Ob/gyns' wages are somewhere in the middle

An analysis of data from 6,391 physicians in the 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study showed that during this period ob/gyns' mean hourly wages were $83. This compared, at the high end, with $132 for neurologic surgeons and, at the low end, with $50 for internal medicine and pediatric subspecialty practitioners (combined). Mean number of weekly work hours for these 3 specialties were 57, 58, and 57 hours, respectively.

The examination, conducted by researchers at the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research at the University of California Davis School of Medicine, compared wages across broad and narrow categories of physician specialties. Investigators created 4 broad categories of specialists: primary care, surgery, internal medicine and pediatric (combined), and all other specialties. These groups comprised a total of 41 specialties.

Overall, wages were highest for specialties in the surgery group, which included ob/gyn. Compared with primary care specialties, wages for surgery specialties were 52% higher; for internal medicine specialties and pediatric subspecialties, 40% higher; and for other specialties, 46% higher. Wage rankings mostly were unaffected by adjustment for variables such as age, race, sex, and region.

Leigh JP, Tancredi D, Jerant A, Kravitz RL. Physician wages across specialties. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(19):1728-1734.