By TJ Porter, WCI Contributor
Orthopedic surgery is one of the highest-earning specialties among all doctors, landing in the top three according to Doximity’s 2025 Physician Compensation Report and Medscape’s 2025 Compensation Report, which examined more than 230,000 survey responses over the past six years.
While money isn’t everything, physician compensation is an important thing to consider when deciding what to focus on in your medical career.
Here's everything you need to know about orthopedic surgeons, how much money they make, and whether they're satisfied with their pay.
Orthopedic Surgeon Average Salary
According to both Medscape and Doximity, orthopedic surgeons were among the best-paid doctors in 2025. Doximity reported an annual income of $679,517 while Medscape reported earnings of $564,000.
Both reports placed orthopedists among the top-earning physicians, with the specialty coming in at No. 3 in Doximity’s report and in the top spot on Medscape’s report.
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Is Orthopedic Surgeon Income Rising?
Though orthopedic surgeons are among healthcare’s top earners, the picture isn’t so rosy when it comes to income growth. When compared to Medscape’s 2024 compensation report, orthopedic surgeons saw a pay rise of just $6,000, not even 1%. Doximity’s numbers put the increase at $24,702, about 3%.
Given that, as of August 2025, inflation over the past 12 months has been 2.7%, that means that orthopedic surgeons are seeing their real income hold steady or possibly slightly decrease.
This is in line with compensation changes reported by most physicians, with 83% of doctors saying their pay increased or decreased by less than 10% and 43% saying their pay remained mostly the same.
Do Orthopedic Surgeons Have Incentive Bonuses?
Regular pay is just one piece of the compensation puzzle. Many physicians also report receiving incentive bonuses for their work.
Roughly half of orthopedic surgeons, 52%, reported earning incentive bonuses in 2024. That’s slightly less than the 58% of all physicians who reported earning bonuses. Just under half of orthopedic surgeons reported taking on additional work to boost their income, with 38% reporting taking on other medical work, 7% saying they had other non-medical work, 4% reporting medical moonlighting, and 3% reporting taking on additional hours.
Do Orthopedic Surgeons Feel Fairly Compensated?
Despite being among the top-earning physicians, orthopedic surgeons are more likely to believe that they aren’t earning enough. Fifty-six percent of orthopedic surgeons reported feeling underpaid relative to their work demands in 2024. Only 44% felt that their compensation was fair.
Far more orthopedic surgeons are unhappy with physician pay generally, with 72% saying doctors as a whole are underpaid.
Money concerns seem to be far more top-of-mind for orthopedic surgeons than for other physicians. Among all doctors, 61% said that physicians were underpaid while 34% reported that compensation was at the right level and just 5% felt overpaid.
Despite widespread concerns about pay, most doctors report that their pay is enough to cover their family’s needs. Only 29% felt that they didn’t get paid enough to provide for their family’s needs.
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Other Sources
Medscape and Doximity are just two sources for physician income data. There are other places you can look.
Here’s some other data on typical earnings for orthopedic surgeons.
- Merritt Hawkins: $686,000 (in 2024)
- AMGA: $723,421 (in 2024)
- Marit: $739,990
Increasing Your Physician Income
Orthopedic surgeons have some of the highest earnings among physicians. Even if you’re happy with what you make, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be working to maximize your income.
The best thing you can do to try to boost your earnings is to negotiate with your employer. Winding up with a bad contract, as many doctors do, can leave you poorly compensated and stuck with high costs of annoying non-compete programs that can limit your future opportunities.
If you’re negotiating a new contract, you should reach out to an attorney who is familiar with the medical industry and can help you review any offers you receive. They can also help provide advice for your negotiations so you can get the best deal possible. The White Coat Investor has a list of vetted attorneys and law firms to work with to make sure you get a good deal.
Once you’ve made money, it’s also important to handle that money properly. Improving your financial literacy and learning how to invest effectively can be a force multiplier, letting you turn your compensation into a nest egg that becomes a source of long-term wealth. The White Coat Investor has a series of popular posts that will help put you on the path toward financial success.
The White Coat Investor is filled with posts like this, whether it’s increasing your financial literacy, showing you the best strategies on your path to financial success, or discussing the topic of mental wellness. To discover just how much The White Coat Investor can help you in your financial journey, start here to read some of our most popular posts and to see everything else WCI has to offer. And make sure to sign up for our newsletters to keep up with our newest content.
