Physician and healthcare CEO pay continues to climb. And for physicians, growing pay disparities, steep proposed Medicare cuts and years of inflation-adjusted declines, are reshaping how much physicians really take home.
Here are 10 breakdowns of both physician and CEO pay to know:
1. CEOs in the U.S. healthcare sector earned an average annual salary of $231,870 in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average hourly wage was $111.48, while the lowest 10% of earners made $77,030 annually. In 2024, the BLS grouped CEOs under the broader category of “Medical and Health Services Managers,” which includes a wider range of leadership roles beyond chief executives.
2. Median base salaries for healthcare executives climbed 4.7%, up slightly from 4.6% the previous year, according to a survey by SullivanCotter. System-level executives saw a 5.2% increase, higher than the 4.7% increase for leaders at subsidiary hospitals.
3. A Rice University Baker Institute study found that inflation-adjusted CEO pay at nonprofit hospitals increased significantly between 2012 and 2019. Average CEO compensation rose 34%, from about $1 million to $1.3 million, with higher pay linked to larger and more profitable hospitals. During that same period, registered nurses’ salaries grew only 2.3%.
4. The pay gap between CEOs and average employees at U.S. nonprofit hospitals widened from 2009 to 2023, according to a Health Affairs study.
- Average CEO pay increased 27.5%.
- Top executive pay rose 23.1%.
- The average wage for all hospital employees, executives included, increased just 9.8%.
- Inflation-adjusted annual CEO pay rose from about $814,000 in 2009 to $1.04 million in 2023.
5. A SullivanCotter found that physician’s median total cash compensation — base salary plus incentives — grew faster than it has in a decade. The sharp increase was driven by clinician shortages and ongoing supply-demand imbalances. Adult medical specialties saw the largest year-over-year gain at 7.5%. Over five years, primary care specialties have led with a 21.8% total increase.
6. According to Physician’s Thrive 2024, physician owners in private practice can earn vastly different salaries based on market factors such as specialty, practice size, and payer mix. Service pricing, and therefore pay, varies significantly by region. Family medicine physicians in Phoenix, Boston and New York earn between $214,000 and $296,000 on average. Overall independent practice compensation ranges from $53,500 to $370,000, with a median income of $272,959.
7. According to the American Medical Association, when adjusted for inflation, Medicare physician payment has effectively declined 33% from 2001 to 2025. Some specialties may face steep reductions. For example, oncology, internal medicine, OB-GYN and infectious disease may stand to see at least 5% cuts or more under certain proposals.
8. According to Doximity’s Physician Compensation Report 2025, the top 20 physician specialties by pay are:
- Neurosurgery: $749,140
- Thoracic surgery: $689,969
- Orthopedic surgery: $679,517
- General pediatric surgery: $647,721
- Plastic surgery: $621,445
- Oral and maxillofacial surgery: $616,748
- Radiation oncology: $588,678
- Cardiology: $587,360
- Vascular surgery: $576,452
- Interventional radiology: $572,617
- Radiology: $571,749
- Urology: $559,474
- Gastroenterology: $573,870
- Otolaryngology: $523,369
- Anesthesia: $523,277
- Dermatology: $508,401
- Oncology: $502,465
- Colon and rectal surgery: $487,085
- General surgery: $482,574
- Ophthalmology: $477,232
9. The following Bureau of Labor Statistics data show average annual and hourly wages for physicians by state, adjusted for cost of living. These figures exclude certain specialties such as anesthesiology, cardiology, dermatology and pediatrics.
| Annual wage | Physician hourly mean wage, adjusted by cost of living | |
| Alabama | $260,290 | $142.20 |
| Alaska | $310,920 | $120.74 |
| Arizona | $234,150 | $100.96 |
| Arkansas | $247,880 | $134.35 |
| California | $215,710 | $71.62 |
| Connecticut | $229,670 | $98.33 |
| Delaware | $223,310 | $106.51 |
| District of Columbia | $151,890 | $51.46 |
| Florida | $283,490 | $132.58 |
| Georgia | $257,890 | $135.79 |
| Hawaii | $304,950 | $78.44 |
| Idaho | $307,280 | $144.83 |
| Illinois | $239,870 | $122.16 |
| Indiana | $302,970 | $160.95 |
| Iowa | $261,930 | $140.39 |
| Kansas | $209,280 | $115.66 |
| Kentucky | $295,360 | $152.69 |
| Louisiana | $312,990 | $163.21 |
| Maine | $344,170 | $147.61 |
| Maryland | $216,910 | $90.45 |
| Massachusetts | $221,670 | $73.04 |
| Michigan | $201,520 | $107.17 |
| Minnesota | $323,830 | $163.71 |
| Mississippi | $302,540 | $165.47 |
| Missouri | $293,740 | $159.21 |
| Nebraska | $278,930 | $144.04 |
| Nevada | $233,400 | $110.77 |
| New Hampshire | $294,860 | $125.90 |
| New Jersey | $233,330 | $97.89 |
| New Mexico | $300,890 | $155.05 |
| New York | $255,300 | $99.55 |
| North Carolina | $243,130 | $119.52 |
| North Dakota | $347,240 | $181.65 |
| Ohio | $260,090 | $132.74 |
| Oklahoma | $217,720 | $122.14 |
| Oregon | $301,990 | $129.63 |
| Pennsylvania | $218,880 | $110.65 |
| Rhode Island | $237,540 | $101.78 |
| South Carolina | $320,620 | $160.73 |
| Tennessee | $294,790 | $156.61 |
| Texas | $255,880 | $132.71 |
| Utah | $251,350 | $115.20 |
| Vermont | $276,600 | $116.24 |
| Virginia | $255,970 | $122.20 |
| Washington | $293,860 | $123.71 |
| West Virginia | $241,220 | $137.90 |
| Wisconsin | $303,630 | $150.49 |
| Wyoming | $373,100 | $187.82 |
10. Here’s a breakdown of physician pay by practice setting, according to the Doximity report:
| Practice setting | Average compensation |
| Single specialty group | $476,807 |
| Multi-specialty group | $461,671 |
| Solo practice | $457,562 |
| Hospital | $439,319 |
| Health system | $438,983 |
| Health maintenance organization | $411,687 |
| Industry | $396,059 |
| Academic | $382,223 |
| Hospital/system — ambulatory | $370,278 |
| Urgent care center/chain | $307,768 |
| Government | $303,385 |
