While it may take a lot of schooling, becoming a physician eventually pays off. We mean that literally. The median wage is $208,000 a year. But back to that schooling.
Generally, you'll only need a Bachelor's degree. But depending on your specialty, you'll also need 3-7 years in internship and residency programs. That salary makes it all seem worth it, though, doesn't it?
Physician Overview
Working as a Physician
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a physician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $84.7 an hour? That's $176,175 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 55,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Physician Do
There are certain skills that many physicians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, compassion and detail oriented.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a physician, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.6% of physicians included patient care, while 14.4% of resumes included health care, and 11.5% of resumes included internal medicine. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the physician job title. But what industry to start with? Most physicians actually find jobs in the health care and non profits industries.
How To Become a Physician
If you're interested in becoming a physician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 25.0% of physicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 17.3% of physicians have master's degrees. Even though most physicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a physician. When we researched the most common majors for a physician, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on physician resumes include master's degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a physician. In fact, many physician jobs require experience in a role such as internship. Meanwhile, many physicians also have previous career experience in roles such as medical director or physician assistant.
What is the right job for my career path?
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Physician Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of office manager you might progress to a role such as account manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title account manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Physician
Physicians in America make an average salary of $176,175 per year or $85 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $423,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $73,000 per year.
Average Salary
$176,175
Best Paying Cities
City
Average Salary
$149k
$370k
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Integrity Healthcare Bc/Be General Neurology Physician-Beautiful Southern Oregon-Bread and Butter Opportunity Bc/Be General Neurology Physician-Beautiful Southern Oregon-Bread and Butter Opportunity | Integrity Healthcare Integrity Healthcare | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $300,00001/30/2021 $300,000 |
Groups: Recover Together 1099 Physician 1099 Physician | Groups: Recover Together Groups: Recover Together | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $417,40001/30/2021 $417,400 |
Centura Health Physician-Faculty Fellowship-ST. Anthony North Physician-Faculty Fellowship-ST. Anthony North | Centura Health Centura Health | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $62,61001/29/2021 $62,610 |
Indian Health Service Physician (Family Practice) (Internal Medicine) (Pediatrics) Physician (Family Practice) (Internal Medicine) (Pediatrics) | Indian Health Service Indian Health Service | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $107,56901/28/2021 $107,569 |
Indian Health Service Physician (Family Practice, Internal Medicine, or Pediatrics) Physician (Family Practice, Internal Medicine, or Pediatrics) | Indian Health Service Indian Health Service | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $175,00001/28/2021 $175,000 |
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Physician Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Physician. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Physician Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Physician resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Physicians
1. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
3. Yale University
New Haven, CT • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,430
Enrollment
5,963
4. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
In-State Tuition
$15,262
Enrollment
30,079
5. Georgetown University
Washington, DC • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,104
Enrollment
7,089
6. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Public
In-State Tuition
$13,226
Enrollment
31,568
7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
In-State Tuition
$8,987
Enrollment
18,946
8. University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA • Public
In-State Tuition
$17,653
Enrollment
16,405
9. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
10. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,740
Enrollment
5,567
Job type you want
Full Time
Part Time
Internship
Temporary
Top Skills For a Physician
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.6% of physicians listed patient care on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and compassion are important as well.
- Patient Care, 14.6%
- Health Care, 14.4%
- Internal Medicine, 11.5%
- Surgery, 9.3%
- EMR, 6.7%
- Other Skills, 43.5% See All Physician Skills
Best States For a Physician
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a physician. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Washington, Wyoming, and Tennessee. Physicians make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $203,997. Whereas in Washington and Wyoming, they would average $195,773 and $192,362, respectively. While physicians would only make an average of $191,088 in Tennessee, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
Total Physician Jobs:
99
Highest 10% Earn:
$286,000
Location Quotient:
2.58
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$203,997
Avg. Salary
2. Wyoming
Total Physician Jobs:
52
Highest 10% Earn:
$277,000
Location Quotient:
1.43
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$192,363
Avg. Salary
3. Tennessee
Total Physician Jobs:
440
Highest 10% Earn:
$275,000
Location Quotient:
1.16
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$191,088
Avg. Salary
How Do Physician Rate Their Jobs?
Top Physician Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ physicians and discovered their number of physician opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that St Barnabas Hospital Inc was the best, especially with an average salary of $127,601. BronxCare Health System follows up with an average salary of $128,159, and then comes Cleveland Clinic with an average of $126,948. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a physician. The employers include Vituity, Cigna, and Louisiana Childrens Medical .
Physician Videos
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Pediatric Intensive Care Physician, Career Video from drkit.org