Neurosurgery leads all physician specialties with a median base salary of $790,000 in 2026, according to an Oct. 9 American Medical Association article on contract data from Resolve, a physician contract review and negotiation firm.
Resolve’s 2026 physician salary and employment report is based on more than 4,000 physician contracts reviewed across all 50 states and 116 specialties and subspecialties.
Here are the 10 specialties with the highest median base salaries:
- Neurosurgery: $790,000
- Cardiovascular surgery: $750,000
- Cardiothoracic surgery: $720,000
- Orthopedic surgery, trauma: $700,000
- Orthopedic surgery, general: $650,000
- Dermatology, Mohs surgery: $641,000
- Pediatric neurosurgery: $575,000
- Cardiology, invasive-interventional: $568,000
- Orthopedic surgery, hand: $563,000
- Orthopedic surgery, hip and joint: $562,000
The national average base salary across all contracts reached $387,000, though growth slowed from prior years. Resolve found that negotiating leverage “has shifted from headline salary to contract design, productivity thresholds.”
Employment dominated the data set. More than 98% of contracts covered employed positions, and 95% were full-time, up 2 percentage points.
Men’s median base salary came in at $400,000, compared with $320,000 for women. Dermatology had the widest gender gap: men’s median pay there was $50,000 higher. Among hospitalists, the gap ran the other way, with women’s median pay $16,000 higher than men’s.
Surgical specialties took nine of the 10 highest-paying spots, and orthopedic subspecialties accounted for four of them.
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