Most accurate salary info

If you're interested in physician salaries I think you should look at physician-specific surveys. I think MedScape does one, medical economics etc. A really good one is done each year in my specialty.

Yep, ActiveDutyMD is right; Medscape made a really good survey this past year.

I use a collection of sites and list the stats on my blog, MD Salaries.

ActiveDutyMD said:

If you're interested in physician salaries I think you should look at physician-specific surveys. I think MedScape does one, medical economics etc. A really good one is done each year in my specialty.

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ps - i like the concept of your blog, The White Coat Investor! it looks very useful. i will have to read it when i get home from work tonight.

thuc said:

I use a collection of sites and list the stats on my blog, MD Salaries.

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The problem with stats of average salary is that none are well representative. Just looking at psychiatry (my field), you are way off.

The average starting salary in academics is about $145,000. This is usually for a pretty relaxing gig supervising residents and having "administrative time".

State gigs in Texas average about $185,000 with no call, no holidays, and vacation time.

The average starting salary in private practice is about $215,000 (your 75%ile). Many of our residents start higher than this while only working 45 hours/week with little call.

If you are willing to take call, work longer than 45 hours/week, run a clinic, have PA's, be fellowship trained, or any number of other opportunities, you can blow well past $350k/year.

It is hard to explain "average salaries" when the original poster doesn't explain what venue he/she wants to work in, how many hours, etc. Not to mention that busier, more successful physicians do not participate in salary surveys because they are busy making $$$$$$.

Asking about an "average salary" in any given field is about as easy to accurately answer as the question - "How many F-150 trucks will I see today". You don't know if I'm watching a Harry Potter marathon in California or going on a roadtrip in Texas, so how will you accurately assess how many F-150 trucks I will see without giving you details?

TexasPhysician said:

The problem with stats of average salary is that none are well representative. Just looking at psychiatry (my field), you are way off.

The average starting salary in academics is about $145,000. This is usually for a pretty relaxing gig supervising residents and having "administrative time".

State gigs in Texas average about $185,000 with no call, no holidays, and vacation time.

The average starting salary in private practice is about $215,000 (your 75%ile). Many of our residents start higher than this while only working 45 hours/week with little call.

If you are willing to take call, work longer than 45 hours/week, run a clinic, have PA's, be fellowship trained, or any number of other opportunities, you can blow well past $350k/year.

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Hi TexasPhysician,

I definitely agree with you that stats are not well represented. It's only as good as the physicians that write back on their surveys. Plus, the stats are often reported as medians not as averages so there may be some confusion about what that means to a querent. In addition, salary is variable by practice style, geography, etc as you mentioned.

That is good feedback for me and I will update my website to make it more clear to users about the varying factors in determining salaries. I'll also link to your post because it contains good info for readers interested in psychiatry. The more numbers out there, the better it is to get an idea of what's possible.

Thanks,
Thuc

thuc said:

Hi TexasPhysician,

I definitely agree with you that stats are not well represented. It's only as good as the physicians that write back on their surveys. Plus, the stats are often reported as medians not as averages so there may be some confusion about what that means to a querent. In addition, salary is variable by practice style, geography, etc as you mentioned.

That is good feedback for me and I will update my website to make it more clear to users about the varying factors in determining salaries. I'll also link to your post because it contains good info for readers interested in psychiatry. The more numbers out there, the better it is to get an idea of what's possible.

Thanks,
Thuc

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Starting salaries also don't take into account the fact that after year one (usually) the contract includes (in private practice and in academics, typcially) participation in a qualified retirement profit sharing plan (401k or 403b) and these permit employer contributions up to around 50k per year now, so that should skew your numbers substantially, if its not part of your salary, but you are paid it in retirement contributions which can't be touched by creditors and which travel with you from job to job. Other benefits should also be considered as part of compensation,but this is probably the big one, other than health insurance. Sometimes there is substantial life insurance as well, which can be employee owned, portable and valuable. Big difference between practices that have these benefits and those who don't. For example, the Marschfield Clinic in WI is famous for these "golden handcuffs" , benefits too good to leave, even though salaries arent' that high...

touchadream said:

Starting salaries also don't take into account the fact that after year one (usually) the contract includes (in private practice and in academics, typcially) participation in a qualified retirement profit sharing plan (401k or 403b) and these permit employer contributions up to around 50k per year now, so that should skew your numbers substantially, if its not part of your salary, but you are paid it in retirement contributions which can't be touched by creditors and which travel with you from job to job. Other benefits should also be considered as part of compensation,but this is probably the big one, other than health insurance. Sometimes there is substantial life insurance as well, which can be employee owned, portable and valuable. Big difference between practices that have these benefits and those who don't. For example, the Marschfield Clinic in WI is famous for these "golden handcuffs" , benefits too good to leave, even though salaries arent' that high...

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It'd be nice to see physician income as opposed to salary for the reasons you mentioned.