1
Median pay
>=$239,200
Median annual pay for Physician.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · 2024
Extremely long training and high opportunity cost are balanced by durable demand and a projected national physician shortage.
Extremely long training and high opportunity cost are balanced by durable demand and a projected national physician shortage.
The measurable baseline is >=$239,200 median pay, 2.8% projected employment change from 2024 to 2034, and about 22,300 annual openings. Those figures establish the national baseline; the occupation-specific evidence on this page is what makes the decision more useful than a generic profile.
The national median-pay figure in the current ChooseField dataset is >=$239,200. The 2024 self-employed share is 4.2%, which matters because self-employment can make outcomes less uniform across workers. A national median is a benchmark, not a personal forecast: experience, geography, employer type, specialty, credentials, and hours can move actual compensation materially.
BLS data in the ChooseField corpus put 2024 employment at 785,600 and projected 2034 employment at 807,700. That corresponds to 2.8% projected growth over the decade. BLS projects about 22,300 openings per year, including growth and replacement demand. This distinction matters when people ask whether a field is oversaturated: growth measures whether the occupation itself is getting larger, while annual openings also reflect people retiring, changing occupations, or leaving roles that must be refilled.
BLS lists the typical entry education as Doctoral/professional degree plus residency. Treat this entry path like an investment: compare the time and cost required to enter with the pay, annual openings, and alternatives available at a similar training level.
Projected physician shortage. The headline figure is 13,500–86,000. AAMC projected national physician shortage range by 2036 under modeled scenarios. Source: AAMC (2036 projection).
Medicine remains a high-pay, high-demand profession, but the decision cannot be reduced to earnings. The entry path is doctoral professional education plus residency, so training time and opportunity cost are unusually large even when the demand case is strong.
This field is a stronger fit if the required education and licensure are acceptable and you value a labor market anchored in direct care or clinical services.
Before choosing Physician, compare it with Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, Dentist. The purpose is not to find a universal winner; it is to see how pay, training time, annual openings, work setting, and field-specific risks change when you move to an adjacent option.
Extremely long training and high opportunity cost are balanced by durable demand and a projected national physician shortage. The measurable baseline is >=$239,200 median pay, 2.8% projected 2024–34 employment change, about 22,300 annual openings, and a typical entry path of Doctoral/professional degree plus residency.
BLS projects 2.8% employment change from 2024 to 2034 and about 22,300 openings per year. Growth and openings are different signals, so the field-specific evidence on this page should also be considered.
Medicine remains a high-pay, high-demand profession, but the decision cannot be reduced to earnings. The entry path is doctoral professional education plus residency, so training time and opportunity cost are unusually large even when the demand case is strong.
Compare Physician with Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner on pay, training time, openings, working conditions, and occupation-specific evidence rather than relying on one score.
National pay and employment projections come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other sources are linked on their cards.