Where can I find free physician salary data?

Choose a source that answers your question

BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook pages provide an occupational overview and a wage measure for the group they describe. BLS occupational employment and wage tables can help you examine a relevant occupation and geography where published values are available. Start with the question you need answered: the occupation, setting and location you are comparing, and whether you need a median or another measure. The free compensation-sources guide links these public resources and explains their limits. Avoid using a broad occupational category as if it were a precise specialty benchmark or treating a suppressed value as zero. Read the source notes before comparing values from different pages.

Interpret the physician median with its scope intact

The cited BLS OOH physician-and-surgeon median is $275,930 per year. It describes the source's occupational wage measure, not an offer for a particular physician and not a quoted locum rate. The same source context matters when reading a state or specialty table, because different occupational groupings can answer different questions. This page does not add another pay figure or convert the median into a contracting rate. Ask the employer how its actual duties, schedule, call and compensation structure compare with the context you are using. A public median is useful information without establishing what any particular clinician will earn.

Questions to resolve with the organization

• Identify the occupation, geography and wage measure before choosing a table.
• Read source notes, broad-category limits and any suppressed-value explanation.
• Keep the BLS median distinct from a specialty offer, locum rate or total compensation.
• Review duties, benefits, expenses and liability terms directly with the employer.

Compare the offer beyond wages

An employee wage measure does not describe every benefit, professional expense, liability obligation or contractual restriction. Use the benefits and offer-review guides to ask about those provisions qualitatively rather than inventing an adjustment. For locum work, compare the full arrangement, expenses, insurance and uncertainty; do not assume a wage benchmark is a locum rate. NPs and PAs should use the role-specific clinician guides and check whether a source groups professions together rather than relabeling combined data as a single-role estimate. Keep the source, occupational scope and measurement visible in your notes so the discussion with the employer remains grounded in what the data actually report.

Applying this to your situation

When sharing a benchmark in an offer conversation, name the source and the occupation instead of presenting the value alone. Explain whether you are using a national overview or a published local table and keep the measure consistent. If an employer cites another figure, ask what it measures and how it relates to the proposed job rather than assuming disagreement means one source is wrong. A useful comparison may show that the sources answer different questions. Public data provide a starting point for discussion, while the employer must explain the actual compensation structure and duties in its offer.

Sources and scope

• BLS OOH: physicians and surgeons
• BLS: occupational employment and wage statistics

Figures are from the cited source as published; check it for the latest.

General information, not legal, tax or insurance advice.