How Much Do Ophthalmologists Make? Salary Insights 2024

How much do ophthalmologists make? Discover comprehensive ophthalmologist salary data and insights for 2024 at HOW.EDU.VN, empowering physicians with the knowledge needed for successful contract negotiations. Explore average salaries, specialization impacts, and practice environment influences. Enhance your career with our expert consultations on eye care compensation packages.

1. Understanding Ophthalmology Aggregate Stats

The ophthalmologist salary data presented here is derived from 87 anonymous contributions to our database, collected between mid-2023 and mid-2024. While a larger dataset is generally preferred, specialized medical fields often have limited data available. Unless stated otherwise, the statistics provided below pertain to full-time practicing ophthalmologists, defined as those working 36 or more hours per week.

It’s crucial to recognize that smaller datasets might not fully represent the entire specialty. Therefore, we encourage you to access our comprehensive, free doctor salary and negotiation database at HOW.EDU.VN to compare your situation with relevant data points.

We are committed to continually updating this page as more data becomes available, allowing us to reassess statistics and expand our insights.

Contribute your physician salary and negotiation data to help others in your specialty.

2. Average Ophthalmologist Salary Overview

The average annual salary for all contributing ophthalmologists, including both part-time and full-time practitioners, is $484,000. This figure includes only attending physicians and excludes data from residents and fellows.

It’s important to note that a single average annual salary can be misleading due to various influencing factors. We provide a more detailed breakdown below to help you find relevant comparison points.

2.1. Full-Time Ophthalmologist Salary

Part-time salaries can distort the overall average, so let’s examine full-time and part-time salaries separately.

As previously mentioned, a full-time equivalent is defined as working 36 or more hours per week.

The average salary for a full-time ophthalmologist is $509,000. To provide context on the salary range around this average, here are some additional statistics:

The highest reported salaries reach approximately $1,500,000 per year.
The lowest reported salaries are in the $200,000 per year range.
The median salary is $450,000.

Further details on who earns $900,000 or more are provided in the section on how much ophthalmologists make by practice environment.

2.2. Part-Time Ophthalmologist Salary

A number of our ophthalmologists reported working part-time, with most working 31-35 hours per week. More information on typical ophthalmologist work hours is provided below.

To calculate a part-time average, we considered attending physicians working 16-35 hours per week.

The average part-time ophthalmologist salary is $329,000.

3. Ophthalmologist Salary by Specialization

Specialization can significantly influence salary. Therefore, we analyzed overall trends in average salary based on the specializations that doctors included in their data contributions. While we lacked sufficient data points to determine average salaries for most specializations, we can offer a qualitative overview of the dataset.

Cornea Specialists: Almost all ophthalmologists with a cornea subspecialty reported annual salaries between $300,000 and $400,000, significantly lower than the overall average for ophthalmologists. The outlier reported a $700,000 salary and was a 1099 physician. The type of employment can affect average earnings, as discussed below.
Glaucoma Specialists: One of the lowest reported salaries came from a glaucoma specialist, who was on active duty military. Practice environment can significantly impact salaries, as discussed below. Overall, this subspecialty tends to pay on the higher side, with reported salaries ranging from $500,000 to $800,000 per year.
Pediatric Ophthalmologists: All current data for pediatric ophthalmologists were below the overall average for ophthalmologists, ranging from $250,000 to $500,000.
Retina Specialists: The average salary for ophthalmologists with a retina subspecialty was $699,000 per year, 37% higher than the overall average. Two of the three highest reported salaries came from doctors in this subspecialty.
Vitreoretinal Surgeons: Reported salaries range widely from $570,000 to $900,000, but all reported salaries for vitreoretinal surgeons were higher than the average for all ophthalmologists.

4. Ophthalmologist Salary by Gender

We also compared the average salaries of female and male ophthalmologists.

Female ophthalmologists reported an average salary of $459,000, while male ophthalmologists reported an average salary of $549,000.

Overall, male doctors averaged 20% higher salaries than their female counterparts. The data indicated that male ophthalmologists were more likely to be owners or partners in their practice. 36% of male ophthalmologists were owners/partners, compared to only 16% of female ophthalmologists. This factor can play a significant role in salary.

5. Ophthalmologist Salary by Practice Environment

Next, we analyzed the data by practice environment to assess average pay differences.

Group private practice, non-private equity backed: $544,000
Group private practice, private equity backed: $692,000
Academic hospital employee: $384,000

Of the practice environments with sufficient data, ophthalmologists working for academic hospitals reported the lowest average salary, 42% less than colleagues in non-PE backed group practices and 80% less than those in PE-backed group practices. However, these positions often qualify for Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), a significant benefit in the overall compensation package. It’s essential to consider the entire proposed offer, not just the salary.

Typically, doctors outside of private equity earn more than those in private equity-backed practices. However, our current ophthalmologist dataset shows physicians in PE-backed groups averaging 27% more. The majority of respondents working for PE-backed companies may have been owners rather than employees who were partners at the time of sale to private equity, which could skew the averages. Further data is needed to draw definitive conclusions.

Contribute your physician salary and compensation data to help future updates.

Both of our lowest reported salaries came from active-duty military members.

The data for solo private practice ophthalmologists had a wider range. While most reported salaries were around $375,000, one ophthalmologist in solo private practice reported a seven-figure income.

5.1. Who Earns the Most in Ophthalmology?

Six of our contributions for ophthalmology reported salaries of $900,000 or more. These high earners shared several common traits:

They all work in private practice, either solo or group.
They are either partners/owners or in a surgical subspecialty.
They typically have at least five years of experience after training.

6. Ophthalmologist Salary by Type of Employment

Physicians contributing to our database can indicate their employment type. Salaries often vary significantly based on employment type.

1099 Independent Contractor Ophthalmologists: We don’t have enough data points to assess an average, but the range between the highest and lowest reported salaries for 1099 contractors was more than $400,000, suggesting other factors may play a more significant role in determining salaries for this employment type.
Locums: One of our lowest reported salaries was for a locums physician. However, they did not specify how often they work locums or the length of their contracts, making it difficult to determine if locums was their full-time job or a side gig. We have a separate locums pay and compensation dataset and have analyzed statistics on locum tenens compensation for doctors separately, which contains more data.
W-2 Employed Ophthalmologists: On average, W-2 employed ophthalmologists made $476,000 per year, less than the overall average for full-time ophthalmologists.
Partners/Owners: Partners/owners reported an average salary of $610,000 per year, 28% higher than W-2 employees. Partners/owners averaged slightly more hours worked per week, but only by about 5% versus the 28% higher salary.

Becoming a partner or owner can be a great way to increase your earnings potential as an ophthalmologist, if you don’t mind the additional administrative roles that accompany the title. Several of these partners may also have ownership in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC).

7. Ophthalmologist Salary by Location

Our ophthalmologists are located throughout the country, and we don’t yet have average salaries by state. We need more data points in each location before commenting on trends. We hope to update this section soon.

8. Ophthalmologist Salary by Hours Worked

Medicine can often be an “eat what you kill” industry, so we examined how average salaries varied by reported hours worked.

16-35 hours a week average: $329,000
36-40 hours a week average: $515,000
41-45 hours a week average: $466,000
46-50 hours a week average: $460,000
51+ hours a week average: $682,000

While generally, ophthalmologists who work the most make the most and those who work the least make the least, we observed an interesting reverse trend around 36-50 hours per week in our current dataset. This suggests that other factors, such as practice ownership, drive salaries for ophthalmologists more than hours worked. More data points will hopefully clarify this in the future.

8.1. How Much Ophthalmologists Work

In addition to analyzing how much ophthalmologists make by hours worked, we also looked at average work hours.

The majority of ophthalmologists work 36-45 hours per week on average.

Along with average hours worked, doctors in our database also indicate how much time they spend charting. Ophthalmologists spend less time charting at home than many other specialties featured in our how much doctors make by specialty series, but 33% still reported spending at least one hour per week charting at home, in addition to the hours worked above.

If you find yourself spending a lot of time charting at home, an AI scribe may dramatically decrease your charting time. We offer a free trial and a long-standing discount on an AI scribing solution in our practice resources for physicians.

9. Changes in Ophthalmologist Salary Over Time

The data analyzed included contributions from mid-2023 to mid-2024, reflecting data from our most recent salary and compensation database.

We also examined our previous salary database, started in 2018, to understand trends in average pay for ophthalmologists over time. To compare relative data, we continued to focus on ophthalmologists out of residency/fellowship who worked an average of 36+ hours per week. For 2023, we combined data from the old and new databases, cutting off entries at the transition point to avoid overlapping or duplicate information.

2018-2019: $400,000
2020-2021: $383,000 (4% decrease)
2022-2023: $458,000 (20% increase)
2024: $509,000 (11% increase)

Overall, ophthalmology salaries are increasing over time. There was a dip in 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, which we’ve seen across several specialties, especially those with elective surgeries that were suspended during the pandemic.

We see a sharp increase in salaries in 2022-2023 with pay rebounding after the pandemic, as well as a continued increase in salaries for 2024.

With more salary transparency, we hope to see this trend continue.

10. Additional Insights into Ophthalmologist Compensation Packages

In addition to salary information, physicians contributing to our databases include other compensation data. We plan to delve further into complete compensation packages later, but for now, here are some key insights ophthalmologists might find interesting.

10.1. Sign-On and Relocation Bonuses Ophthalmologists Receive

25% of our ophthalmologists reported receiving a sign-on bonus, with an average amount of $20,000. Signing bonuses ranged from $5,000 to $45,000.

Learn more about sign-on bonuses for physicians.

33% reported receiving a relocation bonus. The average amount was around $9,000. Relocation bonuses ranged from $2,000 to $20,000. Some members noted that relocation bonuses were limited to reimbursement of actual moving expenses rather than a lump sum bonus.

10.2. Average Vacation Days Ophthalmologists Receive

The average number of vacation days annually was 22 days, with 20 days being the median. Some doctors commented that their vacation is an overall pool of paid time off, including their sick days and CME, while others had separate buckets.

Others commented that they have unlimited time off, but this was typically because they worked under a straight production compensation model. This time off thus wasn’t an extra compensation perk of paid time off, as they didn’t get paid if they didn’t work. This can be an important distinction to make sure you understand when negotiating your physician employment agreement.

10.3. CME Stipends for Ophthalmologists

58% of our ophthalmology doctors reported receiving some sort of CME stipend, with the average annual stipend being around $5,200. Stipends ranged everywhere from $1,000 up to $25,000.

10.4. Average Student Loan Debt for Ophthalmologists

While student loans are not part of compensation, student loan debt forgiveness can be a benefit with many positions. Of our physicians who reported their student loan debt at graduation, the average debt was $220,000. The higher your federal loan debt burden, the more beneficial repayment programs and loan forgiveness programs can be.

Learn more about doctor student loans. If you’ve been considering refinancing to help with the debt burden, you can also explore our student loan refinancing options.

11. Extra Insights from Ophthalmologists

As part of our salary and compensation data contributions, members of our physician online community can provide additional comments. As we compiled the data, we also looked for additional insights provided by other ophthalmologists that could be valuable for job selection and contract negotiations. Here are a few that might be useful:

12. Increasing Your Ophthalmologist Salary

If the information above has you questioning your current salary, there are several ways to increase your income as an ophthalmologist. But first, remember to consider the overall picture, taking into account all the factors included above, such as PTO, call responsibilities, and 401(k) match.

Salary is a key component of physician compensation, but it isn’t the only part of a well-negotiated physician employment contract.

If you like where you work but don’t love the pay, consider setting aside time to talk with management. If you are a valued team member, they may be willing to renegotiate your contract rather than risk losing you. Their answer may be no, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Be practical in what you’re expecting and respectful in your request. Diving deeper into the salary and compensation data for physicians for comparable situations can help you get a target idea of what to try to renegotiate.

Looking for additional career opportunities can also help. Sometimes, an employer may not be able or willing to get you to where you should be. That doesn’t mean every job will come with the same constraints. Interviewing for a few other positions can give you a feel for what the market looks like from the employer’s perspective by what employers are willing to offer. Explore open opportunities on our Physician Side Gigs job board, and explore all our physician career resources and education to help you navigate the job search process.

While we think the data above and in our database can be a great tool during the negotiation process, we almost always also recommend hiring a local contract review attorney for physicians to review your contract. They will have invaluable experience when it comes to negotiating physician contracts, including understanding what red flags to watch out for.

If you’re looking to increase your income as an ophthalmologist but are already at or above your market’s rate, you have options in this situation as well.

Explore popular medical and non-medical side gigs for doctors for ideas on other ways to increase your income.

13. Additional Salary and Career Resources for Ophthalmologists

Explore our related articles and resources on doctor compensation and salaries:

If you haven’t recently, please take a few minutes to contribute! The data provided is used only for the purpose of our database to help physicians like yourself negotiate better compensation by helping provide salary transparency with relevant data. The data is completely anonymous and is only available to members of our Physician Side Gigs Facebook group. Contribution links can be found on our compensation data for physicians page.

Looking for a new career opportunity? Explore the Physician Side Gigs job board for current opportunities.

If you need guidance on negotiating your next contract for the best possible deal, check out:

Also, check out common medical and non-medical physician side gigs.

Are you seeking expert advice to maximize your ophthalmologist salary or navigate your career? At HOW.EDU.VN, our team of over 100 renowned PhDs is ready to provide personalized guidance. Whether you need assistance with contract negotiations, career advancement strategies, or understanding compensation trends, our experts offer unparalleled insights.

Don’t navigate your career alone. Contact HOW.EDU.VN today and connect with top PhDs for expert consultation. Visit our website or call +1 (310) 555-1212. Our office is located at 456 Expertise Plaza, Consult City, CA 90210, United States.

14. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Ophthalmologist Salaries

Here are some frequently asked questions about ophthalmologist salaries and related topics:

What is the average salary for an ophthalmologist in 2024?

The average annual salary for ophthalmologists in 2024 is approximately $484,000, including both full-time and part-time practitioners.
How does specialization affect an ophthalmologist’s salary?

Specialization can significantly impact salary. For example, retina specialists tend to earn more than cornea specialists.
What is the difference in salary between male and female ophthalmologists?

On average, male ophthalmologists earn about 20% more than female ophthalmologists.
How does the practice environment affect an ophthalmologist’s salary?

Ophthalmologists working in private equity-backed group practices tend to earn more than those in academic hospitals.
What is the average sign-on bonus for ophthalmologists?

The average sign-on bonus for ophthalmologists is around $20,000.
What is the average CME stipend for ophthalmologists?

The average annual CME stipend for ophthalmologists is approximately $5,200.
How many vacation days do ophthalmologists typically receive?

Ophthalmologists typically receive around 22 vacation days per year.
How does student loan debt impact ophthalmologists?

The average student loan debt for ophthalmologists is around $220,000, and loan forgiveness programs can be beneficial.
What are some ways to increase an ophthalmologist’s salary?

To increase your salary, consider negotiating your contract, seeking additional career opportunities, or exploring medical and non-medical side gigs.
Where can I find expert advice on ophthalmologist salaries and career advancement?

At how.edu.vn, you can connect with over 100 PhDs ready to provide personalized guidance on career strategies and salary negotiations.