Athletic trainer vs physical therapist
Both rehabilitate injuries and both are licensed. One is usually standing on the sideline when the injury happens; the other sees it days later in a clinic and owns the plan of care from there.
Physical therapist
The wider career: a licence every state issues on a doctorate, care Medicare pays for, and a median of $102,760 — $40,240 above the athletic trainer median.
Athletic trainer
The better fit if you want to be there when the injury happens: prevention, sideline care and return to sport with one team, on a master's rather than a doctorate.
Side by side
| Aspect | Physical therapist | Athletic trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Entry-level degree | Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) | Professional master's |
| Programme accreditor | CAPTE | CAATE |
| National exam | State licensure exam | BOC Certification Exam |
| Regulated in | All states | 49 states + DC |
| Where they meet the injury | In the clinic, days or weeks later | Often on the field, as it happens |
| Practises under a physician's direction | Own licence | |
| Medicare pays for it as therapy | ||
| Median pay, May 2025 | $102,760 | $62,520 |
| Jobs, 2025 | 283,700 | 35,200 |
| Projected growth, 2025–35 | 12% | 13% |
One injury, two professions
The athletic trainer's day starts before anyone is hurt: taping, bracing, warm-up and conditioning programmes, and a plan for the bad afternoon. When it comes, the AT is usually the first clinician on the scene. They recognise and evaluate the injury, give first aid, help decide whether the athlete plays on, and work under the direction of a team or consulting physician.
The physical therapist meets the same ankle in a clinic, evaluates it from scratch and writes a plan of care with measurable goals, a visit count and an end date. The plan of care builder shows what that document has to carry. Between visits the athlete works from a written programme; a home exercise programme is the PT's main lever, where the AT's is daily contact.
Where the hand-off goes wrong
The athlete is discharged by the PT as “functional” and handed back to the AT, who needs sport-specific loads the clinic never tested. Send the AT your last measurements and the heaviest exercise dose the athlete tolerated, not just the discharge summary.
Where each one works
Schools and colleges are the athletic trainer's home ground; therapy offices and hospitals are the physical therapist's. The overlap is real, though: 14% of athletic trainer jobs sit in the same therapy offices that employ 36% of PTs.
Athletic trainers
- Educational services40%
- Hospitals16%
- Offices of PT, OT, speech therapists and audiologists14%
- Offices of physicians11%
- Arts, entertainment and recreation7%
Physical therapists
- Offices of PT, OT, speech therapists and audiologists36%
- Hospitals26%
- Home healthcare services11%
- Nursing and residential care facilities6%
- Self-employed workers4%
The schedule follows the setting. Athletic trainers who cover teams work evenings and weekends and travel with the squad; a clinic PT works the clinic's hours. If you want to see the PT side of the job from the money end, the physical therapist salary guide breaks pay down by setting.
The road in
Both now start with a bachelor's degree and finish with a graduate one. Athletic training moved its entry point up to the master's level; physical therapy entry is the doctorate. The exam and the regulator differ, and so does what keeps the credential alive.
Physical therapist
Bachelor's degree
Most DPT programmes want one, with anatomy, chemistry and physics prerequisites; a few run 3+3 or freshman-entry tracks.
Doctor of Physical Therapy~3 yrs
CAPTE-accredited. Roughly 77% classroom and lab, 23% clinical, with about 22 weeks in the final placement.
State licensure exam
Every state licenses PTs; some add a law exam or a background check.
Keep the licence
Continuing education on your state board's schedule. Optional board-certified specialist status later.
Athletic trainer
Bachelor's degree
Master's programmes generally admit from a bachelor's with science and health coursework.
Professional master's
CAATE-accredited. Bachelor's-level entry programmes stopped enrolling after the fall 2022 term.
BOC Certification Exam
Your programme director has to confirm your eligibility before you can sit it.
State licence, then renewal2-yr cycle
49 states and DC regulate the practice. BOC renewal: 40 CEUs a cycle (20 if first certified in 2026), current emergency cardiac care, an annual fee.
The AT master's and the DPT are separate credentials. Neither is a step on the way to the other.
Pay and outlook
Median pay, May 2025
$102,760 PT
$62,520 AT
annual, all settings
Projected growth, 2025–35
12% PT
13% AT
both much faster than the 3% all-jobs average
Openings a year
13,400 PT
2,400 AT
average over the decade, replacements included
The median gap is $40,240 a year. It is wider than it looks: the top tenth of athletic trainers earn more than $88,760, which is still under the median physical therapist. The best-paying athletic training sector, arts, entertainment and recreation, pays a median of $71,810; the lowest-paying in the top five is the one where the two professions share a building, therapy offices, at $61,060.
Rehab work without the doctorate has a second route: the physical therapist assistant, at a median of $68,380. The PTA salary guide lays out that path.
For clinic owners hiring an AT
Medicare will not pay for it as therapy
Medicare pays for therapy only when it is furnished by people trained specifically in PT, OT or speech-language pathology; the services of athletic trainers may not be billed as therapy services, whatever a state licence allows. The rule sits in Pub. 100-02, Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, ch.15 §230.5. An AT on the floor does not add billable minutes to a Medicare visit, whatever your state practice act allows.
That leaves cash-pay sports performance, injury screening, school and club outreach, and any commercial payer whose contract credentials athletic trainers. Before you schedule an AT against an insured caseload, confirm the payer will accept the claim, then count only the therapist's own minutes in the billing units calculator. Exercise and functional-activity codes such as 97110 and 97530 are where this bites: that is the work an AT would otherwise be doing beside the PT.
Which one
As a career
Choose athletic training if the sideline is the point: one team, prevention, the call on the field, evenings and travel. Choose physical therapy if you want the broader patient base, your own plan of care, Medicare billing and roughly 64% more pay at the median.
As an injured athlete
If your school or team has an athletic trainer, start there: they see you the same day and know when to send you on. If you have no AT, or the injury needs a structured programme of weeks, a physical therapist. Weighing PT against other hands-on care instead? See PT vs chiropractor, and if the question is daily-living function rather than sport, read occupational therapy vs physical therapy.
Questions
+Is an athletic trainer the same as a personal trainer?
No. The BLS lists them as separate occupations and warns against confusing the two. An athletic trainer is a licensed or certified healthcare provider with a master's degree; a personal trainer is a fitness trainer, a different job on a different training route.
+Can an athletic trainer treat Medicare patients in a PT clinic?
They can work there, but Medicare will not pay for their time as therapy. Pub. 100-02, Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, ch.15 §230.5 names athletic trainers among the professions whose services may not be billed as therapy, even incident to a physician. Commercial plans set their own rules; read each contract before you schedule an AT on an insured caseload.
+Can an athletic trainer become a physical therapist?
Yes, by completing a DPT and passing the licensure exam like any other applicant. The athletic training master's is its own credential, not a step inside the DPT; how much of its coursework counts toward DPT prerequisites is each programme's call, so check the list before you apply.
+Does BOC certification let an athletic trainer practise in any state?
No. The BOC says plainly that certification does not guarantee a licence. 49 states and DC regulate athletic training, every one of them accepts the BOC exam, and the state credential is what makes practice legal.
+Which one earns more?
The physical therapist, by a wide margin at every point of the distribution; the numbers are in the pay section above and in the physical therapist salary guide.
Wage and job figures: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Physical Therapists (May 2025 wage data) (read 2026-10-18) and BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Athletic Trainers (May 2025 wage data) (read 2026-10-18). Scope of practice and licensure rules vary by state; check your own state board. More in practice and career.
Sources
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Physical Therapists — May 2025 wage data · read 2026-10-18
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Athletic Trainers — May 2025 wage data; 2025–35 projections · read 2026-10-18
- CAATE — Professional programs — the bachelor's-to-master's degree change · read 2026-10-18
- Board of Certification — Exam candidates — eligibility for the BOC Certification Exam · read 2026-10-18
- Board of Certification — Certification renewal and state regulation · read 2026-10-18
- CAPTE — About CAPTE — accreditor of entry-level PT and PTA programmes · read 2026-10-18
- APTA — Becoming a physical therapist · read 2026-10-18
- CMS Pub. 100-02, Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 15 §230.5 — therapy services incident to a physician's service · read 2026-10-18
Keep reading
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Chiropractic billing codes
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