Want to know how your medical specialty is getting paid? The 2023 Medscape Physician Compensation Report is out. Here are some of the key findings:
The five highest earning medical specialties are:
- Plastic Surgery: $619,000
- Orthopedics: $573,000
- Cardiology: $507,000
- Urology: $501,000
- Gastroenterology: $501,000
The five lowest earning medical specialties are:
- Public Health & Preventative Medicine: $249,000
- Pediatrics: $251,000
- Family Medicine: $255,000
- Infectious Diseases: $262,000
- Rheumatology: $281,000
The ER docs are earning $352,000 and the critical care types are making $406,000 on average. And yes, urologists are out-earning OB/GYNs by a healthy margin – $506,000 to $337,000.
These are median earnings, and so There’s quite a bit of variation in the numbers, no doubt. For example, a lot of pediatricians, family medicine practitioners and HIV and infectious disease specialist are working for government and non-profits. These doctors are compensated in other ways. For example, they may qualify for a generous public traditional pension plan often not available to other doctors – unless it’s self-funded using annuities.
Doctors working for non-profits or government agencies may also qualify for student loan forgiveness over ten years.
Many of the higher earning doctors are relatively low-density in public health clinics, and tend to concentrate in private practice.
Specialties such as orthopedics and cardiology also include surgical specialists and non-surgeons. The surgical subspecialists make way more than the median listed here. So there are non-subspecialist cardiologist earning something closer to the middle of the pack.
These are the top five markets for doctors
- Wisconsin: $397,000
- Indiana: $372,000
- Georgia: $363,000
- Connecticut: $362,000
- Missouri: $361,000
The lowest-earning states:
- Maryland: $306,000
- Colorado: $327,000
- Virginia: $330,000
- Massachusetts: $331,000
- Arizona: $334,000
If you’re just starting out, these numbers can give you a reasonable idea of how much disability insurance coverage might be a good planning number for you.
You can read more details here.
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