Doctors in Business: Which Specialty Pays Well?

On earning a medical degree, it soon becomes clear that your education and training in your career is far from done. 

Even doctors in a general practice tend to keep developing for as long as they are working. 

However, you may choose to follow a niche and choose a specialty that can see you treating specific conditions or patients. 

Here are some of the most popular ones, whether you’re planning to find a job or start a business of your own, and why they’re popular in the first place.

doctor jobs pay well

Plastic surgery

When it comes to looking at specialties that are the highest paying, there are several that can see you earning well over $400,000 on average. 

While far from poorly paid, the primary care fields like family medicine and internal medicine are lower on the scale. 

Meanwhile, plastic surgery, which can involve a very wide range of cosmetic treatments and surgeries, is considered the highest-earning field, on average. 

You also get the benefit of providing treatments that can have a major impact on the self-image and mental health of the patients you treat.

Pediatrics

Health care professionals who focus specifically on the wellbeing and development of growing children often choose this career because they have a genuine concern and fondness for children. 

This resource can help you find pediatrician jobs, ensuring that you’re playing a direct role in the care of those who are most unable to provide it to themselves. 

You can also do the important job of educating parents on how to protect and nurture their child as they grow, beyond providing your own diagnoses and treatments.

Emergency Medicine

Most of the general practices in health care will have enough demand to sustain your career for however long it will last. 

However, providing the first-contact point of care for patients who need emergency help, as is the case with an emergency medicine career, can ensure that you get some of the best-assured job security in the market. 

Stressful as this role can be, there is a great demand for emergency medicine providers. It’s also a job that involves being on the front lines and, in many cases, directly saving lives. 

If you can handle the pressure, this could be a role that needs your skills.

Orthopedic Surgery

Alongside integrated interventional radiology and neurological surgery, this is one of the most competitive medical specialties around

As with all industries, health care tends to draw a lot of those who like to excel and to overcome challenges. Many would not make it through medical school without such a drive. 

This specialty, which involves surgically treating a host of issues affecting the musculoskeletal system, can provide the ongoing challenge that many are looking for in their career. 

It’s also among one of the more highly paid specialties out there, as well.


From job satisfaction to pay for the reliability of the market, there are different reasons to choose different specialties. There are plenty more beyond those mentioned above worth considering, too.