2024 pediatrician salary report: Lower pay leads many to supplement their income

Although pediatrician salaries have grown two years in a row, they remain among the lowest-paid specialties. In fact, according to the Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2024, a solid majority of pediatricians believe they are underpaid and are unhappy with their pay.

The annual report compared pediatrician salaries to those of other specialties, examined pediatricians' attitudes toward their pay, and outlined the ways they are supplementing their income.

Continued physician salary growth

Overall, physicians saw a 3% rise in compensation in 2023. The average annual physician compensation — including base salary, incentive bonuses, and other income — rose to $363K. Specialists garnered an average compensation of $394K. 

In contrast, pediatricians had 4% compensation growth in 2023, with the average salary sitting at $260K. This follows a 3% growth the previous year, which saw an average pediatrician salary of $251K.

Pediatrician salaries ranked second from the bottom among specialties in Medscape’s report, ahead only of diabetes and endocrinology physicians.

Want to earn more? See the highest-paying states for physicians in 2024.

Pediatrician feelings about pay

Given their work demands, 58% of pediatricians feel they are not paid fairly. However, pediatricians think that physicians are generally underpaid. Only 34% believe physicians are paid “about right,” while 60% are underpaid. About 5% said that most physicians are overpaid.

Given that most feel underpaid, it makes sense that only 42% of pediatricians are happy with their pay, down from 45% in 2022. In comparison, public health and preventative medicine physicians were the happiest with their compensation, with 65% reporting satisfaction, followed by dermatology, psychiatry, and oncology physicians.

How important was salary?

Compensation wasn’t the biggest factor for physicians when they were considering what, if any, specialty to pursue in medical school. According to 83% of physicians, potential compensation played only a minor role in that decision. Salary was even less of a factor for pediatricians — a full 93% said compensation played no or only a minor role in their choice of specialty.

“With pediatrics, I knew I’d be paid less,” said Dr. Melissa Macaraeg, a per diem emergency department pediatrician who supplements her income with locum tenens work. But that lower compensation didn’t deter her from pursuing pediatrics. “I didn’t think about it too much,” she said.

Supplementing income

About 41% of pediatricians reported taking extra work to supplement their income — an increase over the prior year, when 35% reported taking extra work. Of these, 17% took on other medical-related work, while 6% added non-medical-related work.

A growing number of pediatricians engaged in medical moonlighting, which includes locum tenens work. In 2023, 16% of pediatricians participated in medical moonlighting, up from 14% the previous year.

Dr. Macaraeg turned to locum tenens work to supplement her income and pay down her student loans without succumbing to burnout from working too many hours in a permanent position. “If I could earn more as a per diem and locums, it would come with more responsibility — but if I could pay it off that way quicker than I could with [Public Service Loan Forgiveness], then so be it. Paying off $200,000 is a lot of money, but so is my mental health. Nothing is going to come second to my mental health.”

Working locum tenens has given pediatrician Dr. Simran Kalra more control over her earnings. For example, she worked extra assignments while preparing for maternity leave so she could take a longer leave. “I could just choose how long I wanted to take off based on how much work I could get done [and how much] money I could save during that time,” she said.

The rewards and challenges of a pediatric career

Pediatricians may not be fully satisfied with their compensation, but they do find other aspects of their careers rewarding. The top two sources of career satisfaction for pediatricians included gratitude from/relationship with patients and being good at what they do/finding answers/diagnoses. Only 8% said making good money at a job they like was the most rewarding aspect of their career.

For Dr. Kalra, the gratitude often comes from staff who are thankful for her help and support as a locum physician. “Usually, they’re happy to see me,” she said. “The staff appreciates it; other physicians appreciate it because they know if you weren’t there, they’d be short-staffed and have to see even more patients.”

When it comes to career challenges, pediatricians pointed to difficult patients, long work hours, and too many rules and regulations as their top pain points.

Medscape surveyed more than 7,000 physicians for its annual Physician Salary Report. About 8% of respondents were pediatricians, and their responses about compensation, earnings satisfaction, and career challenges were compiled into the Pediatrician Compensation Report.

Pediatricians are in high demand as locum tenens physicians. Give us a call at 954.343.3050 to learn more or view today's locum tenens pediatrician job opportunities.