Physicians Make More Money in Rural, Low-Cost Areas

There may be a certain amount of prestige to be aligned with major teaching hospitals in Boston, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but physicians on the outskirts of medium-size cities are fetching higher pay these days, according to data just released by Doximity, a social network for clinicians. Researchers found salaries to be highest in rural, low-cost areas within medium-sized metropolitan areas. Doctors and advanced practice providers in the Charlotte, NC metro area are making an average of $359,455, across all specialties. Charlotte is followed on the list by Bridgeport, CT ($353,925); Phoenix ($351,677); Milwaukee ($345,831); and Houston ($345,079). At the bottom of the top 50 were Durham, NC, ($267,598); Ann Arbor, MI ($272,398); Baltimore ($281,005); Charleston, SC ($285,933); and Washington, D.C. ($286,242). Female physicians tended to make an average of 26% less than their male counterparts nationwide, with Charlotte have the greatest gender gap ($33%). Doximity’s data are based on surveys of more than 36,000 full-time licensed U.S. physicians who work at least 40 hours a week. The survey relied on data pulled between 2014 and 2017. The researchers selected 50 major metropolitan areas with the most respondents in their data set.