This is the Texas site that gives the salaries. It's called "Reality Check." The salaries do not include the 15-31% tax on the income or retirement etc.
http://www.cdr.state.tx.us/realitycheck/careereverse_text.asp?soc=29-1081
I'm not going to comment on salary.com as a source for info on salaries.
To Feli, salaries are important esp when the cost of a medical education from start to finish can very well exceed $200K.
The Nov/Dec 2007 JAPMA gave the average starting salary @ ~$67K. Granted they said that ~$77K was probably more realistic, and they referenced actual reported incomes around that range from 2006. Now $67k 10 years ago was worth about $86k in todays money which is more than the average starting salary of today/ So my question is have all careers suffered this same type of stagnation in starting wages? Or maybe everyone has it wrong and the starting wages are much higher or pods are getting like 2 months off a year or some major other bonuses or even only working 30 hrs a week or getting 2 months a year off from work.
Have the schools haulted the tuition they charge from undergrad all the way through pod school it seems education is getting more expensive.
http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/
But back to the topic again, if you factor in 15-30+% in taxes and retirement and cost of living etc and most importantly the student loans, which according to the article were taking about 35 (thirty-five) years of practice to pay off, how much does a starting doc really make and is it really enough?
Whiskers does bring up the APMA survey and everyone should read it on JAPMA's website, remembering that 3000 members responded, about 1500 started within the last 10 years so starting salaries will be varied (about 500 started within the last 2 years). reading the "starting salaries" was a little confusing, but definitely a wake up call that NOTHING is handed to you, you need to still work, and "work hard for the money" (name that song!). It's very interesting that those started 5 years ago made about $20K less than those that started 2 years ago on average.
A better stat was a little later in the survey got the averages of those with levels of experience:
"In 2006, median income was $86,000 for members with less than 2 years of experience, $127,000 for members with 3 to 5 years of experience, and $160,000 for members with 6 to 9 years of experience."
It's a good survey and reflects a good upward trend, but they need to work on improving their collection methods which they have been correcting since the 2005 survey. No where does it include any "bonuses" for associates which wasn't looked at and I agree it is very hard to measure.
later in the survey, they talk about Podiatric Residency Graduates and compares the "averages" of those who completed a surgical residency with those that did not.
I want to point out that I AGREE that if you graduate from a Pod-school and just want to do routine work, you've just wasted 4 years of your life and will waste another 25+ years. When you still have an option of taking a 2-year or a 3-year program, this should NOT be a question anymore which one is going to provide a better path toward hospital/surgical center privileges. for at least $100k debt now for everyone coming out, you should not be aiming so low.
Sadly, there was still ppl in my class that just wanted to do their 2 years of residency and just work as soon as possible. Maybe they have great business sense and make a fortune doing deals and playing the market or some kind of ingenious venture I wish I thought of, but I doubt it. But from the survey it was clear that those with surgical privileges had a $40k advantage compared to those who didn't.
Lastly, most residencies now pay close to if not more than the "average" starting salaries just 3-5 years ago. If you check the caspr/crip website, you'll see resident pay that'll range anywhere from $20k (New York Community Hospital) to $65k (New York Methodist Hosp PM&S-36, Caritas Hlth Care/St John Queens PM&S-36), though this really SHOULDN'T be a reason to choose a program, it'll definitely play a role in selecting a job later. How likely are you willing to take a job for an amount even close to what you made in residency???? Again, your residency pay should not be a factor in your training decision, but it will play a huge psycological role when negiotiating a contract for your first job. just my take.
