Medicine's highest-earning specialty earned an average of $619,000, whereas the lowest-paid specialty earned $249,000, according to Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report" for 2023.
Medscape surveyed 10,011 physicians across more than 29 specialties about their income, work hours, job satisfaction and more from Oct. 7, 2022, to Jan. 17, 2023. The full methodology can be found here.
The average income of primary care physicians in 2023 was $265,000. Specialists earned an average of $382,000.
Here is the average salary of physicians across 29 different specialties, ranked from highest to lowest:
1. Plastic surgery: $619,000
2. Orthopedics: $573,000
3. Cardiology: $507,000
4. Urology: $506,000
5. Gastroenterology: $501,000
6. Otolaryngology: $485,000
7. Radiology: $483,000
8. Oncology: $463,000
9. Anesthesiology: $448,000
10. Dermatology: $443,000
11. Surgery (general): $412,000
12. Critical care: $406,000
13. Ophthalmology: $388,000
14. Pulmonary medicine: $378,000
15. Emergency medicine: $352,000
16. Pathology: $339,000
17. Obstetrics and gynecology: $337,000
18. Neurology: $313,000
19. Neprology: $312,000
20. Psychiatry: $309,000
21. Physical medicine and rehabilitation: $306,000
22. Allergy and immunology: $282,000
23. Rheumatology: $281,000
24. Internal medicine: $273,000
25. Diabetes and endocrinology: $267,000
26. Infectious diseases: $262,000
27. Family medicine: $255,000
28. Pediatrics: $251,000
29. Public health and preventive medicine: $249,000