| Specialty | Average | Lowest | Highest | |
| | ||||
| Primary Care | ||||
Family Practice | 125,000 | 90,000 | 150,000 | |
| | ||||
| Primary Care Surgical | ||||
| OB-GYN Ophthalmology Otolaryngology | 165,000 | 110,000 | 210,000 | |
| | ||||
| Internal Medicine Specialties | ||||
| Endocrinology Neurology Hematology/Oncology Pulmonary Rheumatology Nephrology Gastroenterology Cardiology | 140,000 | 120,000 | 180,000 | |
| | ||||
| Surgical Specialties | ||||
| General Surgery Cardiovascular Surgery Colon/Rectal Surgery Neuro Surgery Oral & Maxillofacial Orthopedic Surgery Plastic Surgery Urology Vascular Surgery | 150,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | |
| | ||||
| Miscellaneous Specialties | ||||
| Dermatology Psychiatry | 160,000 | 120,000 | 225,000 | |
| | ||||
| Hospital Based | ||||
| Anesthesiology Radiology Emergency Medicine | 130,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | |
| | ||||
| Based on over 753 replies | ||||
| Base salary only, no benefits | ||||
Friday, January 1, 2010
Physician 1st Year Starting Salary
Starting physician salaries
MedicineA slight pain in the bank
Remember those coffee mugs that read, if you're so smart, why ain't you rich? These days, a doctor's income, while nothing to sneeze at, is unlikely to make a software engineer, or even a day trader, jealous. Making matters worse, there remains the widespread perception that doctors are overpaid. "They resent the fact that patients resent what they earn," says physician-placement specialist Richard Glehan, "the idea that a heart surgeon is making $500,000 off of sick people. Whereas nobody questions what Michael Eisner of Disney made when he exercised $72 million in options a couple of years ago." Add the fact that the closer you get to any metropolitan area, the lower the demand and the lower the compensation -- unless you're a top specialist. "Traditionally, the Midwest and the South have the lowest number of doctors per 100,000 people," says Glehan, "and they make more."
It's hard to generalize about doctors' salaries; a Park Avenue plastic surgeon who only accepts cash (and charges what he pleases) is worlds away from the foreign-medical-school graduate practicing as an internist at a hip center in downtown Brooklyn.
Broadly speaking, primary-care doctors make the lowest salaries. A first-year internist makes $115,000 (in Nebraska, that number climbs to $160,000). Pediatricians start at $110,000.
Specialists make more: An OB/GYN starts at around $135,000 (but there's $10,000 to $15,000 more in it for you if you're a woman) and by mid-career is earning $300,000. An ophthalmologist at mid-career, depending on how specialized the work is, can make from $300,000 to $800,000. But the guys who do corrective eye surgery operate outside the managed-care system and easily earn high-six-figure salaries. Anesthesiology is becoming hot, starting at $130,000 and going up to $400,000. Radiologists start at about $140,000 and reach $500,000.
Cardiothoracic surgeons earn a minimum of $200,000; half a million is not a problem for most, and some make more than a million. Noninvasive cardiologists and gastroenterologists earn $300,000 to $400,000.
General surgeons make about $150,000 in their first year and $300,000 at mid-career. Plastic surgeons start at $140,000, and the sky's the limit after that. According to the Greater New York Hospital Association, registered nurses in the metropolitan area average $47,742, although hospital RNs can go higher: At Beth Israel, the starting salary for a nurse right out of school is $51,000. And supervisory nurses who have worked there for years make as much as $70,000 or $80,000. Physical therapists average $45,000, and pharmacists $52,000.
