In my opinion, some of the good places for a new podiatrists have included the South, Midwest, and Southwest US. In areas where there is a podiatry school, it is usually saturated with Podiatrists. Hence, it would be more difficult to set up your own practice due to the sheer amount of podiatrists in those areas. Many of the residents usually stay in the same area where they did their residency training because they usually hear of the job opportunities through their attendings, drug reps, or by word of mouth. In addition, many of the residents have family and are usually well adjusted in the area that they did their residency training at. There is an increasing trend of PM&S-36 / PSR-24+ trained podiatrists joining orthopedic surgery groups. However, not all orthopedic surgery group deals are necessary good. Most of my friends and classmates have choosen to join a group practice (podiatry or orthopedic or multispecialty) or join an exisiting solo podiatric practictioner. Very few have started their own practice. Right now, I have a few offers with several group practices. As for compensation for starting podiatrists, there are several publications of various starting salaries. However, you need to consider the regional medical economics when evaluating salaries. For example, in Philadelphia area, Medicare is the highest paying reimburser for physicians (most of the other insurances will reimburse equal to or less than Medicare does). On the other hand, in Kentucky, Medicare is the lowest paying reimburser for physicians (most of the other insurances will reimburse more than Medicare does). Hence, starting salaries for a podiatrist in Kentucky will probably be higher than a podiatrist starting in Philadelphia due to lower reimbursement rates in PHiladelphia. In areas where there is a lot of HMOs, you would expect a lower starting salaries as compare to areas that have very little HMO. The only exception would be California, where HMOs dominated. By the way, I am NOT implying that all Podiatrists in Philadelphia are not doing well financially. One of the graduates of my residency program started his own practice in rural Nebraska and he is doing extremely well (netting well over 6 figures in his first year). Netting means that is the amount of money he takes home after paying taxes and overhead costs. On the other hand, I have a friend who completed a 3 year surgical training program and is barely making 50,000 a year in Chicago. He is stuck in Chicago because he is not able to relocate his entire family. By the way, I am NOT implying that all starting podiatrists in Chicago start at 50,000. I am sure that there are some starting podiatrists in Chicago whom are probably starting 100,000 a year.
