Physician pay is not keeping up with rising practice costs.
Here are 10 notes on physician pay, pulled from Medscape's 2024 "Physician Compensation Report" for 2024 and Medical Economics' 2024 Physician Report
1. Here are 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
2. Among physician specialists, women earn an average yearly salary of $333,000, whereas men of the same credentials earn an average of $435,000.
3. Pay among specialists increased by an average of 3% compared to average earnings in 2023.
4. Fifty-one percent of physician respondents said they do not feel fairly compensated.
5. Physicians located in the West North Central area of the U.S., consisting of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, were the highest-paid physicians by region, earning an average of $404,000 each year.
6. Twenty-eight percent of physicians have a net worth ranging between $2 million and $4.9 million in 2024.
7. An additional 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.
8. Practice-owning physicians made an average of $295,000 in 2023 and nonowners made $283,000.
9. 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
10. Here is how the average income of physician owners and non-owners has changed in the last three years:
2023
Owner: $295,000
Nonowner: $283,000
2022
Owner: $290,000
Nonowner: $260,500
2021
Owner: $289,000
Nonowner: $252,000