Physicians play a central role in delivering care, and in today’s market – where a crisis of medical talent looms large – physician recruiters need an accurate view of how physicians are compensated.

We recently released the second annual Doximity Physician Compensation Report, which draws on the responses of more than 65,000 licensed U.S. doctors to produce the most comprehensive view of physician compensation available. Here are a few highlights from the report – which you can download in its entirety at the end of this article.

Nationally, there was a 4% increase in physician compensation overall between 2016 and 2017.

As we found last year, metro areas with a lower average compensation tended to have more academic institutions. Not surprisingly, the presence of large medical schools in an area also ensures a strong pipeline of well-qualified doctors competing for a relatively fixed number of medical positions, which may have a dampening effect on compensation).

The five metro areas where physicians are paid the HIGHEST average annual salary:

1. Charlotte, N.C.  
2. Milwaukee, WI   
3. Jacksonville, FL  
4. Indianapolis, IN  
5. San Jose, CA  

The five metro areas where physicians are paid the LOWEST average annual salary:

1. Durham, N.C.  
2. Ann Arbor, MI  
3. Baltimore, MD  
4. New Haven, CT  
5. Rochester, NY  

The gender pay gap: more than half of the 50 metro areas saw a physician gender gap increase.

This year we again evaluated the differences between how male and female physicians were paid. In 2016 U.S. women physicians on average earn 26.5 percent less, or in dollar terms, and on average female doctors made $91,284 less than what the average male doctor earned. In 2017, the physician gender gap remained stubborn at 27.7%, and female doctors earned $105,000 less than their male counterparts. In fact, evaluating this at the local level, more than half of the 50 metro areas saw the physician gender wage gap increase.

The five metro areas where female physicians were paid the HIGHEST average annual salary in 2017:

1. Milwaukee, WI
2. San Jose, CA
3. Las Vegas, NV
4. Charlotte, NC
5. Minneapolis, MN

The five metro areas where female physicians were paid the LOWEST average annual salary in 2017:

1. Durham, NC
2. Charleston, SC
3. Ann Arbor, MI
4. New Haven, CT
5. Providence, RI
   
   

Physician compensation varies by medical specialty

In general, medical specialties with more advanced training tend to demand higher salaries. However, not all specialties enjoy significantly higher average compensation.

The five medical specialties with the HIGHEST average compensation:

1. Neurosurgery
2. Thoracic Surgery
3. Orthopaedic Surgery
4. Vascular Surgery
5. Plastic Surgery

The five medical specialties with the LOWEST average compensation:

1. Preventive Medicine
2. Pediatrics
3. Pediatric Endocrinology
4. Pediatric Hematology & Oncology
5. Pediatric Infectious Diseases
   
   

Physician compensation varies by employment type

Physician employment in the U.S. has historically been dominated by private practices. Yet, for the first time in 2016, the share of U.S. physicians who own their practice dropped below 50% (per AMA Economic and Health Policy Research). Given that this represents a significant change in the market structure, it’s important to understand differences in average compensation by employment type.

The average physician compensation ranked by employment type:

1. Single-Specialty Group
2. Multi-Specialty Group
3. Hospital Practice
4. Health System/IDN/ACO
5. Academic
6. Healthcare Organization
7. Health Maintenance Organization
8. Government
9. Industry/Pharmaceutical
10. Urgent Care Center/Chain

With over one million U.S. doctors as members, Doximity is the largest social network in medicine and is uniquely positioned to enable the analysis drawn in the report. To learn more, click the button and download the full report.