Table 2.

Income Trends Among Early-Career Family Physicians, 2016–2020

Avg. Income OverallaIncrease ($)
2016–2020a
Annualized Increase (%)
2016–2020a
Full sample$224,292$5,7660.64%
Gender  
 Man$249,248$4080.04%
 Woman$204,974$9,3981.14%
Degree Type  
 M.D.$225,023$6,7330.75%
 D.O.$221,065$1,6560.19%
Principal Professional Activity  
 Continuity Care$214,007$4,3700.51%
 Emergency Medicine$365,684$8,8860.61%
 Geriatrics$205,449−$6,046−0.67%
 Hospitalist$281,968$8,1080.71%
 Palliative Care$210,323$39,7044.61%
 Sports Medicine$227,227$2,8730.30%
 Urgent Care$219,055$23,1472.71%
 Other$172,737$34,0964.87%
Population Density  
 Rural$251,982$1,4960.15%
 Urban$219,114$6,4530.74%
Region  
 Midwest$232,286$1530.02%
 Northeast$203,495$11,2261.39%
 South$230,471$10,7921.18%
 West$219,897$3,4660.40%
Principal Practice Siteb  
 Academic Health Center/Faculty Practice$196,313$7,6400.99%
 Federal$148,077$6,0061.00%
 Federally Qualified Health Center or Look-Alike$183,380$13,2541.82%
 Government Clinic, Non-Federal$192,543$34,5954.46%
 Hospital/Health System Owned Medical Practice$228,450$6,4110.70%
 Independently Owned Medical Practice$218,222$9,2771.05%
 Indian Health Service$207,897−$14,632−1.72%
 Managed Care/HMO Practice$231,520$15,3851.69%
 Rural Health Clinic (Federally Qualified)$249,291$1,4300.14%
 Work Site Clinic$214,951$4,9130.56%
 Other$204,028−$33,856−4.09%
Racec  
 Asian$222,832$890.01%
 Black or African American$223,364−$5,676−0.85%
 White$226,270$10,6051.59%
 Other$224,520$15,2272.32%
Ethnicityc  
 Non-Hispanic or Latino$225,342$5,8480.87%
 Hispanic or Latino$224,584$21,8283.29%
  • Note: Data collected by the ABFM from board-certified Diplomates three years after completing residency.

  • a Incomes have been adjusted for inflation using the CPI-U to reflect their value in 2020 dollars.

  • b Analysis sample differs when including principal practice site in the model (see Table 1).

  • c Data collected on race and ethnicity only available from 2017–2020.