Public health and preventive medicine physicians, medicine's lowest-paid specialists, earned nearly 60 percent less than plastic surgeons, the highest-paid specialists, according to Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report" for 2023.
Plastic surgeons earned an average of $619,000, whereas public health and preventive medicine specialists earned $249,000.
Medscape surveyed 10,011 physicians across more than 29 specialties about their income, work hours, job satisfaction and more from Oct. 7, 2022, to Jan. 17, 2023. The full methodology can be found here.
The average income of primary care physicians in 2023 was $265,000. Specialists earned average of $382,000,
Here were the 10 lowest-paid specialties in 2023:
- Public health and preventive medicine: $249,000
- Pediatrics: $251,000
- Family medicine: $255,000
- Infectious diseases: $262,000
- Diabetes and endocrinology: $267,000
- Internal medicine: $273,000
- Rheumatology: $281,000
- Allergy and immunology: $282,000
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation: $306,000
- Psychiatry: $309,000