Where a physician lives has a huge influence on how much he or she will earn — and physicians with larger salaries aren't typically found in well-populated areas.
Higher physician incomes are typically found in poorer regions and in states with fewer physicians due to government policies that attempt to improve patient access to physicians in rural areas, according to Medscape's 2015 Physician Compensation Report.
Given the compensation-driving policies, the 10 top-earning states for physicians are as follows, listed with the average annual income of physicians overall there:
- North Dakota — $330,000
- Alaska — $330,000
- Wyoming — $312,000
- Wisconsin — $309,000
- Oklahoma — $304,000
- New Hampshire — $300,000
- Minnesota — $288,000
- West Virginia — $287,000
- Washington — $286,000
- Indiana — $286,000
The Medscape report includes responses from more than 19,500 physicians across 26 specialties.
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