# How much net income do physicians really make **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-net-income-do-physicians-really-make/725527 "2015-07-18T16:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-net-income-do-physicians-really-make/725527/21 "2015-07-21T13:38:46Z")
My good friend’s wife is a doctor working in internal medicine at a Denver hospital; while I don’t know exactly (never asked) I believe she makes around 200 k$/year based upon conversations we have had. Another (not as close) friend is a doctor also working in internal medicine but instead works at a suburban clinic; I would guess she makes something between 140 and 160 k per year based on their lifestyle. She could make significantly more and be putting a lot away in savings. My children go to school with a family where the dad is a surgeon (I don’t know what kind), and that family is loaded. If they do not have any inherited wealth, I would guess he makes well north of 250 k per year based on their lifestyle. All anecdotal and not very accurate, but what can you do? ---
**Author:** ![MmeRose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee7513/32.png) [@MmeRose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MmeRose)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-net-income-do-physicians-really-make/725527/22 "2015-07-23T05:17:31Z")
I guess I am in the wrong job. At least I will not be pursued by gold digging men. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-net-income-do-physicians-really-make/725527/23 "2015-07-23T05:30:41Z")
A friend of mine is a physician, and it really does depend on where/what they end up doing as a practice. He was a general family practitioner and he did not make a ton of money. Being his own office, and being he’s a big softie who saw mostly Medicaid/Medicare patients, after still paying loans and malpractice insurance and business expenses, he cleared about $25,000 the last year he practiced. He has been semi-retired doing other things and let his license lapse since. His partner, on the other hand, has a lucrative psychiatry practice and together they’re quite comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-net-income-do-physicians-really-make/725527/24 "2015-07-23T14:03:45Z")
I work with doctors. Whatever they make, it isn’t enough, given what their lives are like. The facility I work at now has hospitalists, so it helps. In places where that is not the case, doctors do clinic hours AND hospital hours. The small hospital I worked at had 4 physicians in the town, those guys pulled full clinic days, two or more ER rotations per week, and had to be on call for their hospital patients 24/7. That’s no way to live. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-net-income-do-physicians-really-make/725527.md?page=1)