Calculate physician salary by specialty. Compare GP vs surgeon earnings, understand the student debt reality, true hourly rates when accounting for actual hours worked, and burnout economics.
Medscape Physician Compensation Report averages
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Open Salary ConverterPhysicians are among the highest-paid professionals in the United States, but the full economic picture of a medical career is far more nuanced than a single salary figure suggests. The path to becoming an attending physician takes 11–17 years of post-high-school education and training, involves taking on $200,000+ in student debt for most graduates, and requires grueling residency hours before the high-paying attending years finally begin. Understanding physician compensation in full context is essential for anyone considering medicine or evaluating their own career economics.
Physician salaries vary enormously by specialty. At the top, neurosurgeons average $600,000–$800,000/year, orthopedic surgeons $500,000–$700,000, and plastic surgeons $400,000–$600,000. Cardiologists, gastroenterologists, urologists, and radiologists typically earn $350,000–$500,000. These high-earning specialties require the longest training — often 6–8 years of residency and fellowship after medical school.
On the lower end of the physician pay spectrum, primary care specialties — family medicine, general internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry — typically earn $200,000–$280,000. These specialties require only 3 years of residency and are associated with lower burnout rates and better work-life balance in many practice settings. The persistent shortage of primary care physicians in the US is partly attributed to the pay gap versus procedural specialties.
The average medical school graduate carries approximately $200,000 in student loan debt; for private medical schools, $250,000–$300,000 is common. This debt accrues interest throughout the 3–7 years of residency (and fellowship), during which doctors earn $55,000–$80,000/year — barely above minimum sustainable income in high-cost cities. By the time a specialist completes training and begins their attending career at age 33–38, their loan balance may have grown to $250,000–$350,000 if only making minimum income-based payments.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program offers a significant financial benefit for physicians who work for nonprofit or government healthcare systems (the majority of teaching hospitals qualify). After 10 years of payments while working for a qualifying employer, remaining federal loan balances are forgiven tax-free. For a physician with $250,000 in loans who works at an academic medical center, PSLF can be worth $200,000+ in actual debt forgiveness.
Physicians work substantially more than 40 hours per week. Primary care physicians typically work 50–55 hours/week; surgeons and certain hospitalists often work 60–80 hours/week, including overnight and weekend call. When actual hours are accounted for, the hourly rate looks quite different from the headline annual figure.
A family medicine physician earning $220,000/year working 55 hours/week for 48 weeks earns approximately $83/hour. A surgeon earning $500,000 working 70 hours/week for 48 weeks earns approximately $149/hour — high, certainly, but not extraordinary relative to the training required, the liability exposure, and the physical and emotional demands of surgical work.
Burnout among physicians is at crisis levels — multiple surveys find that 40–60% of physicians report symptoms of burnout, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment. The financial implications are significant: burned-out physicians retire earlier, take more time off, make more medical errors, and are more likely to leave clinical medicine for non-clinical roles (medical consulting, pharma, tech) at substantial pay reductions. Administrative burden — prior authorizations, documentation requirements, electronic health record overhead — is consistently cited as the primary driver of physician burnout.
The average physician salary is approximately $208,000/year. GPs average $220,000; surgical specialists average $290,000+; neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons can exceed $500,000.
Neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, and plastic surgeons consistently earn the most, averaging $500,000–$800,000/year. Dermatologists and radiologists also earn very well relative to hours worked.
4 years undergrad + 4 years medical school + 3–7 years residency = most doctors start earning attending salaries at age 30–35, carrying $200,000+ in student debt.
The average physician earning $208,000 working 50 hours/week for 48 weeks earns ~$86.67/hour. Surgeons at $400,000+ working similar or longer hours earn $150–$200/hour, though this excludes the delayed start due to training.