Marit Health Identifies the Top States for Physician Pay Satisfaction in 2025

• New data from thousands of U.S. physicians shows Nebraska, Iowa, and Nevada lead the nation in satisfaction, while high-cost states like New York and California fall behind
  
  
• Marit's findings reveal that lifestyle, autonomy, cost of living and schedule predictability may carry more weight than compensation in shaping where doctors choose to work

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Marit Health, the community-powered salary transparency platform built by and for physicians, today released new data ranking U.S. states by physician compensation satisfaction. The findings challenge long-held assumptions about where doctors are happiest, placing states like Nebraska, Iowa, and Nevada at the top of the list, well ahead of high-salary markets like New York and California. Based on 5,700 verified physician submissions, the dataset offers a fresh look at where clinicians feel most fulfilled and why geography may be a stronger predictor of well-being than income alone.

Across the country, health systems are searching for better ways to support physicians and strengthen long-term retention, as doctors experience record levels of burnout and career attrition. Marit's data shows that physician satisfaction is rarely about compensation alone. It reflects a more complete picture that includes schedules, hours worked, benefits and cost of living. Doctors report feeling most fulfilled in places where they have greater control over their time, a stronger sense of community, and a healthier work-life balance. Understanding what drives that satisfaction is essential for keeping clinics and hospitals staffed, especially in areas that need them most.

"Some jobs look great on paper, whether they're in big cities or prestigious institutions, but they often come with trade-offs that don't show up in the salary line," said Dr. Rob Anderson, co-founder of Marit Health. "What you gain in compensation or reputation, you can lose in autonomy, time with administrative work, or simply quality of life. For many physicians, especially those managing student debt, that pressure can feel even greater in high-cost areas. That's why more doctors are taking a second look at what it really means to have a good job in medicine."

While Marit's full dataset spans every U.S. state, the highest physician satisfaction scores are concentrated in places that rarely make national headlines. Nebraska, Nevada, and Arkansas rank among the top states, with average satisfaction scores exceeding 3.8 out of 5. These markets, known more for community-based care and manageable cost-of-living, consistently outperform traditional "destination" states when it comes to how fulfilled physicians feel in their roles.

At the other end of the spectrum, several coastal states underperform. New York and Massachusetts both fall below the national average, despite being home to many of the country's most prestigious health systems. Markets in the Northeast tend to offer lower pay due to a higher concentration of physicians, even as the cost of living remains high. California ranks near the national average for pay satisfaction, even though wages are significantly higher than in most other states. This shows that high compensation doesn't guarantee satisfaction. Hawaii, often imagined as an ideal location to practice medicine, holds one of the lowest average satisfaction scores in the country at 3.32. In contrast, physicians in smaller cities and rural communities often report stronger satisfaction scores tied to autonomy, lifestyle, and cost of living.

These findings underscore a disconnect between compensation and contentment, and suggest that lifestyle, autonomy, and day-to-day work structure may weigh more heavily in career decisions than paycheck size alone. In fact, the correlation between compensation and satisfaction is only moderate, at just over 0.5. This signals that while pay matters, it doesn't tell the whole story.

"When physicians choose a job, they're often choosing much more than a role or a salary. They're choosing where they might raise a family, build community and stay for years," said Vikas Sabnani, co-founder and CEO of Marit Health. "Those decisions deserve better information: trusted insight, honest experiences from peers, and a clearer sense of where physicians are truly thriving. That's what we're building at Marit Health. We want to help doctors make decisions with confidence, not guesswork."

While Marit's state-level rankings highlight broad regional satisfaction trends, a closer look at metro areas reveals even sharper contrasts. The highest-rated metros for physician satisfaction include Las Vegas (4.0), Salt Lake City (3.9), and Cincinnati (3.84), markets not typically considered physician destinations. Conversely, some of the nation's most prominent urban centers, including New York City (3.34), Boston (3.42), and San Diego (3.37), rank near the bottom of the list, despite above-average compensation.

Marit's 2025 physician satisfaction dataset is based on 5,700 verified submissions across all 50 states. Respondents report not only base salary but also hours worked, call coverage, and subjective satisfaction ratings on a 1–5 scale. State averages ranged from a high of 4.13 (Nebraska) to a low of 3.29 (New Mexico), with a national average of 3.59. All data points are reviewed for consistency before being included in public rankings.

Physicians and healthcare professionals can explore Marit's full dataset, including satisfaction scores and salary benchmarks by state and specialty, at www.marithealth.com.

About Marit Health
Marit Health is a community-powered anonymous salary sharing platform built for medicine - by clinicians and for clinicians, and always free. Marit goes beyond the industry averages, helping clinicians understand individual compensation by speciality and location, including all the workload, schedule, and benefits details that matter. The rapidly growing Marit community is supported by thousands of Physicians and APPs sharing their salaries anonymously, contributing to the world's largest, freshest and most comprehensive clinician compensation data-set. For more information, visit marithealth.com.

For more information, visit www.marithealth.com

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SOURCE Marit Health