Direct support professionals in Pennsylvania's intellectual disability and autism services earned an average of $18.53 an hour in 2025, and 41% of them left their jobs during the year. About 18% of DSP positions were vacant.
The figures come from the 2025 Pennsylvania Direct Support Professional & Front Line Supervisor Compensation Study, released April 7, 2026, by the Provider Consortium, a group of provider associations: MAX Association, PAR, The Alliance of Community Service Providers and The Provider Alliance. The Center for Disability Information ran the analysis. It is the seventh such survey since 2015.
Who was surveyed
The survey ran from Jan. 13 to Feb. 10, 2026, and covered calendar year 2025. A total of 119 agencies reported on 19,928 DSPs: 15,325 full-time, 3,625 part-time and 978 per diem. Against the state's public estimate of about 55,000 DSPs, that is roughly 36% of the workforce.
Pay
Average pay for all DSPs was $18.53 an hour, weighted for full-time and part-time staff. Full-time DSPs averaged $18.81 and part-time DSPs $17.35. Average starting pay was $17.18 for full-time and $16.61 for part-time workers.
The average has risen from $11.26 in 2015, an increase of about 65% over 11 years. Inflation over the same period was about 36%, and the 2015 wage adjusted for inflation alone would be $15.31. The study also cites the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which puts a living wage for a single adult in Pennsylvania at $23.32 an hour.
Among full-time DSPs in the sample, 95.6% worked for agencies that offered some form of health insurance, and 92.9% had access to a retirement plan.
Turnover and vacancies
DSP turnover was 41.0%, about where it has been since 2024. The vacancy rate was 18.2%: 15.9% for full-time positions and 27.7% for part-time positions. That is down about 4 points from 2024, though still well above the 10.6% the series recorded in 2015.
The study's authors say pay gains beat inflation but were not enough to fix the workforce problem. They write that "a considerably larger wage increase will be needed" to balance supply and demand, while noting that the raises so far may have kept things from getting worse.
Why $18.53 is not a market rate
The report argues against treating the average wage as the going market rate. Pennsylvania rules require regular market surveys to set fair reimbursement rates. But with about 18% of positions empty, the authors say, $18.53 was the price of an 82% full workforce. In their view, the market value of a DSP is the wage that fills all or almost all positions.
Front line supervisors
A total of 102 agencies reported 1,873 front line supervisors. They averaged $44,852 a year, about $21.56 an hour. Supervisor turnover was 27.4%, which the study says decreased by 5.5% since 2024, and the vacancy rate was 11.7%.
Program openings and closings
The survey found no significant pattern of program closures. One agency closed a group home because of staffing, and four consolidated homes, while 36 opened at least one new group home. Three agencies closed a day program, three reduced or consolidated one, and none opened a new one.
Why this matters for providers and DSPs
The study gives Pennsylvania agencies a current benchmark for pay, turnover and vacancies by position type. It also gives them an argument for rate talks: that a wage paid while nearly one in five positions stays empty should not be used as the market rate. For DSPs, the numbers show real pay gains since 2015, but an average still more than $4.50 below the living wage the study cites.