Cardiologist compensation drops 4%—still higher than most other healthcare specialties
Cardiologists in the United States earn an average annual income of $506,000, according to new survey data from Medscape. This represents a drop of approximately 4% compared to the previous year, when cardiologists took home an average annual income of $525,000.
The 2025 Medscape Physician Compensation Report includes feedback from more than 7,000 U.S. physicians from dozens of specialties. Each participant took a 10-minute survey, sharing salary data with Medscape from October 2024 to January 2025.
Overall, physicians reported earning an average annual income of $376,000 in 2024, including averages of $281,000 for primary care providers and $398,000 for specialists. These numbers represent slight increases compared to 2023, even though cardiology and multiple specialties did experience a drop.
Cardiology ranks No. 4 among all healthcare specialties, trailing just orthopedics ($543,000), radiology ($520,000) and plastic surgery ($516,000). Those are the only specialties with averages that were higher than $500,000, though anesthesiology is not far behind with an average of $499,000.
The drop in compensation comes at a time when the United States is already experiencing a shortage of cardiologists. Is this dip a sign of things to come, or will cardiology compensation bounce back in the years ahead? Only time will tell, of course, but it’s certainly something to keep a close eye on.
Majority of doctors believe their specialty is underpaid
While 53% of respondents said they think they are personally underpaid, approximately 60% said they think their entire specialty is underpaid. Medscape included anonymous quotes from multiple physicians, including one who emphasized that modern doctors “need to be paid more today because there may not be any income tomorrow.” Another anonymous physician wondered why health insurance has skyrocketed in recent years, but not physician income.
Gaps in pay are not shrinking—it is widening
Another key takeaway from the Medscape report is the fact that the gap in pay between male and female physicians has not started to shrink in the slightest. In fact, the gender gap was more than $98,000 in 2024, higher than any other year.
The gaps in pay between white physicians and other racial/ethnic groups also increased, another sign that these issues have not experienced the momentum many healthcare leaders had hoped to see.
Click here for the full report. Medscape often releases a separate report with additional cardiology later in the year.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.