What is a Primary Care Physician?

Primary care physicians provide basic medical care to their patients. They provide efficient and effective primary care services of the highest quality. They treat an entire spectrum of conditions and provide both medical and emotional assistance to coworkers, customers, and patients. They earn a nice average salary of $212,000 per year or $102 per hour.

Primary care physicians are the first line of contact for patients and they develop a strong bond together. They are a patient's point of entry to medical treatment, managing conditions, ranging from headaches to hypertension to mental health issues. They are considered a jack-of-all-trades and, as such, they have a vast level of knowledge in the field of medicine.

Primary care physicians are highly regarded and sought after. It is an ever-growing job and, as a result, it is very competitive. They have to earn a bachelor's degree before heading to medical school. Residency is the next step after graduating from medical school and the duration varies in length, depending on some factors. After residency, they are required to pass the national licensing exam to be certified.

What Does a Primary Care Physician Do

There are certain skills that many primary care 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.

Learn more about what a Primary Care Physician does

How To Become a Primary Care Physician

If you're interested in becoming a primary care physician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 33.8% of primary care physicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.3% of primary care physicians have master's degrees. Even though most primary care physicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Primary Care Physician
Top Primary Care Physician Jobs Near You

Primary Care Physician Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a primary care physician can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as medical officer, progress to a title such as medical director and then eventually end up with the title medical director.

Primary Care Physician

Average Salary for a Primary Care Physician

Primary Care Physicians in America make an average salary of $214,843 per year or $103 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $344,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $134,000 per year.
Average Primary Care Physician Salary
$214,843 Yearly
$103.29 hourly
See More Salary Information

What Am I Worth?

salary-calculator

Roles and Types of Primary Care Physician

The role of a primary care physician includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general primary care physician responsibilities:

  • Patient careassures personal compliance with licensing, certification,
  • Examines, diagnoses and treats patients of all ages for acute injuries, infections,
  • The philadelphia va medical center seeks an experienced primary care physician to perform diagnostic, preventive

There are several types of primary care physician, including:

Physician

Role:

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?

  • Average Salary: $238,887
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

General Practitioner

Role:

A general practitioner is a professional that gives basic and regular medical assistance to patients within the society. You are in charge of analyzing patients, evaluating patient's results, and giving medication as needed. You also have to handle and oversee crews in surgical situations, comprising both stress and overall surgery.

As a practitioner, you will evaluate and treat the patient with various forms of illness from pediatric to geriatrics groups. Likewise, you are to analyze a range of clinical situations and ailments. This means you will conduct extensive examinations and indicate treatment strategies. You are also to give out urgent care for extreme conditions, carry out regular surgeries, and must report reportable ailments to administrative or government agencies.

As a general practitioner, you must have exceptional communication and organization skills. You must as well be kind to patients and pay great attention to details. Additionally, you need a doctoral degree in medicine, veterinary science, advanced dentistry, and oral science. Although, it can be alternated with a bachelor's degree depending on the employer. As a general practitioner, you will earn an average of $174,341 annually or $83.82 per hour.

  • Average Salary: $172,831
  • Degree: Doctoral Degree

Physician Liaison

Role:

As a Physician Liaison, you will help medical facilities in building meaningful and positive relationships with community physicians. You will most likely work in the sales office or business development office, and you will meet with physicians from time to time for service introduction and promotion.

As a Physician Liaison, you need to have specific traits and skills. You need to have great communication skills. You will be working and dealing with a lot of people, so you should know how to approach different types of people. Next is compassion. You need to be compassionate as a Physician Liaison because you are working with real people here. Lastly, you need to be detail-oriented. Since lives are on your hands, you need to always be mindful of details and commit little to no mistakes.

As a Physician Liaison, you can earn an annual average salary of $196,389 with a 7% job growth rate. You can also explore other roles and further your career as you start as a Physician Liaison. You can be an Account Manager or a Senior Account Manager.

  • Average Salary: $210,572
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
View More

States With The Most Primary Care Physician Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active primary care physician jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where primary care physicians earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Primary Care Physician Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California4,211$184,723
2Illinois2,226$183,182
3North Carolina1,782$168,077
4Georgia1,719$181,800
5Michigan1,582$180,804
6Ohio1,399$181,623
7Arizona1,384$174,010
8New York1,356$177,390
9Minnesota1,335$198,305
10Wisconsin1,322$194,322
11Washington1,314$198,807
12Virginia1,299$177,537
13Pennsylvania1,180$189,952
14Texas1,157$182,844
15Missouri1,100$176,988
16Florida1,056$175,458
17Tennessee1,021$171,738
18Maryland979$178,939
19Colorado784$179,523
20South Carolina760$178,977
21Oregon716$190,772
22Massachusetts666$181,653
23Iowa662$184,367
24Alabama640$178,459
25Louisiana609$170,285
26Kentucky607$191,774
27New Jersey587$197,276
28Indiana568$178,600
29Oklahoma535$173,956
30New Mexico445$184,395
31Nevada422$184,577
32Connecticut419$186,531
33Kansas413$173,461
34New Hampshire384$202,701
35Mississippi376$182,636
36Maine354$192,395
37Utah329$165,897
38Nebraska285$190,891
39Montana285$179,750
40South Dakota279$170,560
41West Virginia274$190,144
42Alaska234$170,510
43Idaho209$193,130
44North Dakota207$206,733
45Hawaii198$134,799
46Delaware188$170,813
47Vermont155$202,939
48Rhode Island133$166,468
49Wyoming98$166,885
50Arkansas97$177,623

Primary Care Physician Education

Primary Care Physician Majors

Medicine
47.2 %
Veterinary Science
10.7 %
Business
6.1 %

Primary Care Physician Degrees

Doctorate

39.7 %

Bachelors

33.8 %

Certificate

12.2 %

Top Colleges for Primary Care 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 • Private

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 • Private

In-State Tuition

$13,226

Enrollment

31,568

7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,987

Enrollment

18,946

8. University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA • Private

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

Top Skills For a Primary Care 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, 25.0% of primary care physicians listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and compassion are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Primary Care Physician Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Primary Care Physician templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Primary Care Physician resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume
Primary Care Physician Resume

Primary Care Physician diversity

Primary Care Physician Gender Distribution

Female
Female
51%
Male
Male
49%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among primary care physicians, 50.6% of them are women, while 49.4% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among primary care physicians is White, which makes up 61.5% of all primary care physicians.

  • The most common foreign language among primary care physicians is Spanish at 56.7%.

Online Courses For Primary Care Physician That You May Like

Advertising Disclosure  

1. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care

coursera

This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...

2. Essentials of Palliative Care

coursera

This course starts you on your journey of integrating primary palliative care into your daily lives. You will learn what palliative care is, how to communicate with patients, show empathy, and practice difficult conversations. You will learn how to screen for distress and provide psychosocial support. You will learn about goals of care and advance care planning and how to improve your success with having these conversations with patients. Finally, you will explore important cultural...

3. Providing Trauma-Informed Care

udemy
4.6
(1,132)

Exploring psychological trauma and how to provide care and compassion to trauma survivors...

Show More Online Courses For Primary Care Physician
Job type you want
Full Time
Part Time
Internship
Temporary

Best States For a Primary Care Physician

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a primary care physician. The best states for people in this position are North Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Washington. Primary care physicians make the most in North Dakota with an average salary of $206,733. Whereas in Vermont and New Hampshire, they would average $202,939 and $202,701, respectively. While primary care physicians would only make an average of $198,807 in Washington, 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. North Dakota

Total Primary Care Physician Jobs: 207
Highest 10% Earn:
$283,000
Location Quotient:
1.57

$206,733

Avg. Salary

View 207 Primary Care Physician Jobs In ND

2. Wisconsin

Total Primary Care Physician Jobs: 1,322
Highest 10% Earn:
$273,000
Location Quotient:
1.69

$194,322

Avg. Salary

View 1,322 Primary Care Physician Jobs In WI

3. New Hampshire

Total Primary Care Physician Jobs: 384
Highest 10% Earn:
$272,000
Location Quotient:
1.55

$202,701

Avg. Salary

View 384 Primary Care Physician Jobs In NH
Full List Of Best States For Primary Care Physicians

How Do Primary Care Physicians Rate Their Jobs?

Working as a Primary Care Physician? Share your experience anonymously.
Overall Rating*
Career Growth
Work/Life balance
Pay/Salary

Top Primary Care 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 primary care physicians and discovered their number of primary care physician opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Merritt Hawkins was the best, especially with an average salary of $217,851. UnitedHealth Group follows up with an average salary of $213,180, and then comes County of San Joaquin, CA with an average of $226,861. 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 primary care physician. The employers include Humana, Conviva, and Cigna

Most Common Employers For Primary Care Physician

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Mayo Clinic$258,401$124.2310
2Kaiser Permanente$238,309$114.5715
3County of San Joaquin, CA$226,861$109.0732
4Veterans Health Administration$223,514$107.4628
5Curative$223,477$107.4413
6MercyOne$221,215$106.3517
7Baystate Health$221,017$106.2613
8Merritt Hawkins$217,851$104.7461
9PMR Group$214,176$102.9725
10UnitedHealth Group$213,180$102.4935
Show More

Primary Care Physician Videos

Primary Care Physician Salary | How Much Money Does a PCP Make?
US Needs More Primary Care Doctors

Primary Care Physician Related Careers

Primary Care Physician Related Jobs

Primary Care Physician Jobs By Location

Primary Care Physician Jobs By Company

Updated April 6, 2023