Data‑driven look at what physicians really earn in 2026—by specialty, region, and hours worked—using the latest 2025 compensation data.
TL;DR — Key Takeaways
The headline numbers (2025 data):
- Average physician income: ~$374,000
- Primary care: ~$287,000 | Specialists: ~$404,000
- Top earners: Orthopedic surgeons (~$573k), plastic surgeons (~$526k), cardiologists (~$507k)
- Lowest earners: Pediatrics (~$244k), family medicine (~$250k), public health (~$252k)
The context that matters:
- Salaries grew 2.9%—barely keeping pace with inflation
- Only 49% of physicians feel fairly compensated
- 38% have side gigs to supplement income
- Gender pay gap: ~$96,000 on average
- Effective hourly rates range from ~$100/hour (primary care) to ~$200+/hour (dermatology, orthopedics)
Geography is powerful:
- Midwest pays highest on average (~$386k) with lower cost of living
- Northeast pays lowest (~$363k) with higher cost of living
- Strategic location choice can matter as much as specialty choice
The bigger picture:
- Physician training delays peak earnings by 10+ years compared to other high-earning careers
- RVU-based productivity models are increasing pressure and contributing to burnout
- Total compensation includes base pay, bonuses (~$48k average), benefits, call pay, and non-salary perks
- When evaluating offers, look beyond the salary number to hours, call, support, and lifestyle
Whether you're a medical student weighing specialty choices, a resident eyeing your first contract, or an established physician benchmarking your own compensation, understanding the current landscape matters. And the reality is more nuanced than a single number suggests.
Yes, the average physician earned approximately $374,000 in 2025. On paper, that's impressive. But dig deeper and you'll find a profession grappling with meaningful tension: salaries rose by roughly 2.9% year-over-year, barely keeping pace with inflation. Only about 49% of physicians report feeling fairly compensated. Nearly 38% have taken on side work to supplement their income. And behind every average lies a wide spectrum—from pediatricians earning around $250,000 to orthopedic surgeons clearing $600,000 or more.
This guide walks through what physician compensation actually looks like heading into 2026. We'll break down pay by specialty, calculate what doctors earn per hour (not just per year), explore regional differences, and examine the structural factors—RVUs, practice settings, gender gaps, and burnout—that shape how physicians experience their earnings. Our goal is to leave you informed, empowered, and equipped with the data you need to make smarter career and financial decisions.
The average U.S. physician earned about $374,000 in 2025—but only 49% feel fairly compensated.
Snapshot – How Much Do Doctors Make (Latest Data)?
The Headline Numbers (Using 2025 Data)
According to the 2025 Medscape report, the average full-time U.S. physician earned approximately $374,000 annually. But that figure obscures an important divide: primary care physicians averaged around $287,000, while specialists brought in closer to $404,000.
Most full-time physicians fall within a broad range of roughly $250,000 to $600,000, with certain high-demand procedural specialties reaching beyond that upper band. A few outliers—like some orthopedic surgeons, certain subspecialized interventionalists, or physicians with lucrative administrative roles—can earn significantly more.
Raises vs Inflation – Why a 2.9% Increase Feels Flat
Physician salaries grew by approximately 2.9% between 2024 and 2025. In isolation, that sounds reasonable. But when inflation runs at or above that rate, the net effect is that many physicians aren't getting ahead—they're simply treading water. For roughly a quarter of physicians surveyed in 2025, income was flat or actually decreased year-over-year.
For a profession that demands a decade of training, six-figure student debt, and long hours well into mid-career, a nominal raise that barely matches cost-of-living increases doesn't feel like progress. It's one reason why the mood of the profession heading into 2026 is, at best, cautiously optimistic and, at worst, quietly frustrated.
Do Doctors Feel Fairly Paid?
Only about 49% of physicians reported feeling fairly compensated in the 2025 survey cycle. That means roughly half the profession believes their pay doesn't reflect the value they provide—or the personal cost of delivering that care.
Many physicians acknowledge they're well-paid compared to most Americans, yet still struggle with the math: when they calculate their effective hourly rate after accounting for overnight call, unpaid charting, and administrative burden, the compensation feels less impressive than the headline number suggests.
This sentiment isn't about ingratitude. It's about recognizing that physician work extends far beyond billable hours, and compensation structures haven't always caught up.
Physician Salary by Specialty – Highest and Lowest Paid Doctors
Top-Earning Specialties (Summary Table)
Here are the highest-earning specialties based on 2025 data:
Top-Earning Specialties (Summary Table)
These numbers reflect national averages. Individual earnings vary widely based on geography, practice setting, productivity, and whether a physician is employed or in private practice.| Specialty | Average Annual Compensation |
|---|---|
| Orthopedic Surgery | ~$573,000 |
| Plastic Surgery | ~$526,000 |
| Cardiology | ~$507,000 |
| Otolaryngology | ~$469,000 |
| Radiology | ~$467,000 |
| Gastroenterology | ~$453,000 |
| Anesthesiology | ~$448,000 |
| Urology | ~$440,000 |
| Ophthalmology | ~$438,000 |
| Dermatology | ~$437,000 |
Lowest-Earning Specialties
On the other end of the spectrum:
| Specialty | Average Annual Compensation |
|---|---|
| Pediatrics | ~$244,000 |
| Family Medicine | ~$250,000 |
| Public Health & Preventive Medicine | ~$252,000 |
| Endocrinology | ~$265,000 |
| Internal Medicine (general) | ~$275,000 |
| Psychiatry | ~$287,000 |
These fields tend to be cognitive-heavy, less procedural, and often serve populations with less favorable payer mixes. They're also the backbone of primary care and population health—essential work that the compensation structure undervalues.
Why the Gaps Are So Wide
The pay gap between top and bottom earners isn't arbitrary. Several structural factors drive it:
Procedural vs cognitive work: Procedures generate higher revenue and are easier to bill. Cognitive specialties—diagnosing, counseling, managing complex chronic disease—are harder to quantify and often reimbursed at lower rates.
Operating room time and surgical volume: Orthopedic surgeons and plastic surgeons can perform high-value procedures with relatively short operative times, creating leverage in their earning potential.
Call intensity and malpractice risk: Some high-paid specialties also carry significant lifestyle trade-offs, but the compensation reflects both the technical skill and the medicolegal exposure.
Payer mix and elective vs non-elective care: Specialties that can cultivate cash-pay or elective practices (dermatology, plastics, some ophthalmology) often out-earn those dependent on Medicare, Medicaid, or emergent care.
"Highest Paid" vs "Best Overall Life"
Raw salary rankings don't tell the full story. A specialty might pay well but demand brutal call schedules, high malpractice premiums, or 60+ hour workweeks. Conversely, a mid-tier salary paired with better work-life balance and reasonable hours can deliver a higher quality of life—and, as we'll see next, a surprisingly competitive hourly wage.
Quick Look: Top 5 Specialties by Pay vs Typical Workweek Hours (2025 data, for 2026 planning)
Orthopedic Surgery: ~$573k/year, ~55 hours/week
Plastic Surgery: ~$526k/year, ~50 hours/week
Cardiology: ~$507k/year, ~52 hours/week
Radiology: ~$467k/year, ~48 hours/week
Dermatology: ~$437k/year, ~43 hours/week
Notice how dermatology's lower absolute salary comes with significantly fewer hours, while orthopedics' higher pay requires a heavier workload. Which is "better" depends entirely on your priorities.
Dermatology doesn’t top the salary charts, but its combination of high pay and fewer hours gives it one of the best effective hourly rates in medicine.
The "Real" Hourly Wage – How Much Doctors Make Per Hour
How We Estimated Effective Hourly Pay
Annual salary figures are useful, but they obscure a critical variable: time. A $500,000 salary sounds impressive until you realize it required 60-hour weeks, overnight call, and countless unpaid hours charting at home.
To calculate effective hourly pay, we used the following approach:
- Annual salary: From the 2025 Medscape report
- Average weekly hours: Drawn from the same dataset (specialists averaged ~51 hours/week, primary care ~49 hours/week)
- Working weeks per year: We assumed 50 weeks (accounting for vacation and CME time)
- Formula: Hourly wage = Annual salary ÷ (Weekly hours × 50)
Disclaimer: These are estimates, not contractual rates. Actual hours vary widely by employer, practice setting, and individual schedules. Unpaid administrative work, charting, and call aren't always captured in self-reported hours.
Effective Hourly Rate Table by Specialty
| Specialty | Annual Salary | Avg Hours/Week | Effective Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dermatology | ~$437,000 | 43 | ~$203 |
| Plastic Surgery | ~$526,000 | 50 | ~$210 |
| Ophthalmology | ~$438,000 | 47 | ~$186 |
| Radiology | ~$467,000 | 48 | ~$194 |
| Anesthesiology | ~$448,000 | 50 | ~$179 |
| Orthopedic Surgery | ~$573,000 | 55 | ~$208 |
| Gastroenterology | ~$453,000 | 52 | ~$174 |
| Cardiology | ~$507,000 | 52 | ~$195 |
| Urology | ~$440,000 | 51 | ~$172 |
| Emergency Medicine | ~$373,000 | 46 | ~$162 |
| Obstetrics & Gynecology | ~$336,000 | 52 | ~$129 |
| General Surgery | ~$402,000 | 57 | ~$141 |
| Psychiatry | ~$287,000 | 44 | ~$130 |
| Neurology | ~$301,000 | 49 | ~$123 |
| Internal Medicine | ~$275,000 | 50 | ~$110 |
| Family Medicine | ~$250,000 | 49 | ~$102 |
| Pediatrics | ~$244,000 | 48 | ~$102 |
Key insights:
- Dermatology delivers one of the highest effective hourly rates despite not topping the absolute salary list. Fewer hours matter.
- Orthopedic surgery pays the most annually and maintains a strong hourly rate, even with longer weeks.
- Primary care specialties (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics) show hourly rates around $100–$110—solid by most standards, but modest given the training required.
- Ob/gyn and general surgery earn respectable annual salaries but face hourly compression due to long workweeks and unpredictable call.
Effective hourly pay ranges from roughly $100/hour in primary care to over $200/hour in some specialties like dermatology and orthopedics.
What the Hourly Math Misses
Effective hourly wage calculations are useful, but they don't capture everything:
- Unpaid call and administrative burden: Many physicians spend hours on electronic health records, prior authorizations, and inbox management outside reported work hours.
- Emotional and cognitive load: The mental weight of life-and-death decisions, medicolegal risk, and patient suffering doesn't show up in an hourly rate.
- "Charting at home": The reality that many physicians finish notes after their kids are asleep, essentially extending their workday without clocking in.
Hourly pay gives you a useful lens for comparison, but it's not the whole story. Quality of life, autonomy, intellectual satisfaction, and patient relationships all contribute to how a salary feels.
Residents vs Attendings – The Hourly Shock
Residents typically earn between $60,000 and $70,000 annually, depending on post-graduate year and geography. With 60- to 80-hour workweeks common during training, the effective hourly rate often falls between $20 and $30 per hour.
For an intern working 75 hours a week at $63,000 per year, that's roughly $16.80 per hour over 50 working weeks. Less than many entry-level jobs that don't require a college degree, let alone a doctorate.
The jump to attending life is dramatic. A hospitalist earning $275,000 with a 50-hour week clocks in around $110 per hour—nearly seven times their intern rate. But it takes a decade of training to get there, and by then, many physicians are carrying substantial debt and playing financial catch-up.
Salary by Region and State – Where Doctors Earn the Most
Regional Salary Comparison (Using 2025 Averages)
Geography matters. The same specialty can pay significantly more—or less—depending on where you practice.
Regional Salary Comparison (Using 2025 Averages)
| Region | Average Physician Salary | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Midwest | ~$386,000 | Highest regional average; lower cost of living amplifies purchasing power |
| South | ~$377,000 | Competitive pay with moderate cost of living in many markets |
| West | ~$368,000 | High salaries in some metro areas, but often offset by housing costs |
| Northeast | ~$363,000 | Lowest regional average, often paired with the highest cost of living |
The Midwest consistently offers strong physician compensation relative to living costs. A $380,000 salary in a Midwestern city with affordable housing and low state income taxes can stretch further than $450,000 in a coastal metro where a modest home costs $1.5 million.
The Northeast, despite its concentration of academic medical centers and prestigious institutions, tends to pay slightly less—and those earnings are quickly eroded by high housing costs, property taxes, and state income taxes.
Cost of Living and the Geo-Arbitrage Play
"Geo-arbitrage" is the strategy of optimizing your earning power by choosing a location where your income goes further.
Scenario A: Midwest Hospitalist
- Salary: $300,000
- Location: Mid-sized Midwestern city
- Median home price: $250,000
- State income tax: ~5%
- After taxes and housing: Significant discretionary income for investing, debt repayment, and lifestyle
Scenario B: Coastal Hospitalist
- Salary: $320,000
- Location: Major coastal metro
- Median home price: $900,000
- State income tax: ~9–10%
- After taxes and housing: Less discretionary income despite higher gross pay
Practically, the Midwest hospitalist may end up with more financial flexibility and wealth-building capacity, even with a lower nominal salary. For physicians prioritizing financial independence or rapid debt repayment, geography is a powerful lever.
State-Level Notes
Individual states show even more variation. States like Wisconsin, Indiana, and Nebraska often report strong physician pay with favorable cost structures. California and New York offer high salaries in some markets, but taxes and housing costs eat into take-home pay. Texas and Florida, with no state income tax, can deliver compelling financial outcomes despite mid-tier salaries.
As more state-specific salary data becomes available on Physician Living, we'll continue to deepen this analysis. For now, know that your choice of state—and even city—can shift your financial trajectory as much as your choice of specialty.
"Geo-arbitrage" is the strategy of optimizing your earning power by choosing a location where your income goes further.
Salary by Career Stage – From Resident to Peak Earnings
Resident and Fellow Salaries
According to the latest AAMC data, resident salaries typically range from $60,000 to $70,000 annually, increasing modestly with each post-graduate year. Fellows earn slightly more, often in the $65,000 to $75,000 range.
As discussed earlier, when you calculate the effective hourly rate for a resident working 70+ hours per week, the number is sobering. It's a reminder that physician training represents a significant period of delayed earnings and financial vulnerability.
Early Attending Years (1–5 Years Out)
The jump to attending life brings immediate financial relief, but it's not without complexity.
Primary care physicians (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics) often start in the $220,000 to $280,000 range, depending on location and practice setting. Specialists can begin anywhere from $300,000 to $450,000+, with procedural fields at the higher end.
Early attending years are often dominated by:
- Student loan repayment: The average medical school graduate carries over $200,000 in debt. Aggressive repayment strategies are common.
- Relocation costs: Moving for a first job, potentially across the country, adds upfront expenses.
- Buy-ins and partnership tracks: Some private practices require capital contributions or have delayed partnership timelines that affect total compensation.
For many physicians, the first five years post-training feel less like "making it" and more like "catching up."
Mid-Career and Peak Earnings
Peak earning years typically hit between 10 and 20 years into attending practice. At this stage, many physicians have:
- Paid off most or all of their student loans
- Achieved partnership (in private practice) or seniority-based raises (in hospital employment)
- Maximized productivity and efficiency in their clinical work
- Taken on leadership, administrative, or teaching roles that supplement base pay
This is also when physicians begin to feel financially stable—able to invest meaningfully, save for their children's education, and think seriously about retirement planning.
When Income Levels Off or Falls
Income doesn't climb forever. Many physicians see earnings plateau or even decline in the later stages of their careers, often due to:
- Reduced call and clinical volume: Scaling back hours for quality of life or health reasons
- Part-time or locums shifts: Transitioning away from full-time employment
- Burnout-related schedule changes: Choosing less demanding roles, even if they pay less
- Retirement planning: Deliberately winding down clinical work while ramping up passive income or portfolio withdrawals
Understanding that peak earnings are time-limited is an important part of financial planning. The window to maximize income, pay off debt, and build wealth is finite.
Practice Setting and Compensation Models
Hospital Employed, Private Practice, Academic, Locums
Where you work shapes not just how much you earn, but how you earn it.
Hospital employed: The most common model in 2026. Offers stability, benefits, and a predictable salary. Trade-off: less autonomy, more bureaucracy, and often productivity-linked compensation that ties your paycheck to RVUs or patient volume.
Private practice: Becoming less common but still viable in certain specialties. Offers autonomy, upside potential (especially with ownership), and control over your schedule. Trade-off: business risk, administrative burden, and often slower ramp-up to peak earnings.
Academic medicine: Appeals to physicians who value teaching, research, and intellectual community. Salaries tend to run 10–20% below private sector equivalents, though some institutions offer strong benefits and loan forgiveness programs.
Locums: Short-term contract work, often paying premium hourly or daily rates. Great for flexibility or supplemental income. Trade-off: no benefits, inconsistent work, and less job security.
RVUs, Productivity, and 2025–2026 Pressure
Relative Value Units (RVUs) are the currency of productivity-based compensation. They quantify clinical work—how many patients you see, how many procedures you perform, how complex the care you deliver.
According to 2025 survey data, a significant share of physicians now have a portion of their compensation tied to RVUs or similar productivity metrics. In theory, this aligns incentives: the harder you work, the more you earn. In practice, it often means:
- Volume pressure: Seeing more patients in less time to hit targets
- Administrative burden: Fighting to ensure your work is properly coded and captured
- Burnout risk: The treadmill never stops, and the system constantly demands more
Many physicians describe feeling less like clinicians and more like cogs in an RVU machine—optimizing throughput rather than practicing medicine. That sentiment captures the tension physicians feel heading into 2026: compensation increasingly tied to metrics that don't always reflect the complexity, emotional labor, or intellectual challenge of patient care.
Bonuses, Call Pay, and Benefits
In addition to base salary, many physicians earn:
- Annual bonuses: Averaging around $48,000 for those who qualify, often tied to productivity, quality metrics, or organizational financial performance
- Call pay: Separate compensation for on-call shifts, particularly in specialties like surgery, OB/GYN, and emergency medicine
- Non-salary benefits: Employer contributions to 401(k) or 403(b) plans, continuing medical education (CME) allowances, paid time off (PTO), malpractice insurance coverage, and parental leave
These benefits matter. A $300,000 salary with a strong benefits package, generous retirement match, and covered malpractice can be worth significantly more than a $320,000 salary with minimal benefits.
When evaluating a compensation offer, look at the total package—not just the base salary line.
Gender (and Other) Pay Gaps in Medicine
The Current Gender Pay Gap
According to 2025 data, the average pay gap between male and female physicians is approximately $96,000 per year. That's not a rounding error—it's a structural inequity that has widened over recent survey cycles.
To be clear: this is an average. Not every female physician earns $96,000 less than her male counterpart. But on aggregate, the gap is real and measurable.
Specialty Mix vs Within-Specialty Differences
Part of the gap reflects specialty distribution. Women are overrepresented in lower-paying specialties like pediatrics, family medicine, and internal medicine, and underrepresented in high-paying procedural fields like orthopedic surgery, urology, and interventional cardiology.
But even within the same specialty, women often earn less. Factors contributing to this include:
- Part-time work and schedule flexibility: Women are more likely to work reduced hours due to caregiving responsibilities, which affects total compensation.
- Negotiation gaps: Studies suggest women are less likely to negotiate aggressively on initial contracts or raises.
- Structural bias: Implicit bias in hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions persists, even in data-driven fields like medicine.
Action Steps for Women Physicians Negotiating Pay
If you're a woman entering the workforce or evaluating a new contract, here's what you can do:
- Benchmark aggressively: Use national and regional data to understand what your specialty and experience level should command.
- Negotiate with data: Bring specific numbers to the table. Don't accept the first offer without discussion.
- Seek mentorship: Connect with senior female physicians who've navigated contract negotiations and career advancement.
- Consider contract review services: An employment attorney or physician contract review service can help identify below-market offers and problematic clauses.
The pay gap is a structural problem that won't be solved by individual action alone, but understanding the data empowers you to advocate for yourself more effectively.
The gender pay gap in medicine is still huge—around $96,000 per year on average.
Why So Many Doctors Have Side Gigs
How Common Side Gigs Are
Approximately 38% of physicians reported having paid work outside their primary clinical role in 2025. That's more than one in three doctors supplementing their main income.
This isn't just locums or moonlighting. It's a diverse ecosystem of side income streams, and the trend has grown steadily over recent years.
Typical Physician Side Income Streams
Common physician side gigs include:
- Locums and moonlighting: Extra clinical shifts at other hospitals or facilities, often at premium hourly rates
- Telemedicine: Virtual care platforms offering flexible, remote work
- Expert witness and independent medical exams (IMEs): Providing medicolegal opinions or disability evaluations
- Consulting: Advising healthcare companies, startups, or investment firms
- Teaching and lecturing: CME courses, academic adjunct roles, or online education
- Online businesses: Blogs, podcasts, coaching, courses, or digital products aimed at physician or patient audiences
Side Gigs, Burnout, and Financial Goals
For some physicians, side income is about accelerating debt repayment or building wealth faster. For others, it's about diversification—reducing dependence on a single employer or clinical role.
But side work comes with trade-offs:
- Fatigue: Adding hours on top of an already demanding clinical schedule increases burnout risk.
- Compliance issues: Some side gigs (especially consulting or expert witness work) may trigger conflicts of interest or non-compete concerns.
- Tax complexity: 1099 income, self-employment taxes, and quarterly estimated payments add administrative burden.
The rise of physician side gigs reflects both opportunity and strain. It's a sign that many physicians are entrepreneurial and resourceful, but also that primary compensation doesn't always feel sufficient—emotionally or financially.
Roughly 38% of physicians now earn income from at least one side gig.
How Physician Pay Compares to Other High-Earning Careers
Doctors vs Lawyers, Dentists, Tech, and Finance
How does a $300,000 to $400,000 physician salary stack up against other high-earning professions?
- Lawyers: Partners at major law firms can earn $500,000 to $2 million+, but the path is grueling, and many associates burn out before reaching partnership. Public defenders and government attorneys earn far less—often in the $60,000 to $100,000 range.
- Dentists: General dentists average around $180,000 to $200,000. Specialists (oral surgeons, orthodontists) can earn $300,000 to $500,000+, often with better lifestyle control than physicians.
- Tech: Software engineers at top companies earn $150,000 to $300,000+ with stock options. Senior engineers, managers, and executives can reach $500,000 to $1 million+. Crucially, they typically start earning in their early 20s—no decade-long training period.
- Finance: Investment bankers, private equity associates, and hedge fund analysts can earn $200,000 to $500,000+ early in their careers, with potential for multimillion-dollar compensation at senior levels. Again, earnings start much earlier than in medicine.
Debt, Delayed Earnings, and "Catch-Up"
The defining feature of physician compensation isn't just the amount—it's the timing.
A typical physician path looks like this:
- Age 18–22: Undergraduate (often with debt)
- Age 22–26: Medical school ($200,000+ in loans)
- Age 26–29 (or longer): Residency (~$65,000/year, accumulating interest on loans)
- Age 29–32: Fellowship (for many specialties)
- Age 32+: Attending physician earning $300,000 to $500,000+
Compare that to a software engineer who starts earning $120,000 at age 22 and hits $250,000+ by age 30, or a finance associate who clears $300,000 by their late 20s. Both have been saving, investing, and compounding wealth for nearly a decade by the time a physician finishes training.
In practical terms, a $350,000 salary at age 35 isn’t the same as $350,000 at 28. By the time most physicians finish training, many peers in other high-earning fields have had nearly a decade to save, invest, and build equity. You’re playing catch-up on savings, retirement contributions, home equity, and compounding returns, which makes an intentional, front-loaded wealth-building plan especially important.
How to Evaluate Your Compensation Offer
Beyond the Base Salary
When reviewing a contract, the base salary number is just the beginning. Here's a checklist of what to assess:
- Base pay: Is it competitive for your specialty, region, and experience level?
- RVU or productivity structure: Are bonuses realistic? What happens if you don't hit targets?
- Call schedule: How often are you on call? Is call pay separate or baked into base?
- Benefits: Health insurance, retirement match, CME allowance, malpractice coverage (claims-made vs occurrence), parental leave
- PTO and schedule: How many weeks of vacation? Can you control your schedule?
- Support staff: Do you have adequate nursing, scribes, and administrative support?
- Non-compete and restrictive covenants: Will you be able to practice nearby if you leave?
- Partnership or equity path: If private practice, what's the timeline and capital requirement?
- Termination clauses: What notice is required? Are there "without cause" provisions?
Simple Benchmarks for a 2026 Offer
Use the 2025 data in this guide as a starting reference. If you're a hospitalist in the Midwest and you're offered $260,000 with minimal benefits, you're likely below market. If you're a dermatologist in a major metro offered $450,000 with strong benefits, that's competitive.
But remember: local market conditions matter. Rural areas often pay premiums to attract physicians. Academic centers may pay less but offer loan forgiveness, research time, or prestige. Private practice offers can vary wildly based on patient volume, payer mix, and overhead structure.
When to Get Help
Contract review isn't optional. Consider:
- Contract review services and employment attorneys: These professionals can analyze your offer for a flat fee (typically $500 to $1,500) and help identify below-market compensation or problematic clauses.
- Mentors and senior colleagues: Reach out to physicians who've navigated similar decisions. Specialty societies often have contract guidance resources.
Please note: this guide is for general education. It's not individualized legal, financial, or tax advice. But it can help you ask better questions and spot red flags.
FAQs – Quick Answers to Common 2026 "How Much Do Doctors Make?"
Data Sources, Methodology, and Disclaimers
Main Data Sources
This guide primarily draws on the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2025, which surveys thousands of U.S. physicians across specialties, regions, and practice settings. We've supplemented this with data from:
- Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) for resident and medical student data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for broader labor market context
- Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) for practice management and productivity benchmarks where applicable
- Doximity for regional and specialty-specific trends
How We Calculated Hourly Rates and Comparisons
Our effective hourly wage calculations follow this methodology:
- Take the average annual salary for a given specialty (from 2025 survey data)
- Divide by the average weekly hours reported for that specialty
- Multiply weekly hours by 50 weeks per year (assuming 2 weeks for vacation and CME)
- Result: Salary ÷ (Hours per week × 50) = Effective hourly wage
Important caveats:
- Hours worked are self-reported and may not capture all unpaid time (charting, administrative work, call responsibilities)
- Individual physician hours vary enormously based on employer expectations, practice efficiency, and personal choices
- These are national averages; your local market may differ significantly
Limitations and "Not Advice" Disclaimer
Compensation data is based on surveys and self-reporting, which introduces variability and potential bias. Not all physicians respond to surveys, and those who do may not represent the full spectrum of the profession.
This guide is for general educational purposes only. It is not individualized financial, tax, legal, or medical advice. Your specific situation—location, specialty, experience, practice setting, and personal goals—requires personalized analysis. Always consult with qualified professionals (attorneys, financial advisors, accountants) when making major career or financial decisions.
We encourage you to check back regularly as new 2026 compensation data is released and this guide is updated accordingly.
Last updated
December 3, 2025, using 2025 compensation data from Medscape and supporting sources. This guide will be refreshed as new survey results become available throughout 2026.
