How much do pediatricians make?

Pediatricians are the lowest paid physicians in the major surveys, and the surveys agree with each other closely enough that the band is not really in dispute. Average pediatrics compensation is $266,000 in the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2026, the lowest figure for any specialty in that report. Doximity puts average total compensation at $265,230, and self reported salaries at Marit Health average $263,500, so three independent sources land within $2,500 of each other. The average starting salary is $258,000 in the AMN Healthcare review, the lowest starting salary in that review. A new pediatrician should plan around the high $250,000 to mid $260,000 range, and an established general pediatrician should plan around the mid $260,000 range, with subspecialty training moving the number in both directions.

Part of the pediatrics hub.

Four sources, one narrow band

Read the sources for what each one measures. Medscape reports average compensation of $266,000 for pediatrics across its surveyed physicians, and places pediatrics last among the specialties in the report. Doximity, surveying about 37,000 physicians for its 2025 report, reports average total compensation of $265,230 for general pediatrics. Marit Health averages self reported pediatrician salaries at $263,500, a figure built from what physicians choose to submit rather than from a survey sample. AMN Healthcare measures a different thing, the starting offers its recruiters see, and reports an average starting salary of $258,000, the lowest starting figure in its 2025 review of physician recruiting incentives. The spread from the lowest of these figures to the highest is $266,000 minus $258,000, which is $8,000, on a base above a quarter of a million dollars. When a survey average, a compensation report, a self reported database, and a recruiter review all land inside a band that narrow, plan on the band and argue about your specific offer, your setting, and your region instead of arguing about the surveys.

Medscape adds two figures that complete the pay picture. The average incentive bonus for pediatricians is $26,000, the second lowest among the specialties surveyed, with only psychiatry lower at $24,000. Bonus potential in this specialty is a supplement, not a second salary, and a contract should be judged on its base and its workload long before its bonus language gets anyone excited. The same report captures how pediatricians themselves judge the trade: 82 percent would choose pediatrics again, and 55 percent feel fairly compensated. Those two numbers together describe the specialty honestly. The work itself retains its people at one of the strongest rates in medicine, while nearly half of them look at the pay and call it unfair for the work involved.

How pediatrics compares, and how it spreads internally

Inside the Medscape report, family medicine averages $288,000 and internal medicine averages $307,000. Pediatrics sits $288,000 minus $266,000, which is $22,000, below the next lowest primary care specialty, and $307,000 minus $266,000, which is $41,000, below internal medicine. Those gaps sound modest in a single year and compound across a career of raises, retirement contributions, and Social Security credits calculated from the same base. This is the pay paradox the whole specialty section is built around: the physicians who care for children carry the median education debt of $200,000 (AAMC, class of 2025) on the lowest pay in the building.

The spread inside pediatrics is wider than the spread between surveys. In the Doximity report, neonatology averages $354,841 and pediatric cardiology averages $352,197, while pediatric endocrinology averages $230,426 and pediatric rheumatology averages $231,574, both below the general pediatrics figure of $265,230 in the same report. Neonatology sits $354,841 minus $265,230, which is $89,611, above general pediatrics. Pediatric endocrinology sits $265,230 minus $230,426, which is $34,804, below it. Pediatric pulmonology, the subspecialty practiced by this site's co founder, averages $282,000. A fellowship decision in this specialty is therefore a pay decision in both directions, and it should be priced with these figures on the table rather than assumed to pay for itself. The fellowship question is worked in full in the related questions below.

What the averages hide

An average blends settings that pay very differently. Academic positions, private practice, hospital employed roles, and part time schedules all feed the same surveys, and none of the sources above promises any individual pediatrician the average. Geography moves the figure, call burden moves it, and the share of work that is clinical moves it. Use the band the way this site uses every benchmark: as the planning input for the waterfall, the savings rate, and the house decision, and as the yardstick for judging a specific offer, never as a promise about what a given job will pay. A pediatrician who plans the household finances around $258,000 to $266,000, saves at a deliberate rate from the first attending year, and treats any pay above the band as waterfall fuel rather than lifestyle will be fine on the lowest salary in medicine. The pay is the constraint. It has never been the verdict.

Follow up questions

Why do the surveys report slightly different numbers?

Each source measures a different population in a different way. Medscape surveys its physician readers, Doximity surveys its network of about 37,000 physicians, and Marit Health averages salaries that physicians self report. The differences are small, $263,500 to $266,000 across the three, which is why the band is more useful than any single figure.

Do pediatric subspecialists always earn more than general pediatricians?

No, and pediatrics is the specialty where that assumption fails most visibly. Neonatology and pediatric cardiology pay well above general pediatrics in the Doximity report, while pediatric endocrinology and pediatric rheumatology pay below it. Price a fellowship with the figures for that specific subspecialty before you commit the training years.

How much of pediatrician pay comes from bonuses?

Less than in almost any other specialty. Medscape puts the average incentive bonus at $26,000, the second lowest among the specialties surveyed. Judge an offer on base pay and workload first, and treat bonus language as a supplement that may or may not arrive in a given year.

Related questions

• Does a pediatrics subspecialty fellowship pay for itself?
• How much house can a pediatrician afford?
• What should a pediatrician check in a first children's hospital contract?

Sources

Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2026 (average pediatrics compensation of $266,000, the lowest of any specialty in the report; average incentive bonus of $26,000; family medicine at $288,000 and internal medicine at $307,000 in the same report; 82 percent of pediatricians would choose the specialty again and 55 percent feel fairly compensated, accessed October 2026)

Doximity Physician Compensation Report 2025 (average total compensation of $265,230 for general pediatrics, with subspecialty averages including neonatology at $354,841, pediatric cardiology at $352,197, pediatric pulmonology at $282,000, pediatric rheumatology at $231,574, and pediatric endocrinology at $230,426, from about 37,000 physicians surveyed, accessed October 2026)

Marit Health, pediatrician salaries (self reported average pediatrician salary of $263,500, accessed October 2026)

AMN Healthcare, 2025 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives (average starting salary of $258,000 for pediatricians, the lowest starting salary in the review, accessed October 2026)

Association of American Medical Colleges (median education debt of $200,000 for the class of 2025, accessed October 2026)

Takeaways

• Average pediatrics compensation is $266,000 (Medscape), $265,230 (Doximity), and $263,500 self reported (Marit Health), the lowest pay of any specialty in the Medscape report.
• The average starting salary is $258,000 (AMN Healthcare), the lowest starting salary in that review.
• The average incentive bonus is $26,000, the second lowest among the specialties surveyed.
• Subspecialty pay spreads widely, from $230,426 in pediatric endocrinology to $354,841 in neonatology (Doximity).
• Pediatricians endorse the work more than the pay: 82 percent would choose it again, while 55 percent feel fairly compensated.