In 2025, orthopedic doctors and surgeons earn on average *** thousand U.S. dollars annually. This makes orthopedic doctors and surgeons the **** well-compensated physicians in the United States as of 2025, followed by plastic surgeons. Plastic surgeons were, by far, the ******* earning physicians in the U.S. the previous year in 2024. An orthopedic physician specializes in injuries and diseases involving bones, muscles, joints, nerves and other parts of the musculoskeletal system. Physician salary Although orthopedic doctors and surgeons have the highest average annual salary, from 2024 to 2025 their compensation increased only *** percent. In comparison, compensation for physicians specialized in diabetes and endocrinology increased ***** percent during this time, while plastic surgeons saw again only a *** percent rise. The region with the highest annual compensation for physicians was the Midwest in 2025, with physicians earning some *** thousand U.S. dollars in this region. Characteristics of U.S. physicians The vast majority of physicians in the United States are men, although the share of female doctors has been increasing. The average age of physicians in the U.S. is also rising. As of 2022, the figure stood at **** years, compared to **** years in 2010. This is a worrying phenomenon, as more physicians approach retirement age, there are not enough new graduates to fill the need.

According to a 2024 survey, dermatologist saw the largest increase (13.8 percent) in starting salary compared to the previous year among 14 physician specialties. On the other hand, the starting salary for urologists decreased by roughly eight percent to 496,000 U.S. dollars.

Comprehensive salary data for All Physicians physicians, including compensation trends and practice settings.

In 2025, the Midwest area was the U.S. region with the highest annual physician compensation. Physicians earned some 385,000 U.S. dollars on average in this area. Low number of physicians in these states with many rural areas means less competition for doctors, potentially increasing pay.

According to a survey in 2024, the most sought after physician by their specialty were physicians in family medicine, followed by OBGYNs. The average starting salary for primary care physicians stood at 271,000 U.S. dollars, while Gastroenterologists had a starting salary of 531,000 U.S. dollars.

According to surveyed physicians in the U.S. in 2025, neurosurgery was the specialty with the highest annual compensation, averaging over ******* U.S. dollars. Adult surgical and procedural specialties were amongst the top paid specialties, while pediatric and primary care specialties are amongst the lowest paid physician specialties.

Interactive analysis of physician compensation efficiency showing hourly rates vs hours worked across medical specialties

Comprehensive database of physician salaries across all medical specialties and US states, including averages, medians, and compensation ranges.

In 2025, not all medical specialties experienced a pay rise in the U.S. In fact, of those surveyed, physicians in four medical specialties suffered a drop in salary. Dermatologists sustained the largest reduction, a 5 percent decrease in compensation compared to 2024. On the contrary, most other specialties in the survey saw varying increases in pay, with physicians specialized in diabetes and endocrinology at the top with an 7 percent pay rise compared to the previous year.

As of April 2025, there were a total of 570,655 specialty physicians active in the United States. Of these, most were specialized in emergency medicine. Physician compensation Significant pay variations exist across specialties and regions, with orthopedic doctors and surgeons command the highest average annual salaries at 564,000 U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the Midwest region offers the highest average physician compensation at 385,000 U.S. dollars annually. Interestingly, doctors in Northern parts of the United States tend to earn less than their counterparts in other regions. Burnout among physicians Despite high salaries, U.S. physicians face high workload and stress in the workplace. Nearly half of surveyed doctors reported feeling burnout, with higher burnout rates among female doctors, younger physicians, and those in primary care compared to their counterparts. More effort to combat burnout is needed in the healthcare system. Increasing compensation was cited by physicians as the top measure to alleviate burnout, followed by adding support staff and offering more flexible schedules.

This statistic shows the average non-commercial profits of private practice physicians in France in 2016 (in euros). That year, a physician specializing in cancerology earned more than ******* euros on average.

Comprehensive salary and compensation data for infectious-disease physicians in massachusetts. Based on 17 verified salary submissions.

According to surveyed physicians in the U.S. in 2025, pediatric endocrinology was the specialty with the lowest annual compensation, averaging over ******* U.S. dollars. Pediatric and primary care specialties are amongst the lowest paid specialties, while adult surgical and procedural specialties were amongst the top paid physician specialties.

Comprehensive salary and compensation data for general-surgery physicians in california. Based on 21 verified salary submissions.

This is the fourth round of the physician survey component of the Community Tracking Study (CTS). The first round was conducted in 1996-1997 (ICPSR 2597), the second round in 1998-1999 (ICPSR 3267), and the third in 2000-2001 (ICPSR 3820). Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the CTS is a large-scale investigation of changes in the American health care system and their effects on people. As in the previous rounds, physicians were sampled in the 60 CTS sites: 51 metropolitan and 9 nonmetropolitan areas that were randomly selected to form the core of the CTS and to be representative of the nation as a whole. However, the fourth round lacks an independent supplemental national sample of physicians, which augmented the CTS site sample in the previous rounds. Information collected by the survey includes net income from the practice of medicine, year of birth, sex, race, Hispanic origin, year of graduation from medical school, specialty, board certification status, compensation model, patient mix (e.g., race/Hispanic origin of patients and percent with chronic conditions), career satisfaction, practice type, size, and ownership, percent of practice revenue from Medicare, Medicaid, or managed care, acceptance of new Medicaid and Medicare patients and, if applicable, reasons for not accepting them, use of information technology for care management, number of patient visits and hours worked in medically related activities during the last complete week of work, and the number of hours spent providing charity care in the last month. In addition, the survey elicited views on a number of issues such as patient-physician interactions, competition among practices, the influence of financial incentives on the quantity of services provided to patients, trends in the amount and quality of nursing support, one's ability to provide quality care and obtain needed services for patients, and the importance of various factors that may limit the quality of care. Part 3, the Site and County Crosswalk Data File, identifies the counties that constitute each CTS site. Part 4, Physician Survey Summary File, contains site-level estimates and standard errors for selected physician characteristics, e.g., the average age of physicians, the average percentage of patients with a formulary, and the percentage of physicians who said medical errors in hospitals are a minor problem.

Comprehensive salary and compensation data for orthopedic-surgery physicians in california. Based on 15 verified salary submissions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects on physician behavior of decreases in Medicare payment rates for surgical procedures. The study examined the volume of services provided, billed charges, and the selection of diagnostic or therapeutic alternative procedures, or clinically unrelated procedures, for Medicare and privately-insured patients. Also studied were the proportion of physician income derived from Medicare and the profitability of procedures as they related to the volume of services provided. This data collection comprises observations for 21 surgical procedure groups in the specialty areas of general surgery, gastroenterology, orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, urology, gynecological surgery, thoracic surgery, and cardiology, from up to 187 hospitals and for up to 15 quarters. Efforts were made to include high volume and expensive procedures. Excluded were radiology, pathology, or other lab procedures, and procedures that had experienced erratic changes in volume due to changes in technology or changes in national standards. Also included in this collection are hospital characteristics and county-level data pertaining to number of hospital beds, per capita income, licensed practical nurse and registered nurse wages, doctors per 1000 population, and health maintenance organization enrollees per 1000 population.

Persons visiting a doctor in the last 12 months by medical speciality, frequency, most frequent activity status, degree of urbanization and income quantile

This statistic shows the results of a survey regarding U.S. physicians' average annual compensation, as of 2025, by race and ethnicity. According to the survey, white/Caucasian physicians earned an average annual income of ******* U.S. dollars, much higher than ******* U.S. dollars earned on average by African American/Black doctors. The difference in the average incentive bonuses between ethnicity/racial groups were even higher.

Comprehensive salary and compensation data for gastroenterology physicians in oregon. Based on 14 verified salary submissions.