Physician Salaries in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania isn’t doing too badly when it comes to their healthcare and its infrastructure.

Pennsylvania ranks 5th in the country when it comes to healthcare accessibility. The state has made strides in universally affordable healthcare and is heavily focused on improving community health as a whole.

And it worked out. Pennsylvania is one of the best states in the country when it comes to accessing medical care, thanks to a healthcare system that is performing better than the country average. If that’s the case, the doctors practicing there must be satisfied, too, right?

Sort of. Pennsylvania’s healthcare system might be great for patients to some extent, but physicians aren’t doing too well. However, they are still some of the highest-paid professions.

But what exactly do the salaries look like? And what about practicing in Pennsylvania’s healthcare system? Let’s discuss:

• Physician salaries in Pennsylvania
• The specialties with the most active physicians
• The state of the Pennsylvanian healthcare system

What Are Pennsylvanian Physicians Making And Where?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average salary for a physician working in Pennsylvania is around $187,000 per year. Not exactly near the $200k you’d expect to see, but it is still above the average physician salary in the U.S., which stands at $165,000.

But then again, earning money isn’t the problem here. According to the BLS, doctors are the highest-paid occupational group in the country.

But will that money last you in a state like Pennsylvania?

The cost of living in Pennsylvania could be most appealing to physicians looking to start their careers. Pennsylvania is ranked 7th most affordable state in the U.S., specifically when it comes to owning a home. And nationwide inflation isn’t as bad in Pennsylvania, which has a consumer price index of 3.9.

However, if you’re looking to increase your salary from the state average, the fastest way to do that would be to specialize. And just like every other state we’ve talked about so far, Pennsylvania has certain specialties that rank higher in salaries than others.

Data extracted from Medscape Physician Salary Explorer

These specialties are safe bets for physicians who want to earn good money from the start. Anaesthesiologists will always be among the top three highest-paid specialties, if not the first.

Psychiatry is also not a surprise, given how important they’ve become, especially post-pandemic.

But physician salaries don’t necessarily reflect the number of active or practicing physicians within the field. Fresh medical graduates won’t find job vacancies in highly sought-after residencies such as cardiology and neurology.

Here’s a look at some fields with the most active physicians in Pennsylvania.

Data extracted from AAMC.

It’s easy enough to see the pattern here: The fields with the most active physicians tend to be some form of primary care.

While most of them aren’t earning the nearly $500k average like Anaesthesiology, they doing alright compared to other professions. Family Medicine practitioners alone can earn upwards of $232,000 in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania’s Healthcare System And How It Treats Doctors

Now, let’s get into the gritty details. The entire country is going through a physician shortage, and Pennsylvania is no exception. If anything, it might be worse there.

The Battleground State ranked 48th when it comes to full-time public healthcare workers per capita, with only 8.72 per 100,000 residents. At a country average of 40.1 per 100,000, Pennsylvania is in hot water.

Already, around 34.4%  of active physicians in Pennsylvania are nearing retirement. This should mean more opportunities for younger medical graduates to find positions, but it doesn’t.

Sadly, Pennsylvania ranks low when it comes to opportunity and competition, with only 350 residency slots for primary care-related fields such as general medicine. And primary care pays around $183k per annum on average.

Many work opportunities present themselves in rural areas, as Pennsylvania has the third-largest rural population in the country. However, only 10% of the physician workforce is targeted to tackle rural community health.

And when you already have such a lack of physicians, it’s hard to cover every base.

Speaking of, doctors aren’t dealing with the labor demands all too well. A study at UPenn showed that during COVID-19, most Pennsylvanian doctors experienced their salaries cut in half and expected them to go lower.

Healthcare just wasn’t accessible for most people at the time, showcasing just how fragile the medical system really was.

And then there is the fear of malpractice lawsuits. Pennsylvania is one of the states with the most malpractice payouts per capita, with 4822 cases that resulted in a payout. And the medical board in Pennsylvania isn’t exactly confidence-inducing when it comes to protecting its doctors, ranking 26th for its performance.

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