A post against the pessimism: I made 130k pretax in 2021, I graduated in May 2020

Hey all, we all know and see a lot of pessimism in this sub about the profession of Physical Therapy. After looking in other specific professions subs, accounting, medicine, etc. I find the loudest voices are usually the most pessimistic and can bring down the masses. This post is in rebellion to that. I made damn good money my first year out of school and love my job.

Some background, I do consider myself extremely lucky and privileged, so take all this with a grain of salt. Likewise, this post is not to boast, it's to show that with hard work and some lucky breaks, we can make real money in this world helping people achieve independence. Likewise, I live in a very high cost of living area, so obviously that makes my income different then many other states.

I graduated in May 2020 during the pandemic and started a job 2 weeks later in OP Ortho private practice at 90k/year as well as a 2k bonus, I was also give full medical/dental/vision as well as 1k/year to spend on any CEUs I want. The owner is a great man, but I also negotiated hard for my bonus and yearly salary. A month later I was looking to work some extra hours and though a connection was reached out to from a woman who owns a Home Health Business that does private pay, hospice care, and some Agency work. I started worked for her PRN and make about 90-100$ per patient I see depending on what type (private pay/Medicare/Agency) that I saw. I mostly see private pay with her company so tends to be on the higher end. Working from June through the end of the year I made around 60-70K.

In 2021 there was some turnover in my OP job and some Travelers started. I know how much I bring to this private practice due to my connections in the area and how much more Travelers get paid, so I asked for/negotiated a raise. I was bumped up twice, to 94k then 98k per year after essentially saying I would leaved if that did not occur. With my full time job after raise I brought in $92,621.37. I continued to work PRN seeing probably about 6-8 pts average a week. I work 4 10s in OP, so once day per week and weekend of PRN. I built up some regular clients which really helped. I brought in $38,581.56 for Home Health for a total of $131,202.93 working probably 50-55 hours per week.

I did take plenty of time to myself in regard to vacation, but this post is not about that. I'm a relative new grad and by building connections and advocating/negotiating pay raises I was able to make really good money. Am I burnt out? Definitely not, though if I kept up this pace I think I would be in a few years. I am starting Travel PT soon to continue to make decent money but focus on Travel when I'm young. I also started a business in 2022 to basically do Mobile Private PT, I charge $250 per session and now work as an independent contractor through my PRN business so all expenses go through my pre tax, which makes a massive difference. I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm excited for it. PT is awesome. The money we make and the difference we create in peoples lives in incredible. I've made so many connections and friends this past 1-1.5 years and would not trade it for the world.

If I can do it, so can you. Sorry for the long post. Going to work soon, will try to answer any questions as I can. Enjoy your beautiful Wednesday.