Radiology residents earn an average salary of more than $60K
The average salary for a radiology resident is $60,700, according to a new report published by Medscape. This puts radiology in the middle of the pack among all specialties.
Medscape surveyed more than 1,900 residents from dozens of specialties in April 2018 for the report, asking them about their salaries, hours, how they feel about their careers and much more.
Overall, the average resident salary in 2018 was $59,300, up from $57,200 in 2017 and $56,500 in 2016. Radiology’s average resident salary of $60,700 puts it in 17th place out of 34 specialties. The top specialties were allergy & immunology ($68,000) and rheumatology ($66,200). Public health and preventive medicine ranked last with an average salary of $55,500.
The report also found that the average salary of a resident in their first year of residency was $55,200. As one might expect, that number slowly rises with each year, and the average salary in years six, seven and eight is $64,300. Male ($59,600) and female ($58,700) residents earned “fairly similar salaries,” much closer than the salaries of physicians once they’ve completed their residencies.
Forty-five percent of respondents indicated that they feel fairly compensated for their work. While 36 percent said they believe they should make 26-50 percent more, another 31 percent said they should make 11-25 percent more.
“Residents’ chief reason for dissatisfaction is their feeling that compensation doesn’t reflect the number of hours worked,” according to the report. “Over two thirds of residents are unhappy that their compensation isn’t comparable to that of other medical staff, such as Pas and nurses. One resident commented, ‘Compensation doesn’t account for the amount of debt burden.’”
The report also noted that 23 percent of respondents reported being more than $300,000 in debt due to medical school. Twenty-four percent said they were $200,001-$300,000 in debt. Twenty-three percent said they had no debt from medical school.
Reflecting on the most rewarding part of their job, the top two answers for male residents were “the clinical knowledge and experience that I’m getting” and “gratitude of/relationships with patients.” For female residents, the top two answers were “the clinical knowledge and experience that I’m getting” and “being very good at what I do.”
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.