Table 1. Summary statistics.
NPV, net present value; USMLE, US Medical Licensing Examination
a Pathology was excluded because it was not reported by Leigh et al. [17], nor was it included in the 2019 Doximity Physician Compensation Report [7]
b Leigh et al. [17] did not report annual work-hours for radiology and anesthesiology because of high variability
| Specialtya | 2019 USMLE Step 1 score, mean | NPV | Annual work-hours | Annual work-hours−weighted NPV, $/annual work-hours | 2019 Average salary | 2019 Matched graduates, No. |
| Dermatology | 249 | $9,088,220.69 | 2,154 | 4,219.23 | $450,000 | 497 |
| Plastic surgery | 249 | $7,724,423.85 | 2,471 | 3,126.03 | $433,000 | 172 |
| Orthopedic Surgery | 248 | $10,308,868.00 | 2,715 | 3,797.00 | $526,000 | 752 |
| Otorhinolaryngology | 248 | $7,578,424.84 | 2,524 | 3,002.55 | $398,000 | 328 |
| Radiation Oncology | 247 | $9,198,312.29 | 2,463 | 3,734.60 | $486,000 | 179 |
| Neurosurgery | 245 | $10,192,309.02 | 2,770 | 3,679.53 | $617,000 | 231 |
| Radiologyb | 240 | $8,149,067.01 | … | … | $429,000 | 1,099 |
| General surgery | 236 | $7,670,463.90 | 2,826 | 2,714.25 | $403,000 | 1,432 |
| Internal medicine | 233 | $5,740,034.35 | 2,609 | 2,200.09 | $264,000 | 8,278 |
| Emergency medicine | 233 | $7,263,452.26 | 2,205 | 3,294.08 | $336,000 | 2,458 |
| Anesthesiologyb | 232 | $8,199,759.92 | … | … | $405,000 | 1,827 |
| Neurology | 231 | $6,185,915.53 | 2,415 | 2,561.46 | $303,000 | 874 |
| Obstetrics and gynecology | 230 | $6,817,709.85 | 2,778 | 2,454.18 | $335,000 | 1,392 |
| Pediatrics | 227 | $4,872,532.48 | 2,212 | 2,202.77 | $223,000 | 2,867 |
| Psychiatry | 226 | $5,751,556.94 | 2,209 | 2,603.69 | $281,000 | 1,720 |
| Physical medicine and rehabilitation | 225 | $6,422,838.40 | 2,157 | 2,977.67 | $315,000 | 459 |
| Family medicine | 220 | $5,274,545.54 | 2,500 | 2,109.82 | $242,000 | 3,827 |