The specialties with the highest average starting salaries

Orthopedic surgeons and interventional cardiologists have the highest starting salaries offered to recruits, according to a new Merritt Hawkins report. On average, orthopedic surgeons earn $565,000 and interventional cardiologists earn $527,000.

The 2022 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentive based its findings on data from nearly 2,700 permanent physician and advanced practitioner search engagements conducted by physician staffing companies from April 2021 to March 2022.

The report noted that average starting salaries have generally been trending up for the past few years until 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of many elective procedures. As a result, starting salaries were lower for most specialties in the 2021 edition of the report. However, starting salaries in most specialties were back on the rise, according to the latest report.

The next specialties with the highest average starting salaries were urology ($510,000), gastroenterology ($486,000), non-invasive cardiology ($484,000), radiology ($455,000), and pulmonology ($412,000).

Source: Merritt Hawkins