How much money do doctors make in the US?
Doctors in 17 specialties earn at least $239,200 a year, but pay can swing by hundreds of thousands across states.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), about 839,000 people worked as physicians or surgeons in 2024, earning a median annual wage of at least $239,200. By comparison, America's general median wage was $49,500.
These jobs require in-depth education and training, and the work environment often requires long shifts and irregular hours.
The work can be intense, but the professions are growing. The BLS estimates 24,300 new physician and surgeon jobs will be created over the next decade due to an aging population, increasing rates of chronic illnesses, and mental health service growth.
While salaries vary by location and specialty, physicians are some of the most well-compensated healthcare practitioners and among the highest earners overall.
How does doctor pay compare to that of other medical professions?
Physicians and surgeons earn more than non-physician healthcare practitioners, which includes dentists, therapists, and nurses. This larger group of occupations earns a median annual wage of $101,370, which is more than 80% below the median ($239,200) for physicians and surgeons.
Doctors’ salaries are some of the highest of any occupation.
Median annual wages, May 2024
About a third of non-physician healthcare practitioners (3.4 million) are registered nurses, who make a median annual salary of $93,600. (The highest-paid 10% of registered nurses earn $135,320 annually, while the lowest-paid 10% earn $66,030 on average.)
Which specialties are the highest-earning?
The BLS tracks 17 specialties among physicians and surgeons, from orthopedic surgery to neurology to pediatrics. Among all specialties, pediatric surgeons have the highest average annual wage of $450,810, followed by cardiologists ($432,490) and all other surgeons ($371,280).
The BLS does not publish median annual wages above $239,200, so average wages are used to demonstrate specific earnings for many of these professions.
In 2024, pediatric surgeons earned about twice as much as pediatricians on average.
Average annual wages, May 2024
Which specialties are the lowest-earning?
Among physicians and surgeons, the lowest average annual wages went to pediatricians ($222,340), all other physicians ($253,470), and family medicine physicians ($256,830).
How do doctors’ wages vary nationwide?
Physicians and surgeons are some of the most well-compensated occupations in the country, but salaries do vary between states. Across the 17 specialties BLS tracks, the highest and lowest average wages can vary by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Six states and four medical fields saw physician salaries surpass $500k annually.
States with the highest and lowest average annual wages for specific physician and surgeon occupations, 2024
Where do doctors earn the most?
Six states and four occupations had physician and surgeon salaries top $500,000 a year. The highest-paid specialists are “all other” surgeons in North Dakota, with an average yearly wage of $556,400. Specialties in three other states also cleared $500,000: orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric in Wisconsin ($546,740), cardiologists in Indiana ($529,020), and radiologists in Minnesota ($515,440).
Four states — Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota and Washington — pay the highest annual average wages to at least two different specialties.
Where are doctors paid the least?
West Virginia pays the lowest annual average wages to four specialties: anesthesiologists, cardiologists, dermatologists, and psychiatrists. Arkansas and Ohio also have the lowest average annual salaries for multiple specialties. Arkansas pediatricians have the lowest average annual wage of any specialty in the country at $117,010.
The BLS also tracks wages in US territories. In Puerto Rico, physicians and surgeons in three out of four specialties with wage data — family medicine physicians, general internal medicine physicians, general pediatricians — are paid lower wages than their counterparts in any US state. There was one exception: Physicians not listed separately among BLS categories in Puerto Rico had average wages of $174,790, which was nearly $23,000 higher than wages for that occupation in Washington, DC.
General pediatricians in the Virgin Islands earned an average of $176,440, which was higher than wages in New Jersey, Washington, DC, and Arkansas for that occupation.
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