Physician salary in California
The low end, the average, the median and what the top 10% earn, for 28 clinical occupations in California — U.S. Department of Labor wage data (May 2025), employer-reported rather than self-reported.
Employment-weighted across the 10 physician occupations BLS publishes for California, covering 50,630 clinicians. States where fewer specialties clear the reporting threshold are not directly comparable.
How much do doctors earn in California?
Across the 10 physician occupations BLS publishes for California, covering 50,630 clinicians, the employment-weighted average wage is $259,874 — 8.0% below the same figure computed nationally. That single number hides most of what matters, though: within one state the gap between the median specialty and the best-paid one is usually larger than the gap between California and the national figure. The table is where the answer actually is.
Average salary by specialty in California
Ranked by median annual wage. BLS suppresses any cell with too few reporting employers, so an occupation missing here is unpublished, not unpaid.
| Occupation | Low (10th) | Average | Median | Top 10% | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ophthalmologist | $99,040 | $347,690 | $400,150 | $499,330 | 820 |
| Neurologist | $104,320 | $306,860 | $357,080 | $357,080 | 1,090 |
| Psychiatrist | $113,990 | $315,380 | $353,500 | $496,230 | 5,420 |
| General Internal Medicine Physician | $74,180 | $273,270 | $313,890 | $441,710 | 6,370 |
| Obstetricians and Gynecologist | $103,330 | $272,520 | $301,240 | $401,440 | 1,610 |
| Nurse Anesthetist | $200,530 | $283,780 | $292,410 | $335,550 | 2,230 |
| Physician | $80,590 | $249,620 | $281,590 | $431,980 | 25,530 |
| Radiologist | $96,610 | $309,990 | $270,560 | $499,880 | 690 |
| Orthopedic Surgeon | $80,660 | $258,550 | $253,430 | $457,010 | — |
| Family Medicine Physician | $74,510 | $252,930 | $252,010 | $475,480 | — |
| Pediatrician | $102,600 | $221,480 | $214,140 | $372,460 | 6,680 |
| Podiatrist | $85,480 | $212,350 | $201,300 | $362,110 | 1,000 |
| Pathologist | $105,750 | $221,080 | $186,300 | $387,760 | 1,790 |
| Cardiologist | $109,310 | $296,940 | $185,610 | $532,070 | 630 |
| Nurse Practitioner | $120,340 | $176,760 | $168,520 | $240,830 | 25,120 |
| Dentist | $74,510 | $170,690 | $165,950 | $272,730 | 16,770 |
| Physician Assistant | $99,380 | $169,110 | $165,650 | $225,190 | 13,600 |
| Pharmacist | $90,560 | $162,340 | $164,610 | $213,820 | 34,030 |
| Registered Nurse | $101,260 | $150,280 | $140,270 | $213,320 | 338,940 |
| Optometrist | $99,890 | $147,420 | $136,300 | $213,710 | 6,890 |
| Surgeon | $88,730 | $255,620 | $131,990 | $475,310 | — |
| Occupational Therapist | $85,550 | $121,920 | $124,510 | $158,560 | 13,810 |
| Physical Therapist | $85,580 | $122,580 | $124,190 | $163,960 | 26,580 |
| Speech-Language Pathologist | $79,750 | $118,600 | $118,970 | $160,900 | 16,930 |
| Audiologist | $62,090 | $112,680 | $114,910 | $158,640 | 1,740 |
| Dietitians and Nutritionist | $72,780 | $98,780 | $98,850 | $130,850 | 8,720 |
| Acupuncturist | $37,810 | $89,810 | $75,530 | $186,300 | 2,520 |
| Chiropractor | $51,990 | $101,190 | $75,470 | $179,230 | 2,760 |
Average physician salary in other states
| State | Average | Physicians counted | Occupations published |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | $387,579 | 1,780 | 8 |
| Minnesota | $357,494 | 16,490 | 15 |
| Montana | $356,747 | 1,200 | 4 |
| Wisconsin | $356,708 | 14,100 | 15 |
| Washington | $329,470 | 12,910 | 14 |
| Georgia | $327,324 | 21,800 | 11 |
| Indiana | $322,931 | 17,850 | 16 |
| Maine | $321,736 | 2,740 | 7 |
| Alaska | $321,640 | 1,590 | 8 |
| New Hampshire | $319,363 | 3,180 | 12 |
| Wyoming | $319,103 | 630 | 4 |
| Vermont | $309,238 | 1,610 | 11 |
What a wage figure leaves out in California
These are wages: what an employer pays an employee. They exclude what a clinician bills Medicare, what industry pays them for consulting, speaking or royalties, and anything a practice owner takes as profit rather than salary. Two of those three are published separately by CMS, and this site puts them on the same page as the person’s name.
Industry payments to California doctors →·Look up an individual clinician →
How the California average is calculated. Each physician occupation BLS publishes for California is weighted by the number of clinicians it counts in the state, then averaged. It is not a survey of doctors and it is not comparable across states without care: BLS publishes a different subset of specialties in each state, so a state where only the highest-paid specialties clear the reporting threshold will show a higher average for that reason alone. The occupation count and headcount are printed next to every average on this site so you can see when that is happening.
What it leaves out. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. OES covers wage-and-salary employees, so self-employed physicians and practice owners are outside its scope and partnership distributions are not counted as wages. Bonuses and profit-sharing are excluded from the wage measure too.