What physicians got paid in 2023

Taking a look back at 2023, the recently released Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2024 showed that on average, physician pay rose about 3 percent.

According to the report, physicians earned, on average, $352,000 in 2022 and $363,000 in 2023.

Physicians’ 3 percent increase in pay is slightly lower than the 4 percent average pay increase for nonunionized U.S. employees in 2023; the report stated that a 2 percent Medicare reimbursement cut impacted physician earnings last year.

When Medscape asked physicians whether they felt they were fairly paid, 61 percent of doctors surveyed felt that physician pay is not high enough to justify the stresses of the job and the sacrifices required. However, many felt that when it came to their own salaries, they were being fairly paid for the work being done.

To create the report, Medscape surveyed over 7,000 physicians across 29+ specialties between Oct. 2, 2023, and Jan. 16, 2024.

Below is the average reported physician compensation for 2023 by specialty. Please note that the incomes below come from self-reported survey results. These incomes are also based on full-time employment and include incentive bonuses.

Physicians’ average compensation for 2023 by specialty

Specialty:	Average compensation:
Orthopedics	$558,000
Plastic surgery	$536,000
Cardiology	$525,000
Urology	$515,000
Gastroenterology	$512,000
Radiology	$498,000
Dermatology	$479,000
Anesthesiology	$472,000
Oncology	$464,000
Otolaryngology	$459,000
General surgery	$423,000
Ophthalmology	$409,000
Critical care	$401,000
Pulmonary medicine	$397,000
Emergency medicine	$379,000
Pathology	$366,000
OB-GYN	$352,000
Neurology	$343,000
Nephrology	$341,000
Physical medicine and rehabilitation	$341,000
Psychiatry	$323,000
Allergy and immunology	$307,000
Rheumatology	$286,000
Internal medicine	$282,000
Family medicine	$272,000
Public health/preventive medicine	$263,000
Infectious diseases	$261,000
Pediatrics	$260,000
Diabetes/endocrinology	$256,000

The chart below shows average compensation changes across specialties.

Physicians’ compensation change in 2023 by specialty

Specialty:	Compensation change:
Physical medicine and rehabilitation	+11%
Neurology	+10%
Nephrology | Allergy and immunology	+9%
Dermatology | Pathology | Emergency medicine	+8%
Family medicine | Ophthalmology	+6%
Anesthesiology | Public health and preventive medicine | Pulmonary medicine | Psychiatry	+5%
OB/GYN | Pediatrics	+4%
Cardiology | Radiology | Internal medicine | General surgery	+3%
Gastroenterology | Urology | Rheumatology	+2%
Oncology	<1%
Infectious diseases | Critical care	-1%
Orthopedics	-3%
Diabetes and endocrinology	-4%
Otolaryngology	-5%
Plastic surgery	-13%

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