Here are 10 things to know about physician compensation:
1. Female physicians reported $300,000 in average annual earnings, compared to $386,000 by their male counterparts, according to Medscape's "Female Physician Compensation Report 2023."
2. Hospitalist-internal medicine saw a 14% jump in median pay from 2022 to 2023, the biggest of any specialty, according to Sullivan Cotter's 2022-23 "Physician Compensation and Productivity Report."
3. Thirty-one percent of employed physicians' compensation is structured by salary only, according to Medscape's "Employed Physicians Report 2023."
4. Urologist pay grew by $133,000 from 2018 to 2023, making it the specialty with the most compensation growth, whereas pay for emergency medicine specialists — the specialty with the smallest growth — increased by $2,000, according to data from Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report" for 2023 and 2018.
5. The average sign-on bonus for physicians in 2022-23 was $37,473, according to AMN Healthcare's "2023 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives" report.
6. Physicians and surgeons were named the highest-paying healthcare job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment statistics survey.
7. The average physician compensation in the U.S. is $352,000, according to Medscape's 2023 "International Physician Compensation Report."
8. Female physicians earn 30% less than men, according to research from the University of Chicago.
9. Physicians' incomes tend to be highest in parts of the Great Plains, rather than on the coasts, according to research from the University of Chicago.
10. Plastic surgery was the highest compensated specialty of 2023, according to data from Medscape's 2023 compensation reports.