Private Practice vs Academic Physician Jobs: Compensation Differences by Specialty
- Nisha Mehta, MD
- Sep 12
- 8 min read
As we’ve seen throughout our how much doctors make series, practice environment is a big factor in how much a physician makes, and average salaries in private practice are often very different from corresponding salaries in academics. Below, we look at the compensation differences between private practice vs academic physician jobs by specialty, using data from our physician salary and compensation database we offer as a free resource to our members of our physician communities.Â
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.
We are huge advocates of salary transparency and physicians knowing their worth when negotiating or renegotiating a physician contract.Â
We always recommend doctors compare apples to apples when looking at compensation data, as several factors such as specialty, hours worked, and practice environment play into compensation data, so if you are a member of our physician communities, please view the source data so that you decide what aligns with your goals.Â
For the analysis on aggregate statistics below, we looked at attending physicians, excluding residents and fellows, who worked a full-time equivalent (FTE) with an average of 36 or more hours per week. The data used for the statistics below was taken from mid-2023 to mid-2025.
Overall compensation differences between private practice vs academic physician jobs by specialty
First, we looked at what physicians working for academic hospitals made annually compared to what physicians working for private practices made, regardless of their type of employment. Below, we break this data down further in private practice to compare salary trends for employees versus owners/partners in private practice compared to academic physicians.
Specialty | Academic Physicians | Private Practice Physicians | Differential |
Allergy & Immunology | $234,000 | $349,000 | $115,000 |
Anesthesiology | $483,000 | $552,000 | $69,000 |
Cardiology | $484,000 | $575,000 | $91,000 |
Critical Care | $394,000 | $425,000 | $31,000 |
Dermatology | $462,000 | $561,000 | $99,000 |
Emergency Medicine | $382,000 | $511,000 | $129,000 |
Endocrinology | $258,000 | $256,000 | ($2,000) |
Family Medicine | $279,000 | $297,000 | $18,000 |
Gastroenterology | $468,000 | $679,000 | $211,000 |
Hematology/Oncology | $365,000 | $696,000 | $331,000 |
Hospital Medicine | $290,000 | $327,000 | $37,000 |
Internal Medicine | $253,000 | $346,000 | $93,000 |
Nephrology | $316,000 | $365,000 | $49,000 |
Neurology | $307,000 | $414,000 | $107,000 |
OB/GYN | $382,000 | $406,000 | $24,000 |
Ophthalmology | $413,000 | $547,000 | $134,000 |
Otolaryngology (ENT) | $500,000 | $648,000 | $148,000 |
Pain Management | $402,000 | $463,000 | $61,000 |
Pathology | $282,000 | $457,000 | $175,000 |
Pediatrics | $244,000 | $278,000 | $34,000 |
Physiatry (PM&R) | $289,000 | $490,000 | $201,000 |
Psychiatry | $274,000 | $352,000 | $78,000 |
Radiology | $517,000 | $559,000 | $42,000 |
Surgery, General | $443,000 | $452,000 | $9,000 |
Urology | $476,000 | $641,000 | $165,000 |
As the data above shows, the difference between the average compensation at private practice and academic jobs can vary significantly by specialty. With the exception of endocrinology, however, private practice on average pays higher across all specialties.
For smaller specialties with less data points, outliers can skew the data more. While this is both true for academic and private practice positions, it’s worth noting. Aggregate statistics can be a helpful overview, but we always recommend digging deeper into the data to help ensure you are comparing apples to apples to data relevant to your specific situation.
Explore our free physician salary and compensation database.
If you don’t see your specialty listed above, we don’t currently have enough data to comfortably report an average yet. If you haven’t already for the year, please consider taking a few minutes to contribute your physician salary and compensation data to our database (it can be completely anonymous). Your contribution will help us with future updates to this page for your specialty.
Remember when looking at these overall numbers that the practice environment is only one factor that influences salaries. When negotiating a potential job contract, we almost always recommend working with a contract or healthcare attorney who can review an employment agreement for potential red flags and who can share relevant local trends, as geographic location can also influence salaries. A contract review can be helpful regardless of the practice environment you’re considering, whether it’s for an academic position, private practice position, or a job in another practice environment.
Related PSG resources:
Compensation differences between private practice employed (non partner) physicians and academic physicians by specialty
Along with looking at the overall academic hospital versus private practice annual salaries, we broke the private practice data down further to see how employment status within a private practice influenced the average salary and the comparison.
We started by looking at the compensation differential between employed (non-partner) physicians at private practices and academic physicians.
Specialty | Academic Physicians | Private Practice Employees (Non-Partner) | Differential |
Anesthesiology | $483,000 | $495,000 | $12,000 |
Cardiology | $484,000 | $484,000 | $0 |
Dermatology | $462,000 | $507,000 | $45,000 |
Family Medicine | $279,000 | $268,000 | ($11,000) |
Gastroenterology | $468,000 | $505,000 | $37,000 |
Hematology/Oncology | $365,000 | $450,000 | $85,000 |
Hospital Medicine | $290,000 | $306,000 | $16,000 |
Internal Medicine | $253,000 | $333,000 | $80,000 |
Nephrology | $316,000 | $251,000 | ($65,000) |
Neurology | $307,000 | $365,000 | $58,000 |
OB/GYN | $382,000 | $365,000 | ($17,000) |
Ophthalmology | $413,000 | $505,000 | $92,000 |
Pain Management | $402,000 | $417,000 | $15,000 |
Pathology | $282,000 | $398,000 | $116,000 |
Pediatrics | $244,000 | $250,000 | $6,000 |
Psychiatry | $274,000 | $340,000 | $66,000 |
Radiology | $517,000 | $497,000 | ($20,000) |
Our dataset for private practice employees is naturally smaller than our data for all physicians in private practice, so you may not see your specialty listed even if we covered it in the overall comparison above. We will continue to update and expand this section as we receive enough data to provide a reliable average. Contribute your physician salary and compensation data today to help.
When looking at just what W2 non-partner employees at private practices made compared to physicians working at academic hospitals, the differentials tended to drop across specialties compared to the overall differences. We even see in some specialties where academic physicians may make more, on average, than physicians working at private practices who are not partners in the practice.
What these statistics don’t highlight, however, is the earnings potential with the partnership track available to physicians in private practice. While physicians may, in certain cases, make less in private practice initially, we looked at long-term earnings potential through partnership next.
Compensation differences between private practice partners and academic physician jobs by specialty
Specialty | Academic Physicians | Private Practice Owner/Partner | Differential |
Anesthesiology | $483,000 | $621,000 | $138,000 |
Cardiology | $484,000 | $715,000 | $231,000 |
Dermatology | $462,000 | $713,000 | $251,000 |
Family Medicine | $279,000 | $325,000 | $46,000 |
Gastroenterology | $468,000 | $817,000 | $349,000 |
Hematology/Oncology | $365,000 | $966,000 | $601,000 |
Hospital Medicine | $290,000 | $360,000 | $70,000 |
Internal Medicine | $253,000 | $366,000 | $113,000 |
Nephrology | $316,000 | $489,000 | $173,000 |
OB/GYN | $382,000 | $445,000 | $63,000 |
Ophthalmology | $413,000 | $597,000 | $184,000 |
Otolaryngology (ENT) | $500,000 | $706,000 | $206,000 |
Pain Management | $402,000 | $583,000 | $181,000 |
Pediatrics | $244,000 | $320,000 | $76,000 |
Radiology | $517,000 | $647,000 | $130,000 |
Surgery, General | $443,000 | $496,000 | $53,000 |
Urology | $476,000 | $727,000 | $251,000 |
Here, we see the reverse trend, where the average salary differentials often grew substantially within each specialty. Partners or owners at private practices, on average, make significantly more than physicians in the same specialty working for academic hospitals.
Again, we’d like to emphasize that with a smaller dataset, outliers can skew the data. These averages will likely change as our database grows, but can serve to give you an idea, especially compared to the overall differentials and the differentials between academic and private practice employed positions above, of the potential earnings opportunities as a private practice partner.
As we’ve seen in our how much doctors make by specialty series, some of our physicians may report other additional ancillary revenue streams they receive (such as income from an ambulatory surgery center) through their partnership, which may help explain the variances in differentials across specialties.
Related PSG resources:
Additional compensation for physicians in academic and private practice jobs
Salary is only one component in the overall compensation package physicians receive. While it’s a large component, other factors such as retirement benefits, paid time off, CME stipends, and others should also be considered when comparing different job opportunities across practice environments.
We’ve highlighted some of these differences with our article on retirement benefits physicians receive at work, where we break down retirement plans available and employer contributions by practice environment. We’ve also looked at the average CME stipend by practice environment.
In addition, this analysis only looks at the compensation part of assessing a job opportunity. Different practice environments can offer different opportunities in work like balance, as well as steps toward career development and long-term career goals. You may, for example, enjoy the research aspect of medicine and might prefer to avoid the business aspects that come with running a private practice. These factors should also be considered when evaluating opportunities.
Related PSG resources:
Additional salary and career resources for physicians
If you’re looking for a new job opportunity, especially one in private practice, explore our physician job board, where our PSG members can list openings available at their private practices.
Sign up for our PSG weekly newsletter for alerts on new jobs as well as notifications on all our free resources for job search, contract negotiations, salary data, and more.
Explore related articles and resources on doctor compensation and salaries:Â
If you’re looking for a new job and are considering private practice and academic options, we have additional resources to help:
If you haven’t recently, please take a few minutes to contribute to our database! 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:
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