2020 Physician Salary Data: The 91st Medical Economics Physician Report
Physicians break down how much they earn across a variety of criteria, including practice ownership, gender, age, community type, and more.
Physicians across a range of specialties responded to the 91st annual Medical Economics Physician Report survey about how much they earn.
The report breaks down earnings across a wide variety of criteria, including practice ownership, gender, age, geogrpahic region, community type, and more. This short slide show offers an in-depth look at salary data.
Financial state of my medical practice, 1 year ago. In all, 23% of respondents say their practice did better financially in 2019 compared with a year prior. A further 55% say their practice is doing about the same as the year before. These figures saw a modest rise from 2018. Only 22% of respondents say their practice is doing worse than the prior year. The respondents chalk their improved performance to seeing more patients (52%), pay-for-performance incentives (29%) and changes in their practice models (26%).
Financial state of my medical practice vs 5 years ago. Compared with 5 years ago, 34% of respondents say they are doing better financially, and 38% say they are doing about the same.
Why my finances improved or worsened in 2019. The respondents chalk their improved performance to seeing more patients (52%), pay-for-performance incentives (29%) and changes in their practice models (26%).
Those who say their practices are worse off than a year ago cite as reasons more time spent on uncompensated tasks (67%), lower reimbursements from commercial payers (66%) and higher overhead (60%).
Average income by primary care speciality. Incomes also vary depending on specialty. The top specialty is cardiology, with an average income of $381,000, followed by urology, with an average income of $358,000. Internal medicine physicians bring in an average of $243,000, and family medicine practitioners earn $241,000 on average.
Average income by gender. Within these figures, the gender pay gap is still prevalent, with male physicians making an average of $300,000 and female physicians earning an average of $226,000. Although these sums are about $6,000 lower than in 2018, the disparity remains the same at $74,000.
Average income by community.
Average income by geographic region. Physicians’ pay also seems to be tied to geographic region. Physicians in the Midwest are the only ones who saw an increase in income ($2,000) between 2018 and 2019, while the Northeastern, Southern and Western parts of the country saw decreases in income.
Average income by practice ownership. The estimated 2019 total income for the typical physician respondent was $273,000. For those with an ownership stake in the practice, that number jumped to $289,000, while those without an ownership stake averaged about $258,000.
Average income by practice type/employer.
Average income by practice size.
