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.

As of September 2024, there were a total of 566,404 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 558,000 U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the West North Central area offers the highest average physician compensation at 404,000 U.S. dollars annually. This region's higher pay likely stems from lower physician density in rural areas, creating less competition. Interestingly, doctors in Northeastern and Southwestern 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.

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.

This statistic shows the total number of doctors of medicine in the United States from 1949 to 2015. In 1949, there were 201,277 doctors of medicine in the United States. Some 50 years later, the number was around four times as high. In 2015, the exact number of doctors of medicine was 1,085,783.

As of 2022, the number of licensed physicians in the United States and the District of Columbia amounted to 1,044,734 physicians. This included both Doctors of Medicine and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine. The number of licensed U.S. physicians has been steadily increasing since 2010.

Forecast: Number of Professionally Active Physicians in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In the United States, there were roughly 268 thousand primary care physicians (PCPs) actively working in 2021. Most PCPs were either specialized in family medicine or internal medicine. The third most common specialty for primary care physicians in the United States was pediatrics.

Forecast: Number of Physicians Employed in Hospitals in the US 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Forecast: Number of Physicians Licensed to Practice in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Forecast: Number of Physicians Employed in Hospitals in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Forecast: Number of Practising Physicians Aged 65-74 in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Forecast: Number of Practising Physicians in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

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.

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.

Forecast: Share of Female Practising Physicians Aged 55-64 in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

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.

Forecast: Number of Male Practising Physicians Aged 35-44 in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Forecast: Number of Female Physicians Aged 45-54 in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

As of May 2024, the states with the highest number of active primary care physicians (PCPs) were California, New York, and Texas. As of that time, of the 527,164 PCPs in the United States, over 11 percent were in the state of California. Physicians by specialty In the United States, the specialties with the highest number of active physicians include psychiatry, surgery, and anesthesiology. The most popular physician specialties in the state of California mirror this national trend. In 2024, California had over 7,890 psychiatrists and 5,620 surgeons. Physician burn-out Although being a physician can be a rewarding and lucrative profession, physicians often feel stressed and burned-out. In 2024, a survey of physicians in the U.S. found that 56 percent of female and 44 percent of male physicians felt burned out. The specialty that was most likely to express feeling burned out was by far emergency medicine.

This table provides a comparison of annual statistics on the Number of Physicians and Average Payments to Physicians by Age Group, based on fee-for-service payments under the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP). This table is an Excel version of a table in the “Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan Statistical Supplement” report published annually by Alberta Health.