Overall physician compensation increased

For the report, Medscape surveyed over 7,000 physicians across more than 29 specialties between Oct. 3, 2024, and Jan. 15, 2025. Among the respondents, 60% were men, and 38% were women. The most highly represented specialties were family medicine (10%) and internal medicine (9%).

Overall, physician compensation increased by around 3.6% in 2024, which was similar to the pay increases from the last few years, but below pay increases before the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary care physicians and specialists saw much lower increases at roughly 1.4% and 1%, respectively. 

Across the different specialties, those in orthopedics, radiology, plastic surgery, and cardiology received the highest compensation, averaging over $500,000 a year. In comparison, the lowest paid specialties were public health and preventive medicine, pediatrics, and family medicine.

At the same time, some of the highest paid specialties, including orthopedic specialists, plastic surgeons, and cardiologists, reported decreases in pay in 2024. The specialties that saw the largest decreases in pay were dermatology, neurology, and urology.

Gender and racial/ethnic pay gaps

According to Medscape, the gender pay gap among physicians has increased over the last three years. In 2024, the average pay gap between men and women was more than $98,000 (unrounded). 

There were also racial/ethnic gaps in physician pay. The average compensation for white physicians grew faster than compensation for Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, and Black physicians. White physicians also had higher average incentive bonuses than physicians of color.

How physicians feel about their pay

When asked if they feel fairly compensated for their work as doctors, 47% of respondents said yes, the lowest percentage in 10 years and a significant decrease from the record 59% who said the same in 2021.

"It all comes back to the bureaucracy of the work," Adam said. "Recently, I've heard a lot of doctors say they're looking to get out of direct patient care and maybe work with pharmaceutical companies on drug development, or get into clinical research, or potentially shift into more of a telehealth role."

Similarly, 62% of respondents said that doctors as a whole are underpaid. Some factors influencing this belief were growing bureaucratic burdens, decreasing reimbursement rates, and pressures from RVU-based compensation models.

"When physicians are evaluating their own compensation, it's a very personal assessment," said Tara Osseck, regional VP of recruiting for Jackson Physician Search. "But then when they zoom out and consider the profession as a whole, I think some of the broader systemic factors come into play that can lead to a stronger perception of underpayment."