Name: Highest Paid Doctor Specialties (All Over $500K)
Uploaded: 2025-10-18T18:22:10.000Z
Duration: 13 min 50 s
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While it's true that becoming a doctor means a guaranteed six figure salary, these salaries vary dramatically between specialties.

The good news is in 2024, 12 medical specialties now make over 500k a year.

Dr. Jubbal medschoolinsiders.com let's break down the top 12.

In the 12th spot is Otolaryngology, or ENT.

These physicians make just over half a million at $502,000 a year.

ENT is a surgical subspecialty focusing on diseases of the head and neck region, including the nose, sinuses, vocal cords, ears, thyroid and parathyroid, as well as cancers of the head and neck.

As far as lifestyle goes, ents have it pretty great.

They have an excellent work life balance and a flexible schedule.

They can choose to devote most of their time to the clinic or have a 5050 split between the clinic and the OR.

Clinic days will have regular nine to five hours and OR days can either be half days or full 12 hour days if they're dealing with more complicated cases.

If you want to become an otolaryngologist, ENT is a five year categorical residency, meaning you'll match straight into an ENT residency program.

You should know, however, that ENT is highly competitive, consistently ranking in the top five most competitive medical specialties.

Download our Specialty Competitiveness Index linked in the Description, which compares specialty competitiveness based on a number of key Factors.

In the 11th spot we have Gastroenterology.

Gastroenterology focuses on everything in the gastrointestinal tract, ranging from the mouth to internal organs like the liver to the anus.

They deal with a wide variety of diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, hepatitis and heartburn.

On top of their substantial paycheck, gastroenterologists also have a strong work life balance and can practice in academic, community or private settings, though private is less common.

Getting into gastroenterology is a challenge as it's the third most competitive internal medicine specialty after cardiology and hematology oncology and training is lengthy for a non surgical specialty.

After four years of medical school, you need to complete three years of internal medicine residency and three years of a gastroenterology fellowship.

GI is the specialty I thought I wanted to pursue when I first started medical school.

To learn why I switched to plastic surgery and why I didn't choose other specialties, check out the why I Didn't series on The Kevin Jubbal, MD channel.

Coming in at number 10 is urology at $529,000 a year urologists are surgeons of the urogenital tract, which includes the kidneys, ureters, bladder, prostate, urethra, testes and more.

Urology can also cover fertility, sexual function and gender identity.

Life as an attending urologist is pretty sweet as urology has a much better work life balance than most other surgical specialties.

After residency, you can expect 40 to 60 hour work weeks to become a urologist.

At number nine, radiologists make $532,000 a year.

Radiology can be broken down into two distinct diagnostic radiology and interventional radiology.

Diagnostic radiologists typically don't take images that's left to the radiation text.

Instead, diagnostic radiologists spend the majority of their time in reading rooms analyzing finished scans and interpreting them for the clinical physician who ordered the scans.

Interventional radiologists use medical imaging technology to treat and sometimes diagnose conditions, and

they can also perform minimally invasive procedures.

Diagnostic radiologists have one of the best work life balances in all of medicine.

They're not on call and typically work regular eight to five hour work weeks.

Interventional radiologists, on the other hand, are often on call, meaning they can be called in from home at any hour and on weekends for urgent interventions.

Diagnostic radiology requires a five year residency, whereas becoming an interventional radiologist takes six to seven years, depending on when you make the decision to focus on interventional radiology.

As with most medical career paths, the more specialized you become, the more you'll make.

Income as a radiologist is more determined by your practice type and niche, rather than whether you are a diagnostic or interventional radiologist.

At number eight is vascular surgery at $556,000 a year.

Vascular surgeons care for veins and arteries throughout the body except the brain and heart.

They treat a wide range of conditions, including aortic aneurysms, blood clots, carotid artery disease, thrombosis and varicose veins.

While the pay is great, the lifestyle is not.

Vascular surgeons must be on call and work both long and odd hours, including weekends.

Vascular surgery residency typically lasts five years if you match directly into the specialty.

But you can also pursue vascular surgery after general surgery as a fellowship option, which is which brings training up to six to seven years.

At $565,000, it is the highest paying of all the internal medicine fellowships and it's the most competitive.

Cardiologists treat diseases of the heart and vascular system, many of which are quite common, like heart failure, hypertension and myocardial infarctions, also known as heart attacks.

Heart disease is unfortunately the leading cause of death in the US despite often being preventable.

I discussed the four horsemen of preventable chronic disease in my extensive summary of Peter Attia's longevity book Outlive on the Kevin Jubbal, M.D.

channel the lifestyle of a cardiologist depends on the kind of cardiology practice they run.

If they focus on procedures, they could be called in the middle of the night for emergencies, but

if they run a heart failure or electrophysiology clinic, work hours tend to be more stable.

To become a cardiologist, you'll need a three year internal medicine residency followed by a three year cardiology fellowship.

This is one of the longest non surgical training paths to begin with, and

since this is a field with multiple sizable subspecialties of its own, many choose to further subspecialize and train with an additional fellowship for another one to three years.

At number six is radiation oncology at $569,000.

Like the name suggests, radiation oncologists treat cancer patients as well as people with benign non cancerous conditions with radiation therapy.

The therapy uses X rays to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells.

Radiation oncologists work closely with other doctors on the cancer treatment team, which can include a medical oncologist and surgical oncologist.

Radiation oncologists enjoy a healthy work life balance.

While there is some call, Most physicians work 45 to 50 hours a week.

Radiation oncology is a five year residency program.

Next at number five is oral and Maxillofacial Surgery or OMFS for short.

At single, OMFS is a subspecialty of dentistry that focuses on the surgical management of the face, jaw and oral cavity.

While it's true that these surgeons do perform a number of wisdom teeth extractions and dental implants, the scope of the specialty is much broader.

Together with the substantial paycheck, many OMF surgeons work a regular 40 hour workweek granting them an excellent work life balance.

To become an omfs, you must first complete dental school.

After that there are two pathways, the four year program or the six year dual degree program.

Both will certify you to practice as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.

But the four year program will maintain your DDS from dental school, whereas the six year degree will earn you an MD in addition to your dds.

Arriving at number four on our list is my personal favorite place.

Plastic Surgery plastic surgeons clear $620,000 a year.

Plastic surgery primarily focuses on a patient's soft tissue such as fat skin and muscle, as well as occasionally bone to reshape or reconstruct a patient's function or appearance.

There are two types of plastic surgery, reconstructive and aesthetic.

Reconstructive plastic surgery involves procedures to correct body and facial abnormalities, such as cleft palate, and

aesthetic plastic surgery deals with procedures designed to enhance someone's appearance, such as liposuction, breast augmentation and rhinoplasties.

It should also be noted that aesthetic plastic surgeons typically earn more than their recon colleagues.

The lifestyle is busy, but COL isn't bad and most surgeries are not urgent.

That said, COL is much more prevalent for plastic surgeons who specialize in microsurgery or are on call for facial trauma.

There are two paths you can take to become a plastic surgeon.

The first is the one I took, the integrated path, where you graduate medical school and head straight into six years of plastic surgery residency.

If you like the sound of this, keep in mind that plastic surgery consistently ranks in the top three most competitive specialties to match into, so you'll have your work cut out for you.

There is also the independent path, which requires five years of general surgery residency before applying for an additional three years of independent plastic surgery training.

You may be noticing a pattern in all of the highest paid career paths.

They are all either surgical or procedural, with the one exception of diagnostic radiology.

In the bronze medal position is orthopedic surgery at $655,000.

Orthopedic surgeons utilize both surgical and non surgical treatments to manage the musculoskeletal system.

They treat conditions like trauma, tumors, infections, degenerative diseases, congenital disorders, spine diseases and sports injuries.

Although the paycheck is certainly substantial, depending on the subtype of orthopedic surgery you practice, it may come with long hours and poor work life balance to get into orthopaedic surgery, which consistently ranks in the top five most competitive specialties, you'll have to complete a five year orthopedic surgery residency.

In the number two silver medal spot, we make a huge jump in pay.

Thoracic surgeons clear $720,000 a year Thoracic surgery, also known as cardiothoracic surgery or CT for short, is the surgical treatment of organs inside the thorax, also known as the chest cavity, such as the heart, lungs, aorta, esophagus and diaphragm.

These surgeons perform lung and heart transplants, valve replacements, coronary artery bypass grafts and lung resections to remove lung cancer this specialty can be broken down into cardiac, thoracic or cardiothoracic surgery.

After completing their CT surgery training, physicians can choose to specialize in cardiac surgery focusing on the heart and aorta, or thoracic surgery focusing on the lung, esophagus, ribs and other structures in the thorax.

If the surgeon chooses to remain generalized, they can operate in both cardiac and thoracic domains.

Unfortunately, this is a specialty with a very difficult lifestyle.