Average base salaries offered to physicians tracked in the "2022 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives" released by AMN Healthcare's physician recruiting division Merritt Hawkins were lowest among pediatricians and highest among orthopedic surgeons.
The review is based on a representative sample of 2,695 permanent physician and advanced practitioner search engagements that were ongoing or conducted by Merritt Hawkins/AMN Healthcare's physician staffing companies from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022.
Those searches were primarily conducted for hospitals (34 percent), group practices (18 percent) and academic settings (34 percent). The searches also occurred for urgent care, federally qualified health centers, the Indian Health Service and concierge medicine.
The following figures are base salaries offered for 18 physician specialties during the 2022 review period, in descending order.
Orthopedic surgery: $565,000
Cardiology (interventional): $527,000
Urology: $510,000
Gastroenterology: $486,000
Cardiology (noninvasive): $484,000
Radiology: $455,000
Pulmonology/critical care: $412,000
Hematology/oncology: $404,000
Anesthesiology: $400,000
Oral maxillofacial surgery: $368,000
Dermatology: $368,000
Neurology: $356,000
OB-GYN: $332,000
Psychiatry: $299,000
Rheumatology: $258,000
Internal medicine: $255,000
Family medicine: $251,000
Pediatrics: $232,000