Physician Salary by Specialty in 2026: The Complete Compensation Guide

Physician Salary by Specialty in 2026

Physician compensation in 2026 spans a wider range than any other healthcare profession — from family medicine physicians earning $235,000–$270,000 to interventional cardiology subspecialists exceeding $700,000. Understanding what drives these gaps, how compensation is structured, and what benchmarks look like across specialties is critical for any physician evaluating a career change, negotiating a contract, or planning a relocation.

All figures below represent total cash compensation (base + wRVU productivity + bonuses) for employed physicians. Private practice and ownership paths have wider ranges.

Physician Salary by Specialty: Comprehensive Table

Specialty	Avg Annual Compensation	Range (10th–90th pct)
Neurosurgery	$780,000–$870,000	$520K–$1.2M+
Orthopedic Surgery	$695,000–$780,000	$480K–$1.05M
Interventional Cardiology	$695,000–$775,000	$480K–$1.0M
Cardiovascular Surgery (CT Surgery)	$680,000–$760,000	$465K–$980K
Radiation Oncology	$545,000–$625,000	$380K–$820K
Gastroenterology	$530,000–$610,000	$360K–$790K
Dermatology	$455,000–$535,000	$305K–$720K
Ophthalmology	$430,000–$510,000	$285K–$695K
Anesthesiology (MD)	$430,000–$510,000	$315K–$680K
Radiology (Diagnostic)	$425,000–$500,000	$295K–$660K
Urology	$420,000–$498,000	$290K–$648K
ENT (Otolaryngology)	$398,000–$470,000	$272K–$612K
Plastic Surgery	$395,000–$475,000	$268K–$680K
General Surgery	$375,000–$450,000	$262K–$595K
Oncology (Medical)	$365,000–$440,000	$252K–$578K
Ob/Gyn	$320,000–$390,000	$228K–$510K
Pulmonology / Critical Care	$320,000–$388,000	$225K–$498K
Nephrology	$310,000–$378,000	$220K–$488K
Infectious Disease	$262,000–$318,000	$195K–$402K
Rheumatology	$268,000–$325,000	$200K–$415K
Hospitalist (Hospital Medicine)	$278,000–$325,000	$238K–$420K
Internal Medicine (outpatient)	$248,000–$290,000	$215K–$368K
Pediatrics	$232,000–$275,000	$198K–$352K
Psychiatry	$275,000–$330,000	$215K–$438K
Family Medicine (outpatient)	$235,000–$278,000	$208K–$358K

What Drives the Specialty Salary Gap?

The difference between a family medicine physician at $250,000 and a neurosurgeon at $820,000 comes down to several factors:

wRVU value per service: Medicare and commercial payers assign work RVUs to physician services. Neurosurgical procedures carry very high wRVU values (a complex spine surgery may generate 30–60 wRVUs); an office visit generates 1.5–3.5 wRVUs. Proceduralists are structurally rewarded by the fee-for-service model.

Training length and opportunity cost: Neurosurgery requires 7+ years of residency + fellowship; family medicine requires 3 years. The additional training years represent delayed income and career investment that competitive compensation partially offsets.

Supply and demand: Procedural specialties have fewer training slots per year, keeping supply constrained. Primary care has more graduates but still faces undersupply in many markets.

Geographic distribution: Primary care physicians can practice in any market; subspecialists typically concentrate in metro areas near academic centers, creating geographic pay variation.

Compensation Structure: What to Understand Before You Sign

Physician employment contracts have several compensation components beyond base salary:

• Base salary: Guaranteed annual amount, often set at MGMA 50th–60th percentile for the specialty
• wRVU productivity bonus: Additional pay for production above a threshold; rate is $/wRVU above floor (often MGMA 50th–55th percentile production)
• Quality/value-based incentives: 5–20% of base salary contingent on patient satisfaction, readmission rates, preventive care metrics, or cost efficiency targets
• Sign-on bonus: Common for sought-after specialists; $25,000–$100,000+ depending on specialty and market
• Loan repayment: Many hospital employment contracts offer $10,000–$50,000/year in loan repayment for primary care and high-need specialties

Physician Salaries in Florida

Florida physician compensation runs close to national averages in most specialties, with the no-state-income-tax advantage representing a meaningful effective pay increase at all income levels. On a $280,000 FM physician salary, no state income tax saves $14,000 annually vs. a 5% state income tax; on a $500,000 specialist salary, the savings reach $25,000–$37,500 annually. Health systems throughout Florida — particularly in high-growth markets like Southwest Florida, Tampa Bay, and Central Florida — are actively recruiting across primary care and specialty physician roles with competitive packages that leverage the Florida tax advantage as a differentiator.