Medscape's 2022 Physician Compensation Report: Physician Salary Rebound, but Gender and Racial Gaps Persist
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After stagnating during the height of the pandemic, physician salaries rebounded 7% toward the end of 2021, with increases seen in primary care and all other specialties, according to the results of the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2022: Incomes Gain, Pay Gaps Remain, released today.
As medical practices reopened and patient volume returned to pre-pandemic levels, salaries also increased to an overall average of $339,000 (up from $299,999 in 2020), a jump of more than 29% since 2015. The highest-paid physicians were plastic surgeons ($576,000), orthopedists ($557,000), and cardiologists ($490,000), while primary care physicians, pediatricians, and public health and preventive medicine specialists reported the lowest compensation, at $255,000, $244,000 and $243,000, respectively.
But pay gaps along gender and racial/ethnic lines persisted across every specialty, remaining largely unchanged since 2017. In this year's report, male physicians in primary care earned 23% more than female physicians, and male specialists earned 31% more than female specialists. The specialty pay gap narrowed slightly from 37% in 2017, which may reflect efforts by professional specialty organizations to address gender recruitment and pay inequities. Caucasian/White physicians overall earned more than Latinx/Hispanic, Asian American physicians and African American/Black physicians.
