersey
$106,908
Avg. Salary
2. California
$109,215
Avg. Salary
3. North Dakota
$87,528
Avg. Salary
How Do Registered Physical Therapist Rate Their Jobs?
Top Registered Physical Therapist Employers
Most Common Employers For Registered Physical Therapist
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Knox Village | $102,871 | $49.46 | 1 |
| 2 | The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics | $101,394 | $48.75 | 1 |
| 3 | CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield | $99,166 | $47.68 | 1 |
| 4 | Genesis HealthCare | $95,576 | $45.95 | 1 |
| 5 | Life Care Centers of America | $92,119 | $44.29 | 4 |
| 6 | Amsterdam Nursing Home | $88,322 | $42.46 | 1 |
| 7 | Functional Pathways | $83,318 | $40.06 | 2 |
| 8 | Restore Therapy | $82,439 | $39.63 | 1 |
| 9 | Ability Center | $82,347 | $39.59 | 1 |
| 10 | Austin State Hospital | $81,741 | $39.30 | 2 |