What physicians actually take home
Every other figure on this site measures employed pay: government wage surveys exclude practice owners, and visa filings are employed positions by definition. This page uses the Medscape survey, which asks physicians directly and counts salary, bonus and profit sharing — owners included. It runs higher, and the difference is the point.
How much the employed figures miss
Medscape's average against the government median for the same specialty and year. A larger gap means more of the income in that specialty sits with owners and partners rather than in a salary.
Total compensation as a multiple of employed median
| Specialty | Employed median | Total average | Difference | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orthopedic Surgery | $359,000 | $611,000 | +70% | 2025 |
| Ophthalmology | $300,000 | $446,000 | +49% | 2025 |
| Anesthesiology | $391,000 | $543,000 | +39% | 2025 |
| Neurology | $249,000 | $341,000 | +37% | 2025 |
| Dermatology | $329,000 | $448,000 | +36% | 2025 |
| Radiology | $421,000 | $571,000 | +36% | 2025 |
| Obstetrics & Gynecology | $293,000 | $390,000 | +33% | 2025 |
| Pediatrics | $210,000 | $266,000 | +27% | 2025 |
| Pathology | $312,000 | $394,000 | +26% | 2025 |
| Emergency Medicine | $336,000 | $421,000 | +25% | 2025 |
| Internal Medicine | $257,000 | $307,000 | +20% | 2025 |
| Family Medicine | $244,000 | $288,000 | +18% | 2025 |
| Psychiatry | $282,000 | $331,000 | +17% | 2025 |
| Cardiology | $496,000 | $575,000 | +16% | 2025 |
| Surgery (general and other) | $559,000 | $554,000 | -1% | 2025 |
Where the employed median is marked "cap", the government survey stopped publishing above its ceiling, so the true difference is smaller than shown.
Average total compensation, 2025
Self-reported, including practice owners. Covers specialties the wage surveys do not separate.
| # | Specialty | Average | History |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orthopedic Surgery | $611,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 2 | Cardiology | $575,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 3 | Radiology | $571,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 4 | Surgery (general and other) | $554,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 5 | Anesthesiology | $543,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 6 | Gastroenterology | $530,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 7 | Oncology & Hematology | $464,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 8 | Dermatology | $448,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 9 | Ophthalmology | $446,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 10 | Critical Care | $427,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 11 | Emergency Medicine | $421,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 12 | Pulmonary Medicine | $395,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 13 | Pathology | $394,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 14 | Obstetrics & Gynecology | $390,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 15 | Nephrology | $359,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 16 | Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation | $359,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 17 | Neurology | $341,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 18 | Psychiatry | $331,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 19 | Allergy & Immunology | $310,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 20 | Internal Medicine | $307,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 21 | Family Medicine | $288,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 22 | Diabetes & Endocrinology | $284,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 23 | Rheumatology | $284,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 24 | Infectious Diseases | $282,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 25 | Public Health & Preventive Medicine | $277,000 | 2011–2025 |
| 26 | Pediatrics | $266,000 | 2011–2025 |
What this survey is
Medscape asks physicians directly each year and reports the average of what they say they earned — salary, bonus and profit sharing — with practice owners included. It is the most-cited compensation reference among physicians and the only source here that captures owner income at all.
It is a survey, so it carries survey limits: a few hundred respondents per specialty, self-reported figures, and an average rather than a median, which a handful of very high earners can pull upward. Year-to-year moves in the smaller specialties should be read with that in mind — plastic surgery fell 13% in one year and rose again the next, which is more likely sampling than the market.
Reports are named for the year they were published; the figures describe the year before. Years on this site are compensation years, so the report published in 2026 appears here as 2025.
Transcribed from the published charts, 2011–2025.