Averages

• Physical therapist assistants in New Jersey were earning an average salary of $24.90 per hour as of May 2009, or $51,790 per year, as determined by the BLS. That's about 6 percent higher than the nationwide average for this occupation of $23.36 per hour, equaling $48,590 per year.
  
  

Salary Range

• The middle 50 percent of New Jersey physical therapist assistants were earning $44,770 to $61,590 in 2009. The bottom 10 percent had annual salaries of $31,190 and less, and the top 10 percent were making at least $67,500 per year. In comparison, the middle 50 percent annual range nationwide was $39,070 to $57,780.
  
  

Metro Areas

• The highest-paying area in New Jersey for physical therapist assistants is the metropolitan region of Trenton-Ewing, where their annual income was $52,950 on average in 2009. The Edison-New Brunswick area was high-paying for these workers as well, with an annual average pay rate of $52,630. Physical therapist assistants in the Newark-Union area had an average salary of $49,890 per year, in the Atlantic City-Hammonton area $50,350 and in the Camden area $51,960.
  
  

Job Openings

• The job search website Indeed.com listed hundreds of job openings for physical therapist assistants throughout New Jersey in 2011. Physical therapist assistants were needed to work in private physical therapy practices, general hospitals and medical centers, long-term care facilities, orthopedics departments, rehabilitation services, skilled nursing facilities and sports medicine clinics. Posted pay rates ranged from $40,000 to $87,000 per year, and one organization offered a salary that can reach over $100,000 annually when including bonuses. Examples of benefits offered by some New Jersey employers of physical therapist assistants include medical, dental and vision insurance, along with paid time off, a company-matched 401(k) savings plan, flexible scheduling, tuition reimbursement and in-house continuing education units.