For physical therapists
Before you sign that physical therapy offer, check these three things.
A physical therapy offer lists a salary and a schedule. The contract behind it can set patient-volume targets, limit where you practice if you leave, and ask you to repay bonuses or training.
This clinic agreement ties the job to a weekly visit count and restricts practice near any location for two years.
The job depends on 50 visits a week
The count is measured by the clinic's own system, cancellations and no-shows are not addressed, and missing it is grounds for ending the job.
Ask for
Check how the count is measured and whether cancellations and no-shows count against you.
- 25 miles from any location, even after a layoffHigh · Restrictions
- Education costs repaid in fullMedium · Payment
The numbers
In May 2025, there were 267,330 wage and salary jobs for physical therapists in the U.S., with a median annual wage of $102,760.
These figures count jobs, not people, and do not include self-employed work — so they say little about how many physical therapists work freelance or run their own business.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, national estimates for SOC 29-1123. Public domain.
Visit targets, non-competes and repayment
- Productivity targets — Check whether pay or continued employment depends on a visit count, and how that count is measured.
- Non-compete — Look at the distance, the length and whether it applies if the employer ends the job.
- Repayment terms — A sign-on bonus or continuing-education cost that must be repaid can be large. Check the amount and how it reduces over time.
Check the offer before you accept
The salary is on page one; the conditions are later. Free: one analysis every 30 days, no card. Each analysis gives a risk read of the key clauses, quotes the contract's own words for its findings, and turns each flagged clause into a specific ask.
Analyze my contract — free- Encrypted in transit & at rest
- Files auto-deleted after 30 days
- Never used to train models
- Informational — not legal advice