Medical education debt is growing, and some physician leaders feel physician pay isn't growing fast enough to account for rising debt paired with rising practice costs.
Here are 10 notes on medical school debt and how it compares to physician pay, according to data from the Education Data Initiative and Medscape's 2024 "Physician Compensation Report."
1. Medical school graduates owe an average of $243,483 in educational debt, including premedical debt.
2. Of the indebted medical school graduates who received more than $100,000 in scholarships, those who attended a public institution owe a median average of $115,000 and those who attended a private institution owe $130,000.
3. From 1998 to 2019, average debt for medical school graduates increased by 48.5%.
4. The annual growth rate of four-year medical school for private out-of-state tuition was 4.5% and 5.7% for public in-state tuition between 1998 and 2011.
5. Here is the average annual income for the 10 highest-paid physician specialties:
- Orthopedic surgeons: $558,000
- Plastic surgeons: $536,000
- Cardiologists: $525,000
- Urologists: $515,000
- Gastroenterologists: $512,000
- Radiologists: $498,000
- Dermatologists: $479,000
- Anesthesiologists: $472,000
- Oncologists: $464,000
- Otolaryngologists: $459,000
6. Among physician specialists, women earn an average yearly salary of $333,000, whereas men of the same credentials earn an average of $435,000.
7. Pay among specialists increased by an average of 3% compared to average earnings in 2023.
8. Around 25% of physicians have a net worth of less than $500,000, while 21% are worth $1 million to $1.9 million. About 15% are worth $500,000 to $999,999, while 11% are worth over $5 million.
9. Practice-owning physicians made an average of $295,000 in 2023 and nonowners made $283,000.
10. Here is the breakdown of physician pay by practice type:
- Private practice: $288,000
- Hospital-owned practice: $330,000
- Inpatient hospital: $325,000
- Nonprofit: $240,000
- Concierge practice/ direct-pay model: $349,000