Physician compensation continued to rise in 2022, with 60 percent reporting a family net worth above the national average, according to Medscape's "Physician Wealth & Debt Report" published June 9.
The report is based on survey responses from 10,011 U.S. physicians in more than 29 specialties collected between Oct. 7, 2022, and Jan. 17, 2023.
Average physician compensation was $352,000 in 2022, up from $299,000 in 2018. About 59 percent of physicians reported family net worth exceeding $748,800 — the national average for an American family, according to the Federal Reserve.
Specialties ranked by the percentage of physicians worth more than $5 million:
Plastic surgery — 31 percent
Orthopedics — 28 percent
Gastroenterology — 25 percent
Urology — 23 percent
Cardiology — 22 percent
Ophthalmology — 18 percent
Radiology — 17 percent
Oncology — 17 percent
Pathology — 14 percent
OB-GYN — 14 percent
Diabetes & endocrinology — 13 percent
Dermatology — 13 percent
Anesthesiology — 13 percent
Critical care — 13 percent
Otolaryngology — 12 percent
General surgery — 12 percent
Pulmonary medicine — 12 percent
Physical medicine and rehabilitation — 12 percent
Rheumatology — 10 percent
Infectious diseases — 10 percent
Emergency medicine — 8 percent
Neurology — 8 percent
Psychiatry — 8
Internal medicine — 7 percent
Allergy and immunology — 7 percent
Nephrology — 6 percent
Public health and preventive medicine — 6 percent
Pediatrics — 5 percent
Family medicine — 5 percent
Specialties ranked by the percentage of physicians worth under $500,000:
Family medicine — 35 percent
Rheumatology — 33 percent
Public health and preventive medicine — 33 percent
Physical medicine and rehabilitation — 32 percent
Neurology — 32 percent
Nephrology — 30 percent
Pediatrics — 30 percent
Internal medicine — 29 percent
OB-GYN — 27 percent
Dermatology — 27 percent
Psychiatry — 27 percent
Critical care — 26 percent
Diabetes and endocrinology — 26 percent
Ophthalmology — 23 percent
General surgery — 23 percent
Infectious diseases — 22 percent
Emergency medicine — 21 percent
Oncology — 20 percent
Urology — 20 percent
Allergy and immunology — 19 percent
Anesthesiology — 19 percent
Pulmonary medicine — 18 percent
Cardiology — 18 percent
Pathology — 17 percent
Radiology — 15 percent
Plastic surgery — 15 percent
Gastroenterology — 14 percent
Otolaryngology — 13 percent
Orthopedics — 13 percent
View the full report here.