The highest- and lowest-paying specialties

For the report, Doximity surveyed almost 23,000 full-time physicians who practiced at least 40 hours per week between January and December 2025. Responses were mapped across metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), and 60 of the top represented MSAs were included in the report. Doximity also analyzed data from over 250,000 physician surveys that were collected over the last seven years.

Doximity controlled for several factors in its report, including differences in geography and specialty, how long each provider has practiced medicine, and their self-reported average hours of work per week.

Overall, physician compensation increased by 2% from 2024 to 2025, less than the 3.7% in the year before.

When analyzing compensation by specialty, physicians in neurosurgery had the highest compensation while those in pediatric infectious disease had the lowest compensation. 

The average annual compensation increased for almost all specialties in 2025, with interventional radiology (10.8%) and neurosurgery (10.7%) seeing the highest increases. The top 10 specialties with the largest increases in compensation had annual growth rates of 6% or more.

Notably, there is also a growing compensation gap between primary care and other specialties. In 2025, the compensation for surgical specialists was 90.1% higher than compensation for primary care physicians, an increase from 87.3% in 2024. 

The highest- and lowest-paying metro areas

Doximity also ranked major metropolitan areas based on their physician compensation. In 2025, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, had the highest physician compensation at $495,617. In comparison, Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, had the lowest physician compensation at $381,424. The 10 metropolitan areas with the highest average compensation were largely located in the West Coast and Midwest.

Average physician compensation increased in 41 out of the 60 metropolitan areas examined, and more than half saw growth of at least 3%. Growth in compensation was spread across the United States, with metropolitan areas from all four major regions represented in the top 10.

The physician gender pay gap stays flat

There continues to be a persistent gender pay gap among physicians. In 2025, the gender pay gap was 26%, the same as it was in 2024 and up 23% from 2023. On average, male physicians earned $122,276 more than women, a slight increase from the $120,917 gap in 2024.

According to Doximity, the continued gender pay gap may be partly due to higher compensation growth in surgical specialties, which are typically dominated by men. The specialties with the largest gender pay gaps were thoracic surgery (19.7%), gastroenterology (16.6%), pediatric rheumatology (16.1%), otolaryngology (15.4%), and pediatrics (15.4%).

However, most physicians (72%) said that AI is not changing their role in their specialty, though 50% also acknowledged that AI is changing how work in their specialty is done.

When it comes to compensation, 36% of physicians said their compensation should change if AI substantially reduces the time and effort needed for a service while 43% said compensation should stay the same.

In addition, 44% of physicians said they should primarily benefit financially if AI allows them to complete more clinical work in the same amount of time. This figure increases to 50% among primary care physicians and decreases to 40% among non-surgical specialists.

Almost a fourth of physicians (23%) also said they expect AI's growing role in medicine to increase their compensation within the next 12 months. Most physicians (67%) also expect that those who stay up to date with AI tools will have a meaningful earnings advantage compared to those who don't adopt them over the next 12 months.

In general, most physicians (78%) said that AI's growing role in medicine has either increased or not changed their sense of job security, with the figure generally increasing with age.

Are physician shortages improving?

In a recent brief, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration estimated that there will be a shortage of 141,160 full-time equivalent physicians by 2038, with 30 out of 35 specialties expected to see shortages.

According to Doximity, 85% of physicians surveyed reported that the physician shortage had already affected their clinical practice by compromising the quality of care they provided, increasing patient wait times, decreasing patient access to care or delaying treatment, and increasing patient frustration or anger.

However, there are signs that physician shortages and their impacts may be improving. In 2026, around 18% of physicians said the impact of physician shortages was severe, compared to 21% in 2025 and 30% in 2024. In addition, fewer physicians reported negative effects from shortages in 2025, including overwork or burnout, diminished work satisfaction, and thoughts of leaving clinical practice.

Overall, "building a healthier, more sustainable future will take more than physician dedication alone," Doximity wrote in the report. "It will require meaningful collaboration across the entire healthcare ecosystem, including health systems, hospitals, payors, and policymakers. Physicians must not only have a voice in shaping the future of medicine, they must have a seat at the table."