Physicians, Pathologists salary

SOC 29-1222 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$312,400

per year, nationally

Middle half

$186,300–$372,780

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

11,110

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+4.2%

400 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$92,540$449,970

10th: $92,540
25th: $186,300
Median: $312,400
75th: $372,780
90th: $449,970

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Doctoral or professional degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Internship/residency

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where physicians, pathologists earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Pennsylvania	$413,370	97.6	210	0.49×
2	West Virginia	$400,070	89.5	50	0.91×
3	Nevada	$384,350	100.0	40	0.39×
4	Illinois	$381,770	100.0	—	—
5	Minnesota	$362,270	98.6	550	2.62×
6	New Jersey	$355,970	108.8	230	0.76×
7	Texas	$345,830	97.1	1,530	1.52×
8	Indiana	$340,300	93.3	380	1.67×
9	Arizona	$338,290	100.7	270	1.18×
10	Kentucky	$324,390	90.2	—	—
11	Iowa	$323,460	87.8	80	0.75×
12	Rhode Island	$322,950	102.3	—	—
13	New York	$321,550	107.9	1,220	1.76×
14	Oklahoma	$317,850	87.8	130	1.03×
15	Florida	$313,510	103.4	370	0.53×
16	Ohio	$309,480	92.8	600	1.52×
17	Michigan	$303,070	96.2	140	0.44×
18	Washington	$300,680	107.0	200	0.79×
19	Colorado	$294,510	103.1	50	0.23×
20	Massachusetts	$285,240	105.8	320	1.24×
21	Missouri	$261,830	90.8	—	—
22	Mississippi	$261,570	87.0	50	0.62×
23	Maryland	$253,670	105.0	70	0.33×
24	North Carolina	$248,940	94.3	340	0.96×
25	Virginia	$240,780	101.1	110	0.38×
26	South Carolina	$236,950	93.7	80	0.49×
27	Nebraska	$229,140	90.1	90	1.25×
28	Kansas	$224,280	90.1	30	0.32×
29	Arkansas	$214,100	86.9	130	1.34×
30	Georgia	$211,800	96.3	170	0.47×
31	Vermont	$188,250	98.0	—	—
32	California	$186,300	110.7	1,790	1.37×
33	Wisconsin	$83,610	94.1	130	0.62×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where physicians, pathologists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for physicians, pathologists

The 36 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$384,550	100.2	30	0.37×
2	Corpus Christi, TX	$373,420	92.7	—	—
3	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$365,830	102.6	90	0.42×
4	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$362,620	98.1	—	—
5	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$362,470	100.9	100	0.99×
6	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$349,470	103.3	220	1.31×
7	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$342,090	95.7	260	3.26×
8	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$336,660	103.6	—	—
9	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$333,330	111.9	90	0.79×
10	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$332,570	114.2	90	0.46×
11	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$329,970	93.1	—	—
12	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$327,770	112.6	1,140	1.68×
13	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$319,880	101.8	—	—
14	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$319,340	113.6	330	0.74×
15	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$317,890	95.4	190	2.40×
16	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$316,150	103.1	480	1.65×
17	Oklahoma City, OK	$315,520	90.4	60	1.26×
18	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$305,600	95.8	40	0.98×
19	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$300,580	111.1	140	0.96×
20	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$291,510	98.6	230	0.98×
21	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$288,900	104.5	40	0.39×
22	Columbus, OH	$285,280	95.5	70	0.88×
23	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$285,240	108.3	240	1.23×
24	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	$283,430	94.7	100	1.27×
25	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$272,300	97.6	30	1.24×
26	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$270,000	100.1	—	—
27	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$248,420	110.4	30	0.40×
28	Richmond, VA	$240,220	97.9	—	—
29	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$237,190	108.9	90	0.38×
30	Kansas City, MO-KS	$224,280	92.5	70	0.86×
31	Omaha, NE-IA	$214,920	91.9	80	2.33×
32	St. Louis, MO-IL	$207,450	95.1	—	—
33	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$186,300	115.6	—	—
34	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$143,120	106.4	—	—
35	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$140,230	99.6	30	0.99×
36	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$70,480	102.7	30	0.81×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where physicians, pathologists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.