While salary shouldn’t be the only factor when considering a new job, understanding the average pediatrician salary is crucial for ensuring you are compensated fairly as a physician. Knowing your worth is essential for career satisfaction and preventing burnout. Doctors, especially pediatricians, dedicate years to their profession and deserve appropriate financial recognition. Transparency regarding pediatrician compensation, including salary and benefits, empowers you to negotiate effectively and secure the best possible contract when exploring new career opportunities.
Many physicians in pediatrics have expressed concerns about being undervalued. This is why access to comprehensive physician salary data is vital. We compile and provide aggregate salary information from doctors across the country, offering a valuable resource for our community members, without the need for expensive databases that may not offer specific and relevant comparisons.
Average physician salaries are influenced by several factors such as specialty, practice setting, and geographic location. Since specialty significantly impacts compensation, we’ve analyzed data from our physician salary database, contributed by physicians nationwide, to provide insights into doctor salaries by specialty.
Other elements, including hours worked, location, and practice environment, also play a role. The data presented below is gathered from mid-2023 through mid-2024, unless stated otherwise.
Disclaimers: The following salary data is derived from our physician salary and compensation database and is based on self-reported information from our online communities. This data is for educational purposes, intended to support individual physicians, and should not be used for collective bargaining. Please refer to our physician salary data pages for complete disclosures and disclaimers. Always conduct your own research and consult with professionals before making financial, legal, or tax decisions. We highly recommend having your physician employment agreement reviewed by a physician contract review attorney to ensure you have the most relevant and up-to-date information for your specific situation.
Average Pediatrician Salary in 2024
Based on our data, the average annual pediatrician salary for 2024 is $249,000. This figure is calculated from attending physicians, excluding residents and fellows.
However, a single average salary can be misleading. Several factors influence a pediatrician’s earning potential. To provide a clearer picture, we’ve broken down this average to offer more relevant comparison points.
Average Full-Time Pediatrician Salary for 2024
Many pediatricians work full-time, and including part-time salaries can skew the overall average. Therefore, let’s examine full-time pediatrician salaries separately.
For our full-time equivalent data, we considered physicians working 36 hours or more per week, excluding data points where hours were not specified.
The average full-time pediatrician salary in 2024 is $254,000. Here’s a salary range to give you a better understanding:
- Highest Reported: $500,000 – $600,000
- Lowest Reported: $125,000 – $150,000
- Median Salary: $240,000
Average Part-Time Pediatrician Salary for 2024
Many physicians choose to work part-time for various reasons.
To calculate the average part-time pediatrician salary, we analyzed data from attending physicians working between 16-25 hours per week. Due to data limitations for further segmentation, we encourage you to contribute your salary information to help us provide more detailed updates in the future. You can contribute data on our physician salary and compensation data page.
The average part-time pediatrician salary for 2024 is $154,000.
How Much Pediatricians Make by Specialization
Pediatric specialization is a significant factor influencing salary. When contributing data, we asked pediatricians to specify their specialization. The following salary breakdown reflects averages for doctors working 36+ hours per week.
Highest paying pediatric specialties offer increased earning potential
Understanding salary variations across pediatric specialties is crucial for career planning
Here are the average salaries by pediatric specialization:
- Adolescent Medicine Physician: $200,000
- Pediatric Cardiologist: $301,000
- Pediatric Critical Care Doctor: $327,000
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician: $289,000
- Pediatric Endocrinologist: $203,000
- Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist: $220,000
- Pediatric Hospitalist: $225,000
- Pediatric Neonatologist: $314,000
- Pediatric Nephrologist: $227,000
- Pediatric Neurologist: $275,000
Given the extensive data we have on pediatric specialties, we have a dedicated article focusing on this area. Learn more about the average salary for doctors in pediatric specialties.
Pediatrician Pay by Gender
We analyzed salary data for full-time pediatricians working 36+ hours per week, comparing average salaries between female and male physicians, without considering other factors like specialization or location.
Female pediatricians reported an average salary of $249,000, while male pediatricians reported an average of $281,000.
Overall, male pediatricians in our data reported earning approximately 13% more than their female counterparts on average.
Pediatrician Salary by Practice Environment
We examined how practice environment affects pediatrician salaries for full-time attending physicians (36+ hours per week).
- Corporate Group (Non-Private Equity): $252,000
- Corporate Group (Private Equity): $274,000
- FQHC and Non-profits: $221,000
- Government: Insufficient data
- Group Private Practice (Non-Private Equity Backed): $281,000
- Group Private Practice (Private Equity Backed): $280,000
- Academic Hospital Employee: $245,000
- Non-Academic Hospital Employee: $267,000
- Solo Private Practice: Insufficient data
Our data indicates that FQHCs and other non-profit organizations tend to offer the lowest average salaries for pediatricians when considering salary alone.
However, it’s important to remember that these organizations may offer other benefits such as better health insurance, retirement plans, pensions, and eligibility for Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Lifestyle factors, such as call frequency, patient volume, and administrative burdens related to insurance, can also be more favorable in these settings. Therefore, salary should not be the only factor when evaluating the overall compensation package.
Interestingly, pediatricians in private equity-backed corporate groups reported higher average salaries compared to those in non-private equity groups. However, it’s crucial to note that pediatricians in private equity settings also reported working significantly more hours. As discussed below, increased hours can impact salary earnings.
Therefore, we emphasize the importance of evaluating the entire compensation package using our salary and negotiation databases before making job decisions based solely on average salary figures.
Pediatrician Salary by Type of Employment
We also examined how employment type affects salaries for full-time attending pediatricians (36+ average hours per week):
- 1099 (Single Entity Regular Job, 1099 Arrangement): Insufficient data
- W2 Employee: $245,000 per year
- Locums/Per Diem: Insufficient data*
- Partner/Owner: $353,000 per year
Our data suggests significant earning potential for pediatricians pursuing partnership tracks or practice ownership. Partners and owners averaged 44% higher salaries than W2 employees.
Related resources:
*For more data on locum tenens compensation, please refer to our separate locums pay and compensation dataset and statistics on locum tenens compensation for doctors.
How Much Pediatricians Make by Location
We analyzed salary variations across different states for full-time (36+ average hours per week) attending pediatricians. States with fewer than 10 data points were excluded. If your state is not listed and you’d like to see its ranking, please contribute your physician salary and compensation data.
States with lower pediatrician salaries may reflect cost of living or market demand
States with higher pediatrician salaries may indicate higher demand or cost of living
Lowest Paying States for Pediatricians:
- New York – $207,000
- Missouri – $232,000
- Colorado – $237,000
- Pennsylvania – $238,000
- Texas – $243,000
Highest Paying States for Pediatricians:
- Georgia – $296,000
- Florida – $280,000
- California – $274,000
- Illinois – $260,000
- Ohio – $257,000
While local cost of living and state/local taxes significantly impact a physician’s take-home pay, comparing salary options across states and considering cost of living can offer opportunities for geographic arbitrage if you are open to relocation. Remember to thoroughly examine cost of living comparisons, as taxes are often excluded but can be a substantial factor.
Pediatrician Pay by Hours Worked
Medicine is often perceived as a field where income is directly related to effort. We examined the correlation between hours worked and average salaries for full-time attending pediatricians. While some reported working 71+ hours weekly, most fell within the averages below. Unsurprisingly, we observe a trend of increasing average salaries with increased hours worked.
- 36-40 hours/week: $248,000 per year
- 41-45 hours/week: $252,000 per year (1.5% increase)
- 46-50 hours/week: $258,000 per year (2% increase)
- 51-60 hours/week: $260,000 per year (1% increase)
The percentage increase in salary relative to the increase in work hours might be surprising. Consider whether a 1.5% salary increase justifies a 12% increase in your work time. Poor work-life balance is a major contributor to physician burnout. Working significantly more hours for a marginal pay increase might negatively impact your long-term career earnings if burnout leads you to seek alternatives outside of medicine.
Many pediatricians spend significant time on charting outside of work hours. AI scribes, increasingly common, can significantly reduce charting time.
Changes in Average Pediatrician Salary Over Time
The data analyzed above includes contributions from mid-2023 to mid-2024.
We also reviewed our historical salary database, starting in 2018, to identify trends in pediatrician pay over time. To ensure comparable data, we continued to focus on pediatricians beyond residency/fellowship working 36+ hours per week. For 2023 data, we combined data from our old and new databases, using a cutoff point to avoid data overlap.
- 2018-2019: $215,000
- 2020-2021: $217,000 (1% increase)
- 2022-2023: $237,000 (9% increase)
Our 2024 average pediatrician salary of $254,000 indicates continued salary growth. We believe that ongoing salary transparency will contribute to further salary increases for pediatricians.
Extra Insights from Pediatricians
As part of our salary data collection, members of our physician online community share additional comments. We analyzed these insights for valuable information relevant to job selection and contract negotiations.
Here are a few potentially useful insights from fellow pediatricians:
Increasing Your Pediatrician Salary
If this salary information prompts you to re-evaluate your current compensation, several strategies can help increase your income. Remember to consider the complete picture, including benefits, PTO, call responsibilities, and retirement contributions. Salary is a crucial aspect of physician compensation, but it’s not the only element of a well-negotiated physician employment contract.
1. Discuss with Current Management: Approach the conversation practically and respectfully. Use our physician salary data to support your request for a contract renegotiation, highlighting the potential risk of you seeking opportunities elsewhere.
2. Explore Alternative Job Opportunities: Sometimes, current employers may be unable or unwilling to meet your compensation expectations. Explore the market by interviewing for positions and gauging employer offers.
Explore open opportunities on our Physician Side Gigs job board and physician career resources and education to assist your job search.
We strongly recommend consulting a local contract review attorney for physicians to review any employment contract. Their expertise in physician contract negotiations and understanding of potential red flags is invaluable.
If you are already earning at or above the market rate but seek additional income, consider options like:
- Sleep or lactation consulting
- Brand partnerships with children’s product companies (or developing your own products)
- Telemedicine to supplement your clinical practice
Explore more side gigs for pediatricians for additional income streams.
Additional Salary and Career Resources for Pediatricians
Explore our related articles and resources on physician compensation and salaries:
Contribute your data! Help us enhance salary transparency for physicians like you by contributing to our database. Your anonymous contributions help others negotiate fair compensation. Contribution links are available on our compensation data for physicians page.
Looking for a new career opportunity? Explore the Physician Side Gigs job board for current openings.
For guidance on negotiating your next contract, explore our resources.
Also, check out our side gigs for pediatricians for additional income opportunities.
