«

»

The Ultimate Guide to Physician Salaries

In light of the new Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2012 that was just released, I thought it was time to compile all the data on physician salaries into one place. There are many resources online that report average physician salaries, and many of them offer very different results. I recently wrote an article detailing the pros and the cons many of these online physician salary and compensation databases.  However, it can be a bit tedious to go through all the work of visiting each website to compare results.  So, I have done all the work for you. In this article I will present the physician salary by specialty data from all the reliable and relevant online physician salary databases.  Feel free to compare and contrast the information presented by each different company.

Medscape Physician Compensation Report

In my opinion, the Medscape average physician salary report is the most reliable data on the internet. It represents more than 20,000 physician surveys answered by doctors in every specialty in every part of the country. See my article about the 2012 Medscape report to learn about all the great information they report in their results.

 

Careers In Medicine: Specialty Pages

Careers in Medicine (CiM) is a great resource for medical students and medical residents (link to my previous article about Careers in medicine). One of the greatest tools it provides is a list of salary information for each specialty.  Careers in Medicine separates the compensation information using two very important distinctions: academic vs. private practice and starting salaries vs. established salaries.  CiM obtains the academic salary information from the Association of American Medical Colleges AAMC Report on Medical School Faculty Salaries. The data about private practice salaries comes from the MGMA Physician Compensation Survey.  Below, I have compiled a table of the salaries reported for each specialty. (Click here to download the formatted table) On the CiM website you can also see salary data for every sub-specialty; this is especially important for internal medicine, pediatrics, and general surgery where the sub-specialty choice results in very different salaries.

Compiled from the Careers in Medicine website, AAMC

 

Allied Physicians: Old Salary Survey

Many students use the alliedphysicians.com resource to learn about physician salaries by specialty. However, you should know that it has not been updated since 2006, so the information is likely a bit off now but the trends are still the same.

From alliedphysicians.com

 

Cejka Search

The Cejka Search Group is a great resource for salary information but also for job openings and employment information. Their physician salary survey is up-to-date and updated frequently. They freely publish their salary information in order to advertise the many physician job openings they have available.

Physician Specialty

Median Physician Compensation Data

Allergy & Immunology

$249,674

Anesthesiology

$370,500

Cardiac & Thoracic Surgery

$533,084

Cardiology

$402,000

Colon & Rectal Surgery

$394,723

Critical Care Medicine

$264,750

Dermatology

$375,176

Diagnostic Radiology – Interventional

$478,000

Diagnostic Radiology – Non-Interventional

$454,205

Emergency Care

$267,293

Endocrinology

$218,855

Family Medicine

$208,861

Family Medicine – with Obstetrics

$209,565

Gastroenterology

$405,000

General Surgery

$357,091

Geriatrics

$187,602

Gynecological Oncology

$413,500

Gynecology

$232,075

Gynecology & Obstetrics

$275,152

Hematology & Medical Oncology

$320,907

Hospitalist

$215,716

Hypertension & Nephrology

$259,677

Infectious Disease

$227,750

Intensivist

$313,152

Internal Medicine

$214,307

Neonatology

$280,771

Neurological Surgery

$592,811

Neurology

$236,500

Nuclear Medicine (M.D. only)

$331,000

Obstetrics

$275,152

Occupational / Environmental Medicine

$223,750

Ophthalmology

$238,200

Oral Surgery

$380,500

Orthopedic Surgery

$500,672

Orthopedic Surgery – Hand

$476,039

Orthopedic Surgery – Joint Replacement

$605,953

Orthopedic Surgery – Pediatrics

$425,000

Orthopedic Surgery – Spine

$688,503

Orthopedic-Medical

$297,348

Otolaryngology

$368,777

Pathology (M.D. only)

$354,750

Pediatric Allergy

$198,458

Pediatric Cardiology

$233,958

Pediatric Endocrinology

$187,957

Pediatric Gastroenterology

$240,895

Pediatric Hematology / Oncology

$212,577

Pediatric Infectious Disease

$209,680

Pediatric Intensive Care

$272,000

Pediatric Nephrology

$198,686

Pediatric Neurology

$219,561

Pediatric Pulmonary Disease

$201,841

Pediatric Surgery

$419,783

Pediatrics & Adolescent

$209,873

Perinatology

$394,121

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

$237,628

Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

$390,142

Psychiatry

$214,740

Psychiatry – Child

$216,360

Pulmonary Disease

$306,829

Radiation Therapy (M.D. only)

$447,250

Reproductive Endocrinology

$317,312

Rheumatologic Disease

$224,000

Sports Medicine

$231,540

Transplant Surgery – Kidney

$365,125

Transplant Surgery – Liver

$454,287

Trauma Surgery

$424,555

Urgent Care

$222,920

Urology

$413,941

Vascular Surgery

$413,629

Profiles Database Physician Salary Data

Profilesdatabase.com is another online physician recruitment company. They also publish their physician salary data freely in order to publicize their many job openings. Like the Cejka Search, these numbers are updated frequently and seem to be very reliable.

Specialty

National Average, Six Years in Practice

Median Starting Range

Allergy & Immunology

$246,000.00

$190,000.00

Anesthesiology

$360,000.00

$265,000.00

Cardiac & Thoracic Surgery

$522,875.00

$360,000.00

Cardiology

$402,000.00

$272,000.00

Colon& Rectal Surgery

$389,700.00

$290,000.00

Critical Care Medicine

$258,750.00

$198,000.00

Dermatology

$365,450.00

$234,000.00

Diagnostic Radiology – Interventional

$469,800.00

$335,000.00

Diagnostic Radiology – Non-Interventional

$444,850.00

$330,000.00

Endocrinology

$214,550.00

$165,000.00

Family Medicine

$199,850.00

$138,000.00

Family Medicine – with Obstetrics

$207,900.00

$142,000.00

Gastroenterology

$398,800.00

$272,000.00

General Surgery

$350,000.00

$225,000.00

Gynecological Oncology

$402,000.00

$300,000.00

Gynecology

$233,000.00

$210,000.00

Gynecology & Obstetrics

$279,750.00

$200,000.00

Hematology & Medical Oncology

$314,800.00

$222,000.00

Hospitalist

$210,950.00

$165,000.00

Nephrology

$252,000.00

$180,000.00

Infectious Disease

$225,000.00

$158,000.00

Internal Medicine

$208,790.00

$145,000.00

Neonatology

$275,400.00

$196,000.00

Neurological Surgery

$589,500.00

$395,000.00

Neurology

$237,000.00

$190,000.00

Ophthalmology

$248,000.00

$210,000.00

Orthopedic Surgery

$485,500.00

$315,000.00

Orthopedic Surgery – Pediatrics

$395,420.00

$318,000.00

Orthopedic Surgery – Spine

$625,000.00

$465,000.00

Otolaryngology

$350,000.00

$222,000.00

Pediatric Cardiology

$230,900.00

$189,000.00

Pediatric Endocrinology

$187,600.00

$170,000.00

Pediatric Gastroenterology

$230,500.00

$175,000.00

Pediatric Hematology / Oncology

$210,000.00

$175,000.00

Pediatric Infectious Disease

$205,00.00

$173,000.00

Pediatric Intensive Care

$252,500.00

$195,000.00

Pediatric Nephrology

$196,000.00

$172,000.00

Pediatric Neurology

$218,200.00

$182,000.00

Pediatric Pulmonary Disease

$190,000.00

$162,000.00

Pediatric Surgery

$401,000.00

$295,000.00

Pediatrics

$202,500.00

$162,000.00

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

$233,300.00

$178,000.00

Plastic  Surgery

$382,000.00

$273,000.00

Psychiatry

$211,000.00

$165,000.00

Psychiatry – Child

$218,300.00

$159,000.00

Pulmonary Disease

$298,000.00

$191,500.00

Rheumatology

$220,500.00

$163,500.00

Trauma Surgery

$400,000.00

$298,000.00

Urgent Care

$215,000.00

$142,000.00

Urology

$400,000.00

$250,000.00

Vascular Surgery

$405,000.00

$259,400.00

Merritt Hawkins: Physician Salary By Specialty

Merritt Hawkins is a physician salary survey that reports the average starting salary offered to new residency graduates.  The entire report for the year 2011 is available for free in PDF (click here). Remember, because these data represent new hires, the are STARTING SALARIES and should be compared to other reports accordingly. I will reprint the starting salaries of the 20 most highly recruited specialties below. The Merritt Hawkins PDF also reports the average signing bonus and average income guarantees. (If you are interested, I discuss the Merritt Hawkins report on the salaries of allied health professionals in another post)

 

From Merritt Hawkins Free PDF

 

8 comments

3 pings

Skip to comment form

  1. Tom

    Nice post. 

    You dont mention several other (not free) resources

    MGMA reports are probably the most widely used by hospitals

    there is also the Physician Salary & Benefits Report which you can also purchase

    1. Andrew

      Thanks, these are great additions to the list, if you want to pay the money for them

  2. Mel

    I have a question about ob/gyn compensation… Is malpractice insurance deducted from an ob/gyn's salary, or is it typically paid by an ob/gyn's practice?

    1. Andrew

      This depends on the structure of a physicians practice. If the physician is self-employed, the malpractice insurance will be deducted from the bottom-line, which is essentially a direct hit on the physician’s salary. If the OB/GYN is employed, the malpractice is usually part of the employment package. So, employed OBs may feel a bit more protected from the huge cost of malpractice insurance, but all OBs are paying it in some form.

  3. Taylor

    Any thoughts on the best place to obtain a salary breakdown that includes sub-specialty, region, practice type and years in practice?  Specifically I am helping my wife, a female reconstuctive urology fellow, to get ready for her job search.  Thanks!  Taylor

    1. Andrew

      The best site I have seen for this information is the annual Medscape Physician Salary Survey. They do it every year. It will not break things down into subspecialty very well. This type of information will be specific for each specialty and your wife’s associates and collegues would be the best sources of this information.  Thanks, Andrew

  4. Joe geary

    Are salaries and compensation used interchangeably? Typically compensation includes salary plus benefits. This Would make the research more clear.

     

    1. Andrew

      This is an important question. In general, estimating a physician’s “salary” is not an exact process. Many physicians are self-employed, so their “salary” would actually be the difference between their gross receipts minus their overhead (staff salaries and benefits, equipment costs, lease, etc.). In these situations, any estimate of “salary” will not be completely accurate. I say this simply to remind everyone that online lists of physician “salaries” are–at best–rough estimates. 

      It is my understanding that the salaries listed above are ONLY the cash that ends up in the physician’s bank account. Employed physicians are unlikely to report their benefits as part of these online surveys. So, I think it is reasonable to conclude that benefits would, on average, not be included in the above numbers.

  1. Spotlight Interview: Why Did You Choose Urology? (USC Resident) » ShortWhiteCoats.com

    […] See the excellent positings on this blog for average salaries. [Link from the Editor: The Ultimate Guide to Physician Salaries] […]

  2. Ultimate Guide Crna | Document Search Engine

    […] the results of seven different companies’ physician salary survey results so you can compare. Download The Ultimate Guide To Physician Salaries | ShortWhiteCoats.com | […]

  3. Ultimate Guide Choosing Medical Specialty Pdf | Document Search Engine

    […] the results of seven different companies’ physician salary survey results so you can compare. Download The Ultimate Guide To Physician Salaries | ShortWhiteCoats.com | […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>