Plastic surgery is the highest-paying physician specialty, according to Medscape's 2023 Physician Compensation Report.
For the report, Medscape collected responses from 10,011 physicians across more than 29 specialties. The data was collected between Oct. 7, 2022, and Jan. 17, 2023. For employed physicians, the figures include salary, bonus and profit-sharing contributions. For self-employed physicians, the figures include earnings after taxes and deductible business expenses before income tax. Only full-time salaries were included in the results.
Below are the five top-earning specialties, their average annual salaries and their increase over the previous year, according to the report:
1. Plastic surgery: $619,000 (7 percent increase)
2. Orthopedics: $573,000 (3 percent increase)
3. Cardiology: $507,000 (4 percent increase)
4. Urology: $506,000 (10 percent increase)
5. Gastroenterology: $501,000 (11 percent increase