confused about salaries

[dontknowwhat2do]

Does anyone have any reliable information about starting salaries in psychiatry? Every salary survey I see shows that psychiatrists average around $120k - $130k. But when I was on my psych rotation last fall, some of the residents told me that recent residency graduates had offers in the $170k-180k range. I don't know what to believe!

So for those of you who have asked around about this topic, what kind of numbers have you been hearing? I'm intrested in recent starting salaries as well as what more established psychiatrists are making.

Obviously, I'm not going to choose my specialty based just on salary! But I'm still deciding between a few specialties, and from what I've seen, psych pays by far the least. I just want to be as informed as possible.

Thanks in advance!

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[DD214_DOC]

You anwered your own question. $120-$130 is just an AVERAGE. Obviously, the residents were being offered above-average salaries.

 

[dontknowwhat2do]

I am aware of what the word "average" means, and thus I realize that if $120-130k is in fact the national average, that the residents from my school were being offered "above average" salaries. But I don't exactly go to Johns Hopkins or anything, so it surprises me that the recent graduates from here would be getting offers that are so far above what I've been seeing as the national average.

Thus, I am merely trying to find out if people at other schools are seeing their peers get offers more in the $170-180k range (which would lead me to believe that perhaps psych is on an upswing salary-wise), or if most people are being offered starting salaries in the $120-130k range, and the ones I heard about at my school were just lucky bastards.

 

[ckent]

I have found that people have always reported the highest salary that they have been "offered". I put offered in quotations because I think that a lot of times, it's more encountered like in a a job recruitment ad rather then offered. Even when it is offered, you have to get into the specifics of it. A lot of places will offer high salary, but call is something like q2 (every other day), or you have to move out to doohickey and make partner serving people paying cash (ie serving the rich elite of doohickey) to make that kind of dough. If you were to probe further, I suspect that you would find that the overall offer picture is closer to the average. There's only so much you can make when insurance companies and the government keep cutting reimbursement fees, and there are fewer and fewer people out there willing to pay cash for "quality", even if it is their life they are talking about.

 

[prwunecom]

Go to the American Psychiatric Association website, www.psych.org and click on the Job Bank link. You can search the current job listings that they have for psychiatrists. Many of the jobs don't list a salary but many do. Depending on the part of the country you are looking at and how desperate that area is for psychiatrists you can expect to earn anywhere from the $120-130K average to more like 160-170K.

Good luck.

 

[drchris71]

I'm a M4 going into psych and have found some info around my area of the world, overall it's the lowest average paying specialty and that includes family and peds. In my area in South Carolina most initial salaries run between 120-130K if you can find a full time position. Some start at private practice and need to build clientele before they make any appreciable income. I'm not preaching here, it's just the truth, while there may be some well paid psychiatrists that is not the norm. Your friends landed a good paying job....Anyway, good luck with your decision in the future.
Chris

 

[justkidding]

Hi! I'm a resident in psychiatry out of the States, but I'm interested in going to the States for psychiatry residency. I read from books that the avg. starting salary is $120k to 130K. But from what I read from homepages of psy residency, the salary is $35-40 K per year. So I'm really confused in here. Which one is right?

Thank you.

Justkidding

 

[Thewonderer]

Originally posted by justkidding


Hi! I'm a resident in psychiatry out of the States, but I'm interested in going to the States for psychiatry residency. I read from books that the avg. starting salary is $120k to 130K. But from what I read from homepages of psy residency, the salary is $35-40 K per year. So I'm really confused in here. Which one is right?

Thank you.

Justkidding

Residents are doctors in "training," hence they are paid 35-40K. Once they finish residency (i.e. graduate) and become attendings, then their "starting salary" is 120k to 130k. So 4 years of 35-40k pay as a resident before having your salary jumped to the 100+K range.