From big-name surgeons to anesthesiologists to dermatologists, male doctors earn more than their female counterparts in their careers, and in one small yet growing subspecialty, doctors can earn more than men with more of the same education or experience.
That’s because roughly a quarter of the people at the top of the health care market making $500,000 or more are female, according to a study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The median income for all female physicians is $215,000, while men get $276,000 on average.
On average, women have more years of experience. More than half of female physicians graduated from medical school more than 25 years ago, compared with just over a third of male physicians. So there’s a longer track record for male doctors to begin making big money. Men also have more training at top academic institutions, as much as 12 years more, on average.
Anesthesiologists were close behind in gender pay disparity, with the average female doctor making $166,000 compared with $213,000 for her male colleagues. Physicians at other subspecialties, including dermatologists, infectious disease specialists and urologists, made substantially more money than female colleagues.