How Much A Doctor Make A Year

Overall, the average physician salary is $265,000 annually for primary care physicians and $382,000 for specialists, according to the 2023 Medscape Physician Compensation Report. Not only are these impressive average salaries, they are also significant increases from salary averages reported by Medscape in 2015. Medscape notes that across the board, physician compensation continues to rise. Their 2018 report showed the average physician earning $299,000 while only five years later, that has risen to $352,000.

How Much Do Doctors Make? (2023)

Learn the differences in salary by specialty, location, race, and gender

Introduction

If you’re interested in becoming a doctor or you’re already on the road to entering the field of medicine, you’ve probably given a lot of thought to what your life in medicine will look like. Obviously, your number one focus is on healing people and learning about the human body.

But it’s also fair to begin to plan your life on practical terms. You probably want to know how much money you’ll earn in your future profession, especially given how expensive it is to become a doctor in the first place. Between application fees for medical school and residency, medical school tuition, travel expenses for interviews, and living on a resident’s salary for several years, the costs can be substantial. The average medical student debt upon graduation is currently $250,990.

You probably have some of the following questions: What’s the average salary for doctors nationwide? Does salary vary state to state? Between specialties? Are you more likely to be more competitively paid if you work for certain types of institutions? Are there benefits to opting for certain lower-paying specialties? What jobs give you forgiveness for medical school loans? Are there wage gaps that correspond with gender and race that you should be aware of—and push back against—as you enter the job market?

We’ve taken a deep dive into the financial nitty-gritty of becoming a doctor. Here are the answers to these questions.

Doctors’ salaries differ by specialty

Overall, the average physician salary is $265,000 annually for primary care physicians and $382,000 for specialists, according to the 2023 Medscape Physician Compensation Report. Not only are these impressive average salaries, they are also significant increases from salary averages reported by Medscape in 2015. Medscape notes that across the board, physician compensation continues to rise. Their 2018 report showed the average physician earning $299,000 while only five years later, that has risen to $352,000.

What’s relatively consistent year to year are the highest-earning and lowest-earning specialties. In the past five years of Medscape’s reports, cardiology and orthopedics have remained at the top of the list—both landed among the five highest-earning specialties each year. By contrast, family medicine, pediatrics, and diabetes and endocrinology have hovered in the bottom five during that same span of time.

This year, plastic surgery topped the list of highest-earning specialties, with an average annual salary of $619,000. The lowest-earning specialty was public health and preventative medicine, with an average salary of $249,000. In contrast, the average American salary across all professions hovers around $53,000, and the median is even lower, around $35,000 annually.

How do this year’s lowest-earning specialty physicians feel about their financial situation? 45 percent of pediatricians surveyed reported that they felt fairly compensated. By contrast, 54 percent of surveyed plastic surgeons—the highest-paying specialty—reported feeling fairly compensated.

In addition, it’s worth noting that most specialties allow doctors to earn drastically more as they get older. Doctors between ages 40 and 69 make significantly more money than their younger-than-40 counterparts. This difference is less pronounced in primary care, either because specialists receive greater annual salary increases or because recent efforts to make primary care salaries more competitive is closing the gap between older and younger members of the field—but likely both.

Doctors’ salaries differ by state

Where you work also influences what you’ll earn. There are many prestigious medical centers and opportunities in the Northeast, from Sloan Cancer Center to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, but the states in which physicians earn the highest salaries are actually in the South and Midwest.

In 2023, the state with the highest average salary for physicians was Wisconsin ($397,000). Other states included in the list of top-ten highest annual salaries were Indiana, Georgia, Connecticut, Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina, Florida, California, and Michigan.

In a major metropolitan area like Boston—which ranks among the lowest-paying cities for doctors in the nation—there’s a high concentration of medical schools and academic medical centers. Doctors working in research positions are often paid less; high-prestige centers attract a large workforce. Many future physicians also attend medical school in places like Boston, and then stay—leading to a surplus of doctors. This might not be the case in Georgia or Indiana.

It pays to be a self-employed physician—but there are drawbacks

According to the 2023 Medscape report, physicians who were self-employed—meaning they owned their own practice or were a partner in a private practice—made an average of $374,000 a year, while physicians employed by hospitals, universities, or clinics made an average of $344,000.

It’s worth keeping in mind, though, that if you own a practice by yourself or as part of a group—or if you’re a partner in a practice—a significant portion, between a third and half, of your revenue goes into overhead—just keeping the lights on, buying equipment, paying salaries, etc.

In 2020, less than half of practicing physicians—44 percent—owned their own practice, according to the American Medical Association. The number of physicians employed directly by hospitals, or in practices owned at least partially by hospitals or health systems, was slightly lower at nearly 40 percent.

Overall, independent physicians who have their own practice trade financial risk for higher revenue. By contrast, working at a hospital provides security, but physicians are subject to the hospital’s chosen compensation models.

What about less common job types, such as Locum Tenens

One type of physician that is less often discussed is locum tenens or simply a ‘locum doctor.’ This type of doctor fills a temporary need with a hospital and often moves around to different assignments. The assignments may last from a few months to a few years. Typically, they are filling a position because another physician has gone on leave or a hospital might be expecting patient demand to increase in the near future.

Many practicing physicians use locum assignments merely to supplement their income but others prefer to live the locum life full-time.

An array of factors go into determining a locum doctor’s salary such as location, the skillset required, the type of specialty, how many patients a facility expects, and even the amount of shifts involved. This makes really nailing down an average locum doctor’s salary tricky as the range can vary quite widely.

However, ZipRecruiter currently states the national average for a locum doctor is $212,253 in the United States. Locums also tend to make a higher hourly wage than their regular counterparts with ZipRecruiter noting $127.76 for a locum and $103.80 for a physician.

While some locations may advertise a higher salary, they may also be in areas with a higher cost of living. However, if you’re working with a locum tenens placement agency they may pay for accommodation for the duration of the assignment. That said, locum doctors are usually independent contractors meaning that taxes aren’t taken out of their paychecks. You’ll have to put money aside to take care of that on your own.

Doctors’ salaries differ by race and gender

If you’re part of a group that’s been historically underrepresented in medicine—for example, if you’re a woman or person of color—it’s worth being aware of the pay disparities that persist in medical fields.

In 2023, white physicians earned more than physicians of other races and ethnicities—on average, $358,000. Survey respondents identifying as Asian American earned $351,000 annually; those identifying as Hispanic/Latino earned $338,000 annually; and those identifying as Black or African American earned $311,000 annually.

Going back a little further, a 2016 survey conducted by the USC Census American Community Survey found that the annual median income of a Black male doctor was $188,230, compared with $253,042 for a white male doctor. Meanwhile, white female doctors’ adjusted median annual income was $163,234 compared to $152,784 for Black female doctors. In short, the difference in median income between a white male doctor and a Black female doctor was $100,000—a significant and disturbing disparity.

According to the 2023 Medscape report, women physicians earn less than male physicians across the board, regardless of race and ethnicity. In part, this is because women often go into the lowest-paying specialties such as pediatrics and family medicine (OB-GYN is the exception, with that higher-earning field being 62 percent female). In plastic surgery, 2023’s highest-paying field, only 19 percent of doctors are women.

Even taking into account the fact that women disproportionately select lower-paying fields, there’s gender pay disparity even within the specialties. Male specialists earned $415,000; women specialists, $327,000. Male PCPs earned $286,000, while their female counterparts earned $239,000. In other words, male specialists earned 23 percent more than female specialists, and male PCPs earned 18 percent more than female PCPs. The good news is: this disparity is slightly lower than it was in the past.

In short, these gaps are maddening, but they’re important to know about as you advocate for yourself in your future job. Organizations like the Time’s Up Foundation are working to solve some of these disparities.

Loan forgiveness programs for doctors

If you’re graduating medical school with loans, you may consider entering a high-paying specialty in order to pay them off more quickly. But if you’re interested in public service, there are a number of government-sponsored loan forgiveness programs that help future doctors pay off their loans without having to give up the chance to work with underserved populations.

If you’re interested in practicing primary care in a high-need area of the country, you might enroll in the NHSC Students to Service Loan Repayment Program, which pays students up to $120,000 in their final year of medical school in exchange for their post-residency commitment to work in an area underserved by health professionals.

The Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program awards up to $50,000 in loan forgiveness to students who work two years post-residency in American Indian and Alaskan Native communities.

Also available are funded medical study through the Air Force, Army, and Navy if you wish to become a military doctor.

Finally, for a list of opportunities specific to primary care—some of the lower paying fields—check out the website of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

There are also different types of federal and private loans. For federal student loan borrowers, there are income-based repayment programs available. To qualify, you must demonstrate “partial financial hardship”—most residents qualify. According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, this repayment program “caps’ loan payments at 15 percent of your discretionary income, and the monthly payment is adjusted annually.” Each year the repayment adjusts based on your family size and income, and after 20 years of payment all remaining debt is forgiven (though the forgiven amount is taxable).

Overall, remember that many programs can support you financially so you can practice the kind of medicine that most interests you. You shouldn’t pursue a high-paying specialty for financial reasons only or stay out of family medicine because you’re worried about earnings.

Final thoughts

The bottom line is: no matter what specialty you choose, you’ll make a good living as a doctor. Pay does vary, however, based on the many factors described above. It’s important to go in with eyes open as you choose what to specialize in, where to work, and what kind of institution you want to work for. It’s also important to be aware of inequality in your chosen field, and be sure to advocate for yourself during salary negotiations.

The most important thing is to stay focused on your interests. Know that whatever path you choose—the specialties or primary care, Boston or Alabama, private practice or hospital employment—there are options available to make your life financially stable, and often lucrative. Maybe you take part in a loan forgiveness program in the years out of med school so that you can pursue family medicine without debt. Or maybe you pursue your dream of working at a research hospital, but choose to practice in a part of the country with a lower cost of living.

Whatever you choose, you’ll be healing people—and you have a variety of ways to pursue that goal.

How Much Money Do Doctors Make a Year? The Average Salary Is Dropping

By Josh Katzowitz, WCI Content Director

Despite the COVID pandemic and all the uncertainty it brought, doctors managed to increase their average salaries in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, though, that abruptly changed. According to the newly released 2023 Doximity Physician Compensation Report, the average physician’s salary actually dropped 2.4% in 2022.

And it might not be getting better.

According to Doximity:

“In 2023, physicians will also experience a 2% Medicare payment cut after two decades of flat payments. According to the American Medical Association, when adjusted for inflation, Medicare physician payment has declined 22% from 2001 to 2021. These challenges are driving many medical professionals to reassess their careers; explore opportunities for greater autonomy and work-life balance; and in certain cases, even consider new career pursuits outside of medicine altogether.”

The average physician salary increased an average of 3.8% from 2020 to 2021 and 1.5% from 2019 to 2020. But some of those gains were wiped away in the latest survey, which included responses from more than 31,000 US doctors. Considering inflation reached a high of 9.1% in the summer of 2022, the purchasing power for the average physician dropped drastically.

That also means a doctor’s net worth also probably decreased, particularly since stocks and bonds both had terrible years in 2022.

In another Doximity article released in August 2022, a survey of more than 1,000 doctors found that 55% of them are either delaying retirement (about 40% of those who were surveyed) or reducing their expenses (about 15%) because of the current economic environment. According to Doximity, “Older physicians, who are closer to the traditional retirement age, are much more likely to delay retirement than younger physicians. But a substantial percentage of those in their 30s and 40s are also planning to delay retirement.”

According to Doximity’s data, the gender pay gap slightly narrowed to 26% in 2022 (down from 28% in 2021), as male doctors earn about $110,000 more than their female colleagues per year (it was $122,000 in 2021). That disparity also could have led to more cases of physician burnout.

“While there appears to be slight movement in the right direction, physician pay parity continues to be a critical area in need of improvement,” Doximity wrote. “This pay gap may be contributing to an even higher burnout rate among women physicians, with nearly 92% of women physicians surveyed reporting overwork, compared to 83% of men.”

Average Doctor Salary

In reality, the average doctor’s salary isn’t all that useful to know.

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As an example: according to the Doximity report, the average pediatric infectious disease doctor makes $221,126 per year. The average neurosurgeon makes $788,213. Between those two, the average is $504,670. Which, when comparing those two specialties, means absolutely nothing. Plus, consider that, according to Medscape, the average primary care physician makes $265,000 vs. a specialist who makes $382,000. That’s also a pretty big difference. Here’s a quick look at general compensation from Medscape’s most recent survey in 2023.

Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2023

It’s almost certainly more useful to know the average in a doctor’s specialty as opposed to the salary of a physician in general.

Intraspecialty Pay vs. Interspecialty Pay

As Dr. Jim Dahle has repeatedly pointed out, “One of the things I have noticed, that no one ever seems to talk about, is that intra specialty pay variation is higher than inter specialty pay variation.”

As Jim noted in a previous post, here’s a chart from 2015 that shows the results of an Emergency Medicine salary survey. The salaries might be outdated, but the general point remains.

“Look at the 10th percentile for employees—$213,000. Now, look at the 90th percentile for partners—$510,000. Difference? $297,000. GREATER than the difference between the average pediatrician and the average plastic surgeon!

The ability to increase pay and increase it substantially solves a ton of financial problems that real doctors run into and email me about all the time. It’s way easier to pay off your student loans or mortgage on twice the income. Even after-tax, it’s much easier to become financially independent or have a dignified retirement or send your kids to the college of their choice when you can double your income.”

How Much Do Doctors Make an Hour?

Physician income information is relatively easy to find, but work hours information is notoriously difficult to find. The only information that combined physician work hours with their income is from a survey in JAMA published in 2003 (and obviously using even older data).

The below physician salary per hour combines the JAMA data with Medscape’s 2022 survey, and it’s adjusted for the decreased work hours in each specialty. This chart (possibly erroneously) assumes that all physicians work 48 weeks a year. Where Medscape didn’t have survey data, other less reliable sources were used. Those figures have an asterisk next to them in the table.

Doctor Salary by Specialty

One interesting thing about salary surveys, of course, is that they are garbage in/garbage out. Average specialty pay varies significantly between surveys. Before we focus on the Doximity numbers, which you’ll find in the paragraphs below, compare and contrast those numbers with those from the Medscape survey published in 2023.

Medscape says infectious disease doctors make $262,000. Doximity says $289,000. That’s nearly a 10% difference. Medscape says orthopedists make $573,000. Doximity says $624,000, 8.5% more. What is a new grad or even an established doc who is wanting to negotiate a contract supposed to do with that much variation between averages (besides use the Doximity survey when negotiating)? And what if you’re in one of those “specialties in the middle” like OB/GYN or Psychiatry or Emergency Medicine or Neurology that Doximity didn’t even report on despite how common they are? Or if you’re a Neurosurgeon or CT surgeon, and Medscape doesn’t report on your specialty? Are you stuck paying to get MGMA data (or hiring a contract management firm)? Is that data even any better than these surveys?

For even further exploration, here are a number of individual specialties that Medscape looked at, how much money those doctors make, and whether they think their income is fair:

• How Much Does a Pediatrician Make?
• How Much Does a Radiologist Make?
• How Much Does an Anesthesiologist Make?
• How Much Do Psychiatrists Make?
• How Much Does a Neurologist Make?
• How Much Does a Cardiologist Make?
• How Much Does a Dermatologist Make?
• How Much Does a Urologist Make?
• How Much Does a Pathologist Make?
• How Much Does a Plastic Surgeon Make?
• How Much Does an Oncologist Make?
• How Much Does a Nephrologist Make?
• How Much Does an OB-GYN Make?
• How Much Does a Rheumatologist Make?
• How Much Does a Family Medicine Doctor Make?
• How Much Does a Pulmonologist Make?
• How Much Does a Physiatrist Make?
• How Much Does a Hospitalist Make?
• How Much Do Orthopedic Doctors Make?

Highest-Paid Doctors

Now, for the Doximity survey numbers that tell us the highest-paid and the lowest-paid doctors. When it comes to the top-earning specialties, those in surgical and procedural specialties dominated the list, and doctors who earn the least mostly practice in primary care and pediatrics.

So, how much do doctors make? Here’s what Doximity found for 2023.

Lowest-Paid Doctors

And here are the specialties that earn the lowest salaries.

Keep in mind that these charts are of the top-20 highest and lowest average doctor salaries. For specialties like psychiatry, adult emergency medicine, and allergy and immunology, those average salaries likely range from about $311,000 to about $384,000.

As for which specialty’s salaries are increasing the most, here’s a chart put together by Doximity.

Despite its drop in popularity among the latest class of fourth-year medical students matching into residency, emergency medicine docs continue to make more money, as do a number of pediatric specialties.

More information here:

Doctor Salary by State

One way to get closer to financial independence is to practice geographic arbitrage, where a doctor lives in a lower-cost-of-living area and draws a higher salary where the need for physicians might be greater than those in the big cities on the coasts. The following chart from Medscape seems to show that geoarbitrage is not a myth.

Doctors, at least going back to the 2020 survey (this chart was unavailable in the latest survey), make the highest salaries in states like Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Missouri. All are so-called flyover states, and none are in the top-15 among the states with the biggest populations.

Doximity 2020 Physician Compensation Report

Medscape 2023 Compensation Report

Obviously, a doctor living in New York City is going to have a much higher cost of living than a physician who’s residing in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. The fact that a doctor in the Badger State probably brings home more money than that physician in the Big Apple is also another point in favor of practicing geographic arbitrage.

Doctor Salaries by Employment Setting

The setting in which a doctor practices also heavily affects how much they earn. As you can see below, the difference between practicing in a single-specialty group vs. working for an urgent care center can be nearly $175,000 a year in 2022.

• • Single Specialty Group: $438,959 (a 0.7% decrease from 2021)
  • Multi-specialty Group: $421,159 (a 0.7% decrease from 2021)
  • Solo Practice: $428,112 (a 3% increase from 2021)
  • Hospital: $398,954 (a 0.1% decrease from 2021)
  • Industry/Pharmaceutical: $392,534 (a 0.8% decrease from 2021)
  • Health System/IDN/ACO: $400,207 (a 1.4% increase from 2021)
  • Health Maintenance Organization: $387,393 (a 3.4% increase from 2021)
  • Academic: $347,013 (a 0.9% decrease from 2021)
  • Urgent Care Center/Chain: $264,727 (a 1.0% decrease from 2021)
  • Government: $269,189 (a 1.8% increase from 2021)

  Need tips for how to increase pay in your specific specialty? Jim has some ideas.

  There’s plenty more to read in the entire Doximity report—which also includes information on physician compensation in different metro areas, cities with the fastest-growing doctor salaries, and the impact of economic factors on career plans. For comparison, here’s Medscape’s Physician Compensation 2023 Report.

  [This updated post was originally published in 2022.]