Orthopedic surgeons have the highest average starting salary among all specialties, starting at $686,000 per year, according to a new report from AMN Healthcare.
Other specialties with the highest average starting salary included gastroenterologists ($531,000), urologists ($496,000), radiologists ($495,000), and dermatologists ($486,000), while pediatricians ($244,000) and family medicine and internal medicine physicians ($271,000 each) had the lowest.
“Current physician payment models favor specialists,” Leah Grant, president of AMN Healthcare Physician Solution, said in a press release. “They perform the high revenue generating procedures on which many hospitals and medical groups depend.”
Average starting salaries increased year-over-year in 13 of the 20 tracked specialties, according to the report. Family medicine physicians actually saw a 6.27% increase from the previous year’s $255,000 starting salary, which was likely due to ongoing high demand for that specialty. It was the most requested hiring search among hospitals and medical groups for the 18th year in a row, according to the report.
Starting salaries for ob/gyns averaged $389,000, up 6% year-over-year and 22% from 5 years ago; this was also one of the most “in demand” specialties, according to the report.
The increased demand could be related to the relative lack of ob/gyns around the country, as half of all U.S. counties do not have one, according to the report. In addition, “more than 2.2 million women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts with no hospitals offering obstetric care, obstetric providers, or birthing centers.”
APPs such as nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), also enjoyed strong salary growth. NPs experienced an 8.61% year-over-year increase in average starting salary ($164,000), representing a 32% increase from 5 years ago. Meanwhile, CRNA average starting salaries were up more than 30% year-over-year ($279,000), according to the report.
“NPs are in rapidly growing demand as physician shortages persist,” Grant said in the press release. “Without them, access to healthcare would be even more problematic, particularly in rural and other underserved areas.”
Physicians and APPs also received other financial incentives, such as signing bonuses, relocation allowances, and continuing medical education (CME) allowances. Physicians had an average signing bonus of $31,473, while NPs had an average signing bonus of $11,037, according to the report.
The average relocation allowance was $11,284 for physicians and $7,910 for NPs and PAs, the report showed, and the average CME allowance was $3,969 for physicians and $2,195 for NPs and PAs.
The report is based on internal hiring data from a representative sample of 2,138 physicians and APPs from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.
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