Plastic surgeons, medicine's highest-earning specialists, earned an average of $619,000, whereas the lowest-paid specialty earned $249,000, according to Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report" for 2023.
Medscape surveyed 10,011 physicians across more than 29 specialties about their income, work hours, job satisfaction and more from Oct. 7, 2022, to Jan. 17, 2023. The full methodology can be found here.
The average income of primary care physicians in 2023 was $265,000. Specialists earned an average of $382,000. Public health and preventive medicine physicians, found to be the lowest-paid specialists, earned an average of $249,000.
Here were the 10 highest-paid specialties in 2023:
1. Plastic surgery: $619,000
2. Orthopedics: $573,000
3. Cardiology: $507,000
4. Urology: $506,000
5. Gastroenterology: $501,000
6. Otolaryngology: $485,000
7. Radiology: $483,000
8. Oncology: $463,000
9. Anesthesiology: $448,000
10. Dermatology: $443,000