Average Physician Salaries by State, with Comparisons to Cost of Living
- Nisha Mehta, MD
- Aug 26
- 7 min read
Salary transparency is one of the best ways for physicians to know, and advocate for, their worth in the job market. Having access to salary data empowers doctors to know whether they are being compensated appropriately. Average physician salaries can vary significantly by state. By assessing regional salary data, physicians can assess more localized trends and have the ability to geoarbitrage, if desired, to take advantage of higher paying positions in lower cost of living areas across the country.
We like to provide both concrete data points as well as compile aggregate physician salary data on what doctors make, and make it available to our members for free, as opposed to having to pay for expensive databases to help physicians leverage this information to create the life in medicine they want. Using data gathered from our online physician communities, this article provides aggregate data provided in mid-2023 to mid-2024 from our physician salary and compensation database for full-time equivalent (1 FTE) attending physicians across the country in all specialties.
Disclaimers/Disclosures: This information is derived from our physician salary and compensation databases, but is subject to self-reporting errors and availability of relevant data points from our online communities. This information is provided for educational purposes only, and is aimed at advocating for individual physicians. It is not intended to be used for collective bargaining; please see additional disclosures and disclaimers on the physician salary data pages. Please also do your own research before making any decisions based on the information provided. We are not formal financial, legal, or tax professionals and do not provide individualized advice. You should consult these as appropriate. We highly recommend having your physician employment agreement reviewed by a physician contract review attorney to ensure you have the most up to date and relevant information for your specific situation.
Highest Paying States for Physician Salaries
When we compiled our data, we ranked the overall average salaries by state from highest to lowest. As you’ll see below, there were a few less populous states that we didn’t have enough current data points for to assess a reliable average. These rankings are for 47 of the 50 US states, excluding Idaho, Vermont, and Wyoming.
Iowa: $464,000 a year
Arkansas: $462,000 a year
Minnesota: $444,000 a year
Arizona: $433,000 a year
Indiana: $420,000 a year
Wisconsin: $419,000 a year
Washington: $414,000 a year
New Jersey: $414,000 a year
South Carolina: $412,000 a year
California: $412,000 a year
North Dakota: $408,000 a year
Missouri: $406,000 a year
Illinois: $405,000 a year
Georgia: $402,000 a year
Montana: $399,000 a year
While you may expect to see states included in the higher paying list that are traditionally known for having a higher cost of living, other states on the list may come as a surprise. Below, we compare average salaries by state to the states’ cost of living to assess trends.
Please note that we had some states with smaller datasets that included salaries reported by physicians specializing in fields that are typically both higher and lower than average paying specialties, which can skew overall averages, so it’s important to look at the source data for apples to apples comparisons.
We will continue to update this page over time as we receive more data. Regardless of your state, we always recommend using our free physician salary and compensation database to best compare apples to apples.
A contract review attorney can help you assess trends in your local area as well when looking to assess and negotiate a new job.
States with the Lowest Average Doctor Salaries
Along with looking at the states with the highest pay for doctors, we ranked the lowest paying states by average salaries as well.
Rhode Island: $305,000 a year
Massachusetts: $331,000 a year
Hawaii: $340,000 a year
Connecticut: $346,000 a year
Maine: $346,000 a year
Alaska: $357,000 a year
Maryland: $357,000 a year
New Hampshire: $357,000 a year
Colorado: $360,000 a year
Delaware: $366,000 a year
Louisiana: $369,000 a year
Texas: $371,000 a year
New York: $372,000 a year
Michigan: $374,000 a year
Alabama: $374,000 a year
We noted several states typically known for higher cost of living averages near the bottom of the rankings, such as Alaska, Colorado, and New York. These states are also included in our comparison to cost of living below.
Average Physician Salaries by State
We looked at the average physician salary across all states, listed alphabetically below.
Alabama: $374,000 a year
Alaska: $357,000 a year
Arizona: $433,000 a year
Arkansas: $462,000 a year
California: $412,000 a year
Colorado: $360,000 a year
Connecticut: $346,000 a year
Delaware: $366,000 a year
Florida: $393,000 a year
Georgia: $402,000 a year
Guam: Not enough to assess an average
Hawaii: $340,000 a year
Idaho: Not enough to assess an average
Illinois: $405,000 a year
Indiana: $420,000 a year
Iowa: $464,000 a year
Kansas: $379,000 a year
Kentucky: $391,000 a year
Louisiana: $369,000 a year
Maine: $346,000 a year
Maryland: $357,000 a year
Massachusetts: $331,000 a year
Michigan: $374,000 a year
Minnesota: $444,000 a year
Mississippi: $382,000 a year
Missouri: $406,000 a year
Montana: $399,000 a year
Nebraska: $380,000 a year
Nevada: $375,000 a year
New Hampshire: $357,000 a year
New Jersey: $414,000 a year
New Mexico: $386,000 a year
New York: $372,000 a year
North Carolina: $383,000 a year
North Dakota: $408,000 a year
Ohio: $390,000 a year
Oklahoma: $384,000 a year
Oregon: $398,000 a year
Pennsylvania: $376,000 a year
Puerto Rico: Not enough to assess an average
Rhode Island: $305,000 a year
South Carolina: $412,000 a year
South Dakota: $393,000 a year
Tennessee: $377,000 a year
Texas: $371,000 a year
US Virgin Islands: Not enough to assess an average
Utah: $387,000 a year
Vermont: Not enough to assess an average
Virginia: $375,000 a year
Washington: $414,000 a year
Washington DC: Not enough to assess an average
West Virginia: $386,000 a year
Wisconsin: $419,000 a year
Wyoming: Not enough to assess an average
If your state or territory is listed above without an average, it’s because we need more data points to provide an aggregate average. If you haven’t already for the year, please consider taking a few minutes to contribute your physician compensation data (it can be completely anonymous) to our database to help support updates to this page in the future.
While we have some international members, including several contributions from Canada, we also don’t currently have enough data by province to report averages for these areas yet.
How Do Salaries Compare to Cost of Living?
Having salary data by state can help physicians get a better understanding of local trends to help in their employment contract negotiations. Understanding how salaries compare to the cost of living can help physicians better understand the potential purchasing (and savings) power of that average income.
We also wanted to look at how salaries across states compare to the cost of living. For our comparison, we used the US News cost of living rankings for all 50 states.
Note these are not a direct one-to-one ranking, as we only had 47 of the 50 state averages. Still, but comparing how close the salary ranking is to the cost of living ranking, you can see where geoarbitrage may work in your favor, and where the cost of living, on average, outpaces physician salaries.
Hawaii, for example, has one of the highest costs of living, but one of the lowest average salaries across states. Similarly, Rhode Island had the lowest average salary but a high average cost of living.
Location within a state can play a role, as New York City for example can have a higher cost of living than upstate New York, but these state trends can show how location impacts not just salaries but how far that salary can stretch for relative lifestyles depending on where you live.
Just because a state may be more expensive to live in while providing lower than average salaries, such as New York or Colorado, doesn’t necessarily mean you should move, especially if you love the area. It’s worth noting the difference, however, if you’ve been thinking about a potential change in your career and aren’t opposed to a change.
Search our physician job board to find job openings across the US.
We also have a perk with a licensing partner who can help you with licensing requirements if you’re considering a move across state lines. Visit our guide to physician licensing to learn more.
Conclusion
While salary is only one part of the equation, understanding trends for salaries across states can be helpful for doctors, especially if they’re already considering a move for other reasons (better weather, closer to family, change of scenery, etc.).
Other factors, such as urban versus rural location, compensation structure, specialization, and practice environment can also play a substantial role in average salaries. We recommend exploring the full free physician salary and compensation database for the most relevant data to your situation. To see how other factors influence salaries, explore:
Additional Salary and Career Resources for Doctors
Explore our related articles and resources on doctor compensation and salaries:
If you haven’t recently, please take a few minutes to contribute! The data provided is used only for the purpose of our database to help physicians like yourself negotiate better compensation by helping provide salary transparency with relevant data. The data is completely anonymous and is only available to members of our Physician Side Gigs Facebook group. Contribution links can be found on our compensation data for physicians page.
If you need guidance on negotiating your next contract for the best possible deal, check out: