Differences in physician salaries across the country?

[Ahmed786]

I was just wondering if you guys know how much salaries vary around the country depending on where you are practicing, it seems from what I've heard that doctors for the most part seem to make more in very very rural areas and make much less in cities. Does anyone know the extent of how much this is? Say you are an Internal medicine doctor making $200,000 in a smaller city like Detroit or Cleveland, it seems that salary wouldn't carry the same weight in a place like NYC or San Francisco and that you salary isn't adjusted at all for the much higher standard of living (according to this article $100,000 around the country is equal to ~$225,000 in NYC and $165,000 San Fran) http://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-makes-big-incomes-smaller-070038493.html

So is it true then that as a doctor in a big city you won't be able to live the 'good life' that you would be able to elsewhere and would be a very average profession in terms of salary?

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[Shnurek]

yes

 

[Raryn]

I was just wondering if you guys know how much salaries vary around the country depending on where you are practicing, it seems from what I've heard that doctors for the most part seem to make more in very very rural areas and make much less in cities. Does anyone know the extent of how much this is? Say you are an Internal medicine doctor making $200,000 in a smaller city like Detroit or Cleveland, it seems that salary wouldn't carry the same weight in a place like NYC or San Francisco and that you salary isn't adjusted at all for the much higher standard of living (according to this article $100,000 around the country is equal to ~$225,000 in NYC and $165,000 San Fran) http://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-makes-big-incomes-smaller-070038493.html

So is it true then that as a doctor in a big city you won't be able to live the 'good life' that you would be able to elsewhere and would be a very average profession in terms of salary?

It's worse than that. You'll frequently earn 30-50% more in a city like Milwaukee than you would in a city like Chicago (or New York). So not only is the cost of living much higher in a place like NYC, but your salary itself is lower.

 

[MKA55]

Look at the MGMA reports. They have a section that breaks physician compensation down by region of country. However, they do NOT break it down by city, so certain cities within those regions may obviously not obey the overall trends.

"Primary care physicians in HHS Region 9 — which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii — received the highest compensation, at $226,717. Respondents reported the lowest compensation ($178,337) for primary care physicians in HHS Region 3, which includes Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Specialty care physicians in HHS Region 7, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, reported the highest compensation ($396,329). Specialty care physicians located in HHS Regions 1 and 2 receive the lowest compensation levels ($260,789 and $260,200, respectively). HHS Region 1 includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, and Region 2 includes New York and New Jersey"

-Quoted from 2010 MGMA Report