Female physicians now earn $327,000 a year on average, up from $309,000 just two years ago. However, that progress has not dented the gap with their male counterparts, who average $429,000 per year, according to a new report from Medscape.
The publication’s “Women in Medicine: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2026,” published Sept. 25, found that the gender pay gap has actually been widening since 2022.
The report collected data from nearly 6,000 active physicians across more than 29 specialties.
Here are 10 findings from the report:
- Female physicians have posted three straight years of earnings growth, with compensation increasing from $309,000 in 2023 to $318,000 in 2024 to $327,000 this year, roughly a 6% gain over two years.
- After the gender pay gap shrank to 28% in 2022, the gap has crept upward for three consecutive years, reaching 31% in 2025.
- About 40% of female physicians had their pay remain flat year-over-year, with 31% of physicians reporting a pay increase between 1% and 10%.
- Compensation growth is not evenly distributed across specialties. OB-GYN was the top-paying specialty in 2025 among specialties with enough survey responses to be statistically significant, with an average of $370,000.
- The number of hours female physicians report working each week has stayed flat, holding between 48 and 50 hours since 2019.
- The share of female physicians who feel fairly compensated jumped from 43% to 50% this year. However, about two-thirds of female physicians still say most physicians are underpaid.
- About one-third of female physicians say their pay doesn’t cover their family’s needs, and 23% of physicians say their compensation is more than they need.
- Nearly 40% of female physicians are increasing their primary income with outside work.
- Regional pay grew in three of four U.S. regions, led by the Midwest’s $22,000 jump, a 7% increase. But the gender gap widened in every region even where female physicians’ pay rose: The South had the widest gap, with women earning just 73% of men’s pay, a $116,000 difference, while the West and North had the narrowest gaps, with women earning about 79% of men’s pay in both.
- More than 60% of female physicians qualified for an incentive bonus this year, but men were more likely to be evaluated on volume metrics such as RVUs generated (62% vs. 55%) and procedure counts (18% vs. 14%) — while women were more likely to be evaluated on quality-of-care metrics (49% vs. 43%) or less standardized “other” factors (18% vs. 14%).
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