Top Most In-Demand Physician Specialties and their Salaries

For the 11th year in a row, the most in-demand doctors were family physicians according to a new survey.

The demand for family physicians also continued to drive up starting salaries, according to the 14th annual review tracking physicians compensation and recruiting trends by Merritt Hawkins, a physician search company. The average starting salary for family physicians is $231,000, according to the report, up from $185,000 in 2015, an increase of 17%. However, the demand did not put family physicians at the top of the salary scale, as specialists continued to draw bigger paychecks. Data were compiled based on 3,287 physician and advanced practitioner recruiting assignments by the firm from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017.

“Emerging delivery models that reward quality and population health are driving demand for family doctors,” said Travis Singleton, senior vice president of Merritt Hawkins in a released statement. “Consumer preference for urgent care centers, retail clinics, community health centers, telehealth and other modes of convenient care is another key factor accelerating the recruitment of family doctors.”

Here are the other top ten most in-demand physicians and their salaries:

1. Physicians - $231,000

2. Psychiatrists - $263,000

3. Internists - $257,000

4. Obstetrician/Gynecologists - $355,000

5. Hospitalists - $264,000

6. Emergency Medicine - $349,000

7. Dermatologists - $421,000

8. Radiologists - $436, 000

9. Pediatricians - $240,000

10. Urgent Care - $219,000

You can view the full report here.