Job opportunities for physical therapy assistant? (Tucson, Pima: apartment, schools, community college)

[Multy]

Hello all,

I'll try to keep it short, but for some context:

I am currently living in North New Jersey, and I was wondering if anyone has insight into the job prospects for a physical therapist assistant in Tucson?

I currently work for a large tech company out here, but I've been with them for two years, and
it's rapidly becoming clear that it's probably a dead-end line of work. I've been looking into switching careers, and physical therapist assistant seems like something that would be ever-in-demand in a city like Tucson, where a lot of the population consists of older, retired folks.

Now, I've lived in Tucson off and on for about 10 years, and graduated from the UofA, so I at least have a degree, and am very familiar with the city.

I'm from New Jersey, and I mostly love it here but, being 28, and seeing the financial struggles of older people who are better off in their careers, I'm sort of getting scared of the cost of living issues in the long term. Hell, a studio apartment in my area goes for almost $1000/mo

I figured that I'd maybe go to Pima and take their physical therapist assistant course. This is mainly because schools out here also cost an arm and a leg.

Does anyone have experience in this line of work, and can maybe give me advice about how secure a career move like this would be, specific to Tucson? Is there any upwards mobility in this line of work?

I'm just in the very early process of putting feelers out, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[PartIrish]

Hi Multy,

Just a heads up--the median age in Tucson is 33, so maybe not the geriatric crowd you might be imagining. If you are going to do a program, stay away from for-profit schools (Pima Community College is fine, but Pima Medical Institute is for-profit. Do you homework on places like that before you plunk down your money.)

Cost of living here is much lower; you can expect to pay $650-700/month for a one-bedroom in a safe and decent area. However, you should also expect wages to be lower. While I don't know the market for PT assistants in Tucson, my son is a DPT and would not choose to work in Tucson as the salaries for DPTs are much lower than in other states.

You may wish to do a job search on Indeed.com for assistant PTs in Tucson. That would give you some starting information about the number of job opening here.