The salary gap between male and female physicians remains high in several Texas metropolitan areas despite a nationwide decrease from 2017 to 2018, a new study shows.
Female physicians in Austin and Dallas earned 31 percent less than their male colleagues in 2018, according to a report from San Francisco-based Doximity. The six-figure differences between the genders for those two cities were:
- Austin: male physicians earned an average of $339,081 in 2018; females earned $232,333.
- Dallas: male physicians earned an average of $388,044 in 2018; females earned $267,928.
Nationwide, salary disparity fell below six figures in 2018, said the report, which studied physician salaries from the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas.
"In 2017, the physician gender gap was at 27.7 percent, when female doctors earned $105,000 less than their male counterparts. In just one year, the gender pay gap in 2018 dropped to 25.2 percent, or $90,490 less than the average male doctor," the report says.
Despite the continued salary gap, pay for female physicians might be rising compared with their male counterparts.
“Financial compensation for men stagnated while female compensation grew by 2 percent,” the report says. “After years of examination, the gender wage gap is now demonstrating a downward trajectory, suggesting that the industry is moving toward equally compensating female physicians.”
Doximity has been compiling compensation data from nearly 90,000 physicians over the past six years.
Among the most recent report’s other key findings:
- Austin and San Antonio were fifth and sixth on the list of areas around the country where female physicians were paid the lowest in 2018: $232,333 and $239,680 respectively.
- No Texas city was in the top 10 areas with the highest female pay. Milwaukee ($351,247); Bridgeport, Conn. ($319,577); and Seattle ($306,310) were the top three.
- Dallas was No. 6 on the list of metro areas with the highest average salary for all physicians in 2018 at $362,472.
- San Antonio was No. 3 and Austin was No. 7 on the list of areas with the lowest average physician salary in 2018 at $276,013 and $299,297 respectively.
“As we found in 2017, metro areas with lower average compensation tend to also be the home of more academic institutions and nationally renowned academic health systems, which can pay slightly less than private institutions,” the report says. “Prestigious and large medical schools ensure a strong pipeline of well-qualified doctors competing for a fixed number of positions in the area, which results in lower compensation.”
In addition, the report compared nationwide salary data based on specialty:
Neurosurgery ($616,823), thoracic surgery ($584,287), orthopedic surgery ($526,385), radiation oncology ($486,089), and vascular surgery ($484,740) were the top 5 highest-paid specialties in 2018.
Pediatric infectious disease ($185,892), pediatric endocrinology ($201,033), pediatrics ($222,942), pediatric hematology and oncology (222,953), and family medicine ($242,352) were the top 5 lowest paid specialties.