As of 2018, the largest distribution of U.S. physicians was between the ages of 55 and 65 years old. At that time about 29 percent of physicians fell within this age group. With just 11.2 percent of all physicians, the smallest distribution of U.S. physicians was among those aged 35 years or younger. Data suggests that in the U.S. the average age of medical students is around 24 years old and the average age of matriculants is about 31.

U.S. Physician demographics  

It is estimated that one of the best ways to combat aging population health needs is to increase the number of doctors practicing in the U.S. In general, the number of physicians in the U.S. has been on the rise. Every year about 20 thousand new physicians join the U.S. workforce. Despite an increase in the number of physicians the number of active physicians per 10,000 people has remained relatively stagnant in recent years. As of 2019, the specialty with the largest number of physicians was psychiatry, followed by surgery.

Physician compensation  

Physician compensation varies significantly between regions and genders. With graduates owing an average of 190,000 U.S. dollars in student loans upon graduation, equal compensation has become especially important. However, women in the medical industry make significantly less income than their male counterparts. As of 2019, female physicians earned between 51 and 92 thousand U.S. dollars less than male physicians. Regionally, there are also significant differences. As of 2018, physicians working in the North Central U.S. had higher annual compensation than those in other areas. Those working in the Northeast had the lowest annual compensation.

As of 2021, roughly one in 14 active physicians in the United States were Hispanic (regardless of race). Asians were overrepresented, accounting for one in five physicians in the U.S., while Asians made up just seven percent of the total U.S. population.

Health professionals, especially primary care physicians, are in high demand in many parts of the U.S. Some areas are experiencing health professional shortages. This map shows the ratio of population to primary care physicians in the U.S. Areas in dark red show where there are less primary care physicians per person.The data comes from County Health Rankings, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, measure the health of nearly all counties in the nation and rank them within states. The layer used in the map comes from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, and the full documentation for the layer can be found here.County data are suppressed if, for both years of available data, the population reported by agencies is less than 50% of the population reported in Census or less than 80% of agencies measuring crimes reported data.

The number of male physicians outnumber female physicians in the U.S. in most specialties. The only major exceptions are found in pediatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, although female physicians do slightly outnumber males in a few other specialties. As of 2021, there were around 68,400 male family medicine/general practice physicians compared to 50,000 women in this specialty.

Physicians in the U.S.

Both the number of doctors and rate of doctors in the U.S. have increased over the years. As of 2021, there were around 946,800 active doctors of medicine in the U.S. This was around 29.9 physicians per 10,000 civilian population. In 1995, this rate stood at 24.2 physicians per 10,000 population.

Physicians by state

The states with the highest overall number of active physicians are California, New York, Texas, and Florida. However, the states with the highest rate of physicians per 10,000 civilian population include Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maryland. The District of Columbia has the highest rate of physicians by a large margin, with around 74.6 physicians per 10,000 population. The state with the highest annual compensation for physicians is Oklahoma, where physicians earn an annual average of 337,000 dollars.

The statistic displays the distribution of active physicians in the United States in 2021, based on specialty and gender. About 80 percent of physicians specializing in pain medicine and pain management are male and 20 percent are female. The largest number of active physicians are among primary care specialties such as internal medicine and general practice.

Forecast: Population Per Medical Doctors Graduates in France 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Afghanistan Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 0.254 Ratio in 2020. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.212 Ratio for 2019. Afghanistan Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 0.186 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2020, with 26 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.298 Ratio in 2014 and a record low of 0.035 Ratio in 1960. Afghanistan Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Afghanistan – Table AF.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.;World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.;Weighted average;This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.c.1 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

Finland Population Per Medical Doctors Graduates was up 0.5% in 2019, from a year earlier.

This table contains 267456 series, with data for years 2000 - 2000 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (199 items: Canada; Health and Community Services Eastern Region; Newfoundland and Labrador (Peer group D); Health and Community Services St. John's Region; Newfoundland and Labrador (Peer group H); Newfoundland and Labrador ...) Age group (14 items: Total; 12 years and over; 12-19 years; 15-19 years; 12-14 years ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...) Contact with medical doctors (4 items: Total population for the variable contact with medical doctors; Contact with medical doctors in past 12 months; Contact with medical doctors; not stated; No contact with medical doctors in past 12 months ...) Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval - number of persons; High 95% confidence interval - number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons ...).

As of May 2024, the total number of professionally active physicians in the United States amounted to 1,109,460 physicians. From a state perspective, California had the most number of active physicians with over 119 thousand physicians, followed by New York. On the other hand, with just 1,245 physicians, Wyoming had the least number of active physicians in the United States.

Expert industry market research on the Primary Care Doctors in the US (2005-2030). Make better business decisions, faster with IBISWorld's industry market research reports, statistics, analysis, data, trends and forecasts.

Somalia SO: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 0.029 Ratio in 2014. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.035 Ratio for 2010. Somalia SO: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 0.037 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2014, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.071 Ratio in 1984 and a record low of 0.024 Ratio in 1960. Somalia SO: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Somalia – Table SO.World Bank: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.; ; World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.; Weighted average;

Forecast: Population Per Medical Doctors Graduates in Germany 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Kuwait KW: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 2.608 Ratio in 2015. This stayed constant from the previous number of 2.608 Ratio for 2014. Kuwait KW: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 1.800 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2015, with 23 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.608 Ratio in 2015 and a record low of 0.183 Ratio in 1990. Kuwait KW: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Kuwait – Table KW.World Bank: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.; ; World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.; Weighted average;

Forecast: Population Per Medical Doctors Graduates in Italy 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

This table contains 6720 series, with data for years 1994 - 1998 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (not all combinations are available): Geography (5 items: Territories; Yukon; Northwest Territories including Nunavut; Northwest Territories ...), Age group (14 items: Total; 12 years and over; 12-19 years; 12-14 years; 15-19 years ...), Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...), Contact with medical doctors (4 items: Total population for the variable contact with medical doctors; Contact with medical doctors in past 12 months; Contact with medical doctors; not stated; No contact with medical doctors in past 12 months ...), Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; High 95% confidence interval - number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval - number of persons ...).

Graph and download economic data for All Employees: Education and Health Services: Offices of Physicians in Colorado (SMU08000006562110001SA) from Jan 2002 to Jan 2025 about physicians, health, CO, services, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees: Education and Health Services: Offices of Physicians in Michigan (SMU26000006562110001SA) from Jan 2001 to Jan 2025 about physicians, health, MI, services, employment, and USA.

Germany DE: Physicians: per 1000 People data was reported at 4.518 Ratio in 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 4.459 Ratio for 2020. Germany DE: Physicians: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 3.487 Ratio from Dec 1991 (Median) to 2021, with 31 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.518 Ratio in 2021 and a record low of 2.762 Ratio in 1991. Germany DE: Physicians: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Physicians include generalist and specialist medical practitioners.;World Health Organization's Global Health Workforce Statistics, OECD, supplemented by country data.;Weighted average;This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.c.1 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

The states with the most number of active physicians include California, New York, Texas, and Florida. California currently has the most number of active physicians of any U.S. state, with around 125,566 physicians. In California, the specialties with the most physicians are psychiatry, emergency medicine, and anesthesiology. Specialty areas In general, the most common specialty areas for physicians in the U.S. are emergency medicine, psychiatry, surgery, and anesthesiology. As of 2024, there were around 58,900 psychiatrists in the U.S. Concerning the gender distribution of specialty physicians, males out number females in almost every specialty, with exceptions found in mainly in various pediatric disciplines, and obstetrics and gynecology. Compensation The specialty areas with the highest average annual compensation are plastic surgery, orthopedics, and cardiology. As of 2024, a physician in orthopedics earned an average of 558,000 U.S. dollars per year. Male physicians still earn more than their female counterparts in both primary care and specialty settings. This difference is especially large in specialty settings where male physicians earn more than 100,000 dollars more per year than female physicians.