After a fluctuating economic landscape, understanding physician compensation is crucial for those in and aspiring to join the medical profession. While recent data indicates a positive shift in earnings, the question remains: How Much Does A Medical Doctor Get Paid in today’s market? This article delves into the latest physician compensation reports, dissecting the numbers and exploring the multifaceted factors that influence a doctor’s salary.
Recent surveys reveal encouraging trends in physician income. Following a year of salary decline, 2023 witnessed a rebound in physician earnings. According to the 2024 Medscape Physician Compensation Report, US physician compensation saw an approximate 3% increase in 2023, a notable recovery from the 2.4% decrease experienced the previous year. Primary care physicians saw a slightly higher rise at 4%, while specialists across over 29 analyzed specialties experienced a 3% growth. However, it’s worth noting that this increase slightly lags behind the average 4% rise in earnings for non-unionized US employees in 2023.
The 2024 Doximity Physician Compensation Report echoes this positive trajectory, reporting a 6% increase in physician pay after the prior year’s 2.4% dip. Despite this growth, Doximity highlights the persistent impact of inflation, stating that Medicare physician payments have effectively decreased by 26% since 2001 when adjusted for inflation.
Doximity’s report emphasizes, “While [the 2024] increase appears to be a step in the right direction, inflationary pressures continue to impact physicians’ real income.” This echoes the economic realities of 2022, where inflation peaked at 9.1%, diminishing physician purchasing power and likely impacting net worth as both stock and bond markets underperformed. The stabilization of inflation in 2023, alongside the S&P 500’s significant gains in both 2023 and 2024, offers a more optimistic financial outlook for physicians.
Further data from the MGMA 2024 Provider Compensation Data Report indicates a 4.4% increase in total compensation for both primary care and surgical specialist physicians between 2022 and 2023. However, non-surgical specialists saw a more modest rise of 1.81% during the same period.
Despite these increases, a significant portion of physicians express concerns about their compensation. Medscape’s survey reveals that 61% of doctors believe physicians, in general, are underpaid, while 34% feel the pay is appropriate. A smaller 5% believe doctors are overpaid. Interestingly, when compared to a 2021 survey of the general American public, only 11% of respondents believed doctors were underpaid, highlighting a potential disconnect in perception between physicians and the public regarding physician salaries. When asked about their own compensation, 49% of physicians in the Medscape survey felt underpaid.
This sentiment is encapsulated in a quote from a Medscape survey participant: “Do I feel I am paid well? Yes, in comparison to other Americans. However, I gave the time, money, and sacrifice to do it.” This statement underscores the demanding nature of the medical profession and the extensive investment in time and resources required to become a physician.
Economic pressures also influence physician career decisions. A 2022 Doximity survey found that 55% of physicians were delaying retirement (40%) or reducing expenses (15%) due to the prevailing economic climate. This trend was more pronounced among older physicians closer to retirement age, but also significantly present among physicians in their 30s and 40s, suggesting a broad impact of economic factors on physician financial planning.
The gender pay gap within medicine remains a critical issue, though there has been a slight narrowing in recent years. Doximity’s data indicates the gap decreased to 23% in 2023, down from 26% in 2022 and 28% in 2021. Male doctors earn approximately $102,000 more annually than their female counterparts, a disparity that, while reduced, continues to contribute to concerns about pay equity and may exacerbate issues like physician burnout, particularly among women physicians. Doximity reports nearly 92% of women physicians surveyed reported overwork, compared to 83% of men.
Doximity emphasizes the importance of raising awareness about the gender pay gap, noting that while nearly 75% of women physicians believe a pay disparity exists, less than 30% of male physicians share this belief. Medscape’s 2023 data reflects a similar gap, with male doctors averaging $400,000 and female doctors averaging $310,000, a $90,000 difference.
Despite these disparities and concerns about perceived underpayment, it’s important to contextualize physician salaries within the broader US job market. A USA Today report in late 2024 highlighted that physicians dominate the highest-paying professions in the US. Out of the top 20 highest-paying jobs, 16 are physician roles, with the remaining four occupied by dentists and dental specialists, underscoring the generally high earning potential within the medical field.
Average Doctor Salary: A Broad Stroke
While often cited, the “average doctor salary” of approximately $363,000 can be misleading. This figure provides a very broad overview and obscures the significant variations in compensation across medical specialties.
Consider the vast difference in earnings between a pediatric endocrinologist, with an average salary of $217,875 per year according to Doximity, and a neurosurgeon, who averages $763,908 annually. This represents a staggering difference of over $546,000, illustrating that generalizing physician pay can be highly inaccurate. Similarly, Medscape’s 2024 survey reports a significant compensation gap between primary care physicians, averaging $277,000, and specialists, averaging $394,000.
For a more nuanced understanding of physician compensation, examining specialty-specific data is essential.
Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2024: A Snapshot
Understanding compensation within specific specialties offers far greater practical value than relying on a general “average doctor salary” figure.
Intraspecialty vs. Interspecialty Pay Variation
Dr. Jim Dahle of White Coat Investor has consistently emphasized a crucial point often overlooked in salary discussions: intraspecialty pay variation can be greater than interspecialty variation. This means that the difference in pay within a single specialty, depending on factors like experience, location, practice setting, and negotiation skills, can be more significant than the difference in average pay between different medical specialties.
An emergency medicine salary survey from 2015, while using older data, effectively illustrates this concept.
As Dr. Dahle highlighted, the difference between the 10th percentile salary for employed emergency medicine physicians ($213,000) and the 90th percentile for partners ($510,000) is a remarkable $297,000. This intraspecialty gap can exceed the average salary difference between specialties like pediatrics and plastic surgery, underscoring the significant impact of factors beyond specialty choice on a physician’s earning potential.
The ability to increase income within a specialty can dramatically improve a physician’s financial situation, facilitating student loan repayment, mortgage management, and progress towards financial independence and comfortable retirement.
Doctor Salary Per Hour: Balancing Income and Time
While overall physician income data is relatively accessible, information on physician work hours is less readily available. A 2003 JAMA survey provides some of the limited data combining work hours and income. The following chart, combining data from the JAMA survey and Medscape’s 2024 survey (adjusted for potentially decreased work hours in certain specialties and assuming 48 work weeks per year), offers an estimated hourly physician salary across various specialties. It is important to note the limitations of this data, particularly for specialties marked with an asterisk where less reliable data sources were used.
Doctor Salary by Specialty: A Deeper Dive
It’s crucial to approach salary surveys with a degree of skepticism, as average specialty pay can vary considerably between different reports. Comparing data from different sources, like Medscape and Doximity, reveals these discrepancies.
For example, Medscape’s 2024 survey reports an average salary of $261,000 for infectious disease physicians, while Doximity’s report indicates $314,000 – a nearly 17% difference. Similarly, for orthopedists, Medscape reports $558,000, while Doximity shows $654,000, a 14.6% higher figure.
These variations highlight the challenges in relying solely on average salary figures for contract negotiation or career planning. For specialties not covered by all surveys, like neurosurgery or cardiothoracic surgery in Medscape’s report, or specialties missing from Doximity’s listings, obtaining accurate data can be even more complex, potentially requiring resources like MGMA data or contract management firms. Even then, the reliability and representativeness of such data remain considerations.
Highest-Paid and Lowest-Paid Doctors: Specialty Breakdown
Doximity’s 2024 survey provides valuable insights into the highest- and lowest-earning medical specialties. Surgical and procedural specialties consistently dominate the top of the compensation scale, while primary care and pediatrics tend to be positioned at the lower end.
Lowest-Paid Doctor Specialties
It’s important to note that these charts represent the top 20 highest and lowest average doctor salaries. Specialties like psychiatry, neurology, and geriatrics fall within the mid-range of compensation, with average salaries ranging from approximately $289,000 to $348,000.
Examining salary trends over time reveals which specialties are experiencing the most significant increases and decreases in compensation. Medscape’s 2024 survey provides data on these shifts.
Despite a reported decline in popularity among medical students, emergency medicine continues to show salary growth, alongside specialties like PM&R, neurology, and dermatology.
Further Reading:
- How Much Do Surgeons Make?
Doctor Salary by State: The Geography of Pay
Geographic location significantly impacts physician compensation. Practicing geographic arbitrage, choosing to work in areas with a lower cost of living and potentially higher physician demand, can be a strategy to enhance financial well-being. Medscape’s 2023 data suggests that geographic arbitrage is not merely a theoretical concept.
The cost of living disparity between major metropolitan areas like New York City and more rural locations is substantial. The data indicating that physicians in states like Wisconsin may earn more than those in New York City underscores the potential financial advantages of practicing in areas with a lower cost of living and potentially greater need for physicians.
Doctor Salaries by Employment Setting: Practice Type Matters
The setting in which a physician practices also significantly influences their income. Doximity’s survey data highlights considerable compensation differences across various employment models.
The 2024 data reveals a nearly $173,000 annual salary difference between physicians in single-specialty groups, earning the highest average, and those working in urgent care centers or chains, earning the lowest among the listed settings:
- Single Specialty Group: $461,000 (5.0% increase)
- Multi-Specialty Group: $447,000 (6.1% increase)
- Solo Practice: $443,000 (3.5% increase)
- Hospital: $428,000 (5.8% increase)
- Health System/IDN/ACO: $427,000 (7.0% increase)
- Health Maintenance Organization: $406,000 (4.9% increase)
- Academic: $365,000 (5.2% increase)
- Government: $292,000 (8.6% increase)
- Urgent Care Center/Chain: $288,000 (9.1% increase)
For physicians seeking to optimize their earning potential, understanding the compensation landscape within their chosen specialty, considering geographic location, and evaluating different employment settings are crucial steps. Further strategies for increasing income within specific specialties are explored by Jim Dahle here.
For a comprehensive understanding of physician compensation trends, exploring the full Doximity report (https://www.doximity.com/reports/physician-compensation-report/2024#modal-close) and Medscape Physician Compensation 2024 Report (https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2024-compensation-overview-6017073#1) is highly recommended.
What are your thoughts on these compensation trends? Are there any numbers that particularly surprise you? Have you identified effective strategies to increase your income within your specialty?
[This updated post incorporates data from reports published in 2024 and reflects compensation trends as of that year.]
