Here's why doctors get paid so much | LinkedIn (2024)

FAQs

Why do doctors get paid so much money? ›

This is largely due to high barriers of entry such as an incredibly limited number of spots in medical school and regulations that protect physicians from competition in the form of nurse practitioners and immigrant doctors.

Doctors in the top 10 percent averaged $1.3 million. And those in the top 1 percent averaged an astounding $4 million, though most of that (85 percent) came from business income or capital gains.

Doctors usually earn significantly higher salaries than nurse practitioners due to their extensive training and specialized expertise.

Income is expected to continue to rise across the board for all physicians. As in prior years, plastic surgery ($619,000), orthopedics ($573,000), and cardiology ($507,000) remain the highest-paid specialties. These specialties have consistently topped this list for over 10 years.

In order to qualify as a millionaire, you must have assets worth $1 million or more. The 2021 physician wealth report showed that 56% of physicians reported a net worth of over $1 million. The majority of family physicians become millionaires by the age of 55 — only 11% had a $1 million net worth before 45.

The Essential Guide to Retirement Planning

By the time physicians reach their forties, it is very possible to achieve millionaire status, with some physicians even becoming multimillionaires. This trend continues with doctors in their fifties, with 60% of physicians' worth at least $1 million.

17, 2023. Average physician compensation was $352,000 in 2022, up from $299,000 in 2018. About 59 percent of physicians reported family net worth exceeding $748,800 — the national average for an American family, according to the Federal Reserve. View the full report here.

In a 2021 survey,⁵ half of the nurses reported having considered leaving the profession, citing staffing shortages, feeling underpaid and underappreciated, mental health reasons, and a lack of work-life balance.

Are nurses considered middle class? ›

Middle-Class Jobs

They are paid relatively well compared to lower-class jobs, but fall below the compensation range of the upper 1% wealth class. Roles include registered nurses, accountants, electricians, teachers, recruiters, human resources, police officers, plumber and chef.

Comparisons between physicians and nurses detected a significant difference for job happiness, with nurses scoring higher than physicians (t(106) = 3.60, p < 0.001).

Student Loans. Doctors often graduate with six-figure debt from medical school, which can take decades to pay off. If they do not match or complete their residency or fellowship, they may have difficulty finding a high-paying job that allows them to repay their debt.

Earning 4-5 times the average is a great income. You can have a wonderful financial life on an income of $275,000. You can pay off your debts, live comfortably, never worry about money, become financially independent by mid-career, help others, and even buy a few luxuries along the way.

How Much Do the Highest-Paid Doctors Make? The highest-paid doctors in the US are in surgical and procedural specialties such as neurosurgery, thoracic, and orthopedic surgery. These physicians earn an average annual salary of $600,000 or higher.

A primary care physician's average salary is about $255k. For a specialist, it's over $400k. However, while this is great money, it takes a huge investment of time and a massive opportunity cost to become a practicing physician—nearly a decade of schooling and training and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The ability to follow a patient from admission through the next 30 or 40 hours may be valued more than observing several patients for shorter periods. The desire to continue caring for a patient frequently leads doctors to work for longer than is permitted.

On the contrary, most doctors' main income comes from their fairly stable salaries, not from speaking engagements or research partnerships. However, understanding how the money you pay for medical care turns into a doctor's salary is an interesting process! Let's look at how doctors in America get paid.

UC's Highest Earning Doctors

About 90% of University of California medical professors who earned gross pay of at least $1 million in 2022 were men. Note: UC did not release the identity of one doctor earning at least $1 million.