Last year was a year of steady increases for OB/GYN salaries as well as for physicians overall. Yet, despite these gains, many OB/GYNs felt the impact of inflation, leading to some discontent with take-home pay. These findings come from Medscape's OB/GYN 2024 Compensation Report, an annual survey that evaluates OB/GYN salary trends and provides insight into their job satisfaction, supplemental income opportunities, and the most rewarding and challenging aspects of work.

Here’s how OB/GYNs responded to the survey relative to their peers in other specialties.

Average OB/GYN salary increased in 2023

The average OB/GYN salary was $352,000 in 2023, compared to $337,000 in 2022, representing a 4% year-over-year gain. These figures place OB/GYNs among middle earners compared to other specialties, in both average salaries and income gains compared to 2022. 

OB/GYNs didn’t choose their specialty for pay

Nearly 90% of OB/GYNs surveyed said pay was either not a factor (49%) or a minor factor (39%) when choosing their specialty. In contrast, just 1% of OB/GYNs said pay was the main factor motivating their choice of specialty.

How much did potential pay matter to OB/GYNs when choosing their specialty?

Interestingly, when residents were surveyed, roughly half indicated pay was the motivating factor for selecting their specialty — suggesting a shift in the weight and recollection of financial factors over time and as earning potential increases. 

More than half of OB/GYNs feel underpaid

When asked whether physicians are fairly compensated in the U.S., 68% of OB/GYNs felt most physicians are underpaid.

However, when OB/GYNs were asked if they felt fairly compensated personally, a slightly smaller percentage of respondents (58%) responded that they felt underpaid.

Do you feel fairly paid as an OB/GYN for the work you do?

Even still, the percentage of OB/GYN respondents who feel fairly compensated (42%) placed the specialty in the lowest quadrant of pay satisfaction among the specialties surveyed.

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OB/GYNs find working with patients most rewarding

When asked about the most rewarding aspects of their job, OB/GYNs cited gratitude from/relationship with patients (32%), being good at the work/finding answers (29%), and making the world a better place/helping others (18%).

What do OB/GYNs find most rewarding about their work?

For Dr. Gina Bell, a locum tenens OB/GYN based in Illinois, the flexibility of working locums helps amplify the aspects of the job she finds most rewarding.

“Being in control of your life is one of the most beneficial aspects of locums. The ability to impart medical care and expertise, enjoy what you’re doing, and go into places that need a physician present is really rewarding,” says Dr. Bell.

“The personal reward is the fact that you can go in and sometimes enhance or uplift, provide care, and maybe even impart a spirit of care that may have been lacking in places. It’s just really being able to focus on patient care that is another large benefit.”

Long hours are the most challenging aspect of OB/GYN work

When asked about the most challenging aspects of their job, most respondents pointed to the long hours (22%), difficult patients (15%), and worries about litigation (14%). One respondent lamented about the feeling of an emphasis on quantity over quality, while another mentioned having difficulties with nonmedical personnel dictating how they practice medicine.

What do OB/GYNs find most challenging about their work?

One-third of OB/GYNs take on supplemental work

Finally, when asked whether they take on extra work to supplement their income, approximately one-third indicated they take on medical-related work (20%) or medical moonlighting (13%), including locum tenens. Another 7% take on non-medical-related work while 6% work additional hours at their primary job.

Find out more: How locum tenens pay and salary works for physicians

Do OB/GYNs take on supplemental work?

OB/GYNs are in high demand as locum tenens. Dr. Shyrlena Bogard, an OB/GYN who works telehealth and locums assignments, confirms the need for OB/GYN services nationwide.

“There is just a huge need in obstetrics and gynecology all across the nation, so I’ve been supplementing my income doing locums, but also just continuing to help out because there is such a need everywhere,” says Dr. Bogard. “There is not a state in the US that does not have a shortage of OBGYNs.”

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