Rheumatology Salaries 2025 Save
Medscape has published its annual Physician Compensation report with physican salaries up roughly 3% and eight specialties earning more than $500,000 per annum.
The survey included over 5916 physicians from 29 specialties. Rheumatologists made up 1% of the respondents.
Rheumatology ranks in the bottom 4 specialties of the 29 surveyed. The average Rheum salary in the USA was $284,000 (no change from last year). A 2025 Doximity report on physician salaries showed Pediatric rheumatology to be the second ]lowest-paid physician specialty in 2025, earning $231,574.
Physicians commented that salary potential is likely to be a prime factor in medical student choices of career, and may not consider other factors such as research or advancing technology.
Only 26% of physicians in Medscape's survey said they were moderately to very aggressive the last time they negotiated salary in their contract. Interestingly, 6 out of 10 doctors felt they were underpaid, even though 53% of physicians felt fairly compensated individually.
Similar to last year’s report, 42% percent of respondents said their total compensation remained the same from 2024 to 2025. Seventeen percent of physicians were expecting a pay decrease. While cardiology, radiology, and anesthesiology were highest in expecting an 9-10% salary increase in the next year, Rheumatology expected no (0%) increase.
A 2025 Doximity report examines data from 37,000 physicians surveyed last year. The average physician reported a 3.7% increase in pay, beneath the nearly 6% increase reported last year. Rheumatology salaries rank 19th lowest at $324,954 (lowest was Pediatric endocrinology $230,426 and the highest was Neurology at $749,140).
Below are the 2026 Medscape rankings of physician salaries:
Join The Discussion
With the $40k difference between Doximity and Medscape, is this just sample size or perhaps a selection bias of respondents (academic vs private)? Are rheumatologists missing opportunities to increase their salary range and, if so, are there resources to help them identify and implement them?
All physicians contribute equally to the health of their patients. Saving somebody's life with severe systemic lupus is no less valuable than a knee replacement or cardiac bypass surgery. We should all be compensated the same the hours put in. Redistribute the pay through Medicare payment reform. It can be net zero in cost. That will drive recruitment into the bottom 10 paid specialties. It's simple math.
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The author has no conflicts of interest to disclose related to this subject
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