It's no secret that doctors take home some pretty hefty paychecks. But male physicians are getting paid a lot more than their female colleagues.
Among all physicians, females earn an average of 74 cents for every dollar a man makes, according to a new report from Doximity, a social network for healthcare professionals. That translates to female physicians earning roughly $91,000 less a year than their male counterparts.
Among all full-time workers in the U.S., women earned an average of around 82 cents for every dollar men made in 2016, according to the Labor Department.
Even when broken down by medical specialty, there is no area where women earn as much as men.
The biggest pay gaps exists in vascular surgery, occupational medicine and pediatric endocrinology.
The wage gap can put women at a disadvantage in their long-term earnings potential and when it comes to paying off the massive loans that tend to accompany medical school.
"Medicine is going through a generational shift," said Joel Davis, vice president of strategic analytics at Doximity. "They are entering a world that has been historically dominated by men."
Neurosurgery is the highest-compensated specialty with an average annual pay of $620,000. The pay gap in this field was among the smallest at 15%. But that still translates to female neurosurgeons making $92,917 a year less, on average, the report found.
The report was based on 36,000 responses from full-time, licensed U.S. physicians who practice at least 40 hours a week.
Where physicians live also impacts their earnings. Generally speaking, doctors in more rural and lower-cost cities tend to be better paid than those practicing in higher-cost cities like San Francisco or New York.
"More desirable locations to live or areas that are located near major medical schools had lower compensation," said Christopher Whaley, an associate policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and lead author of the report.
The pay gap between male and female physicians was the highest in Charlotte and Durham, North Carolina, where women earned 33% and 31% less, respectively.
The pay gap was the smallest in Sacramento, where female doctors earned an average of 19% less than their male counterparts.
