Surgeons were the highest-paid doctors, on average, in California in May 2009.
California is not the highest-paying state for any of the doctors whose salaries are tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, it did have the fifth-highest concentration of any state for general pediatricians in May 2009.
Salaries
Average, or mean, salaries for California doctors ranged from about $136,000 to almost $225,000, according to May 2009 figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Podiatrists were the lowest-paid doctors, making an average of $136,440. General pediatricians and family and general practitioners averaged $165,270 and $164,290 per year, respectively. Top earners included anesthesiologists, at $219,340 per year, and surgeons, at $222,370 annually. Obstetricians and gynecologists made an average of $203,060 per year, while psychiatrists earned $184,980 yearly. General internists had an annual salary of $176,410. Physicians and surgeons not separately classified made an average of $187,240 per year.
State Ranking
California was not among the five highest-paying states in the country for the average salaries of podiatrists, family and general practitioners, pediatricians, anesthesiologists, surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists, psychiatrists, general internists, or other physicians and surgeons, according to BLS's May 2009 survey.
National Comparison
California's average salaries for doctors were greater than the national averages for anesthesiologists, general pediatricians, psychiatrists, surgeons, podiatrists and all other physicians and surgeons. Family and general practitioners as well as obstetricians and gynecologists practicing in California earned slightly less, on average, than the national average salaries for these professions.
Tags: general practitioners, according 2009, average salaries, average year, Bureau Labor, Bureau Labor Statistics