2017’s Best & Worst States for Doctors

by John S Kiernan, Wallet Hub, Mar 27, 2017  

Doctors are among the highest-paid and most educated professionals in the U.S. Just consider the fact that “physician” is the most popular profession within the top 1 percent of earners. Doctors are deserving, after all, given the importance of their life-saving work and the struggles associated with life in the medical profession.

Not only did the average medical-school graduate leave campus with more than $189,000 of debt in 2016, but the medical profession has also been undergoing intense transformation in recent years. Health-care reform, the rise of branded hospital networks and the retirement of Baby Boomers are all complicating the lives of doctors and warranting pause from potential whitecoats.

It’s therefore fair to expect a certain measure of difference in terms of the working environments faced by doctors across the nation. So in order to help doctors make the most informed decisions regarding where to practice, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 14 key metrics. Their data set ranges from average annual wage of physicians to hospitals per capita to quality of public hospital system. Check out the complete ranking, additional expert commentary to help local governments identify policy initiatives….

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Hawaii

• Overall Rank -- 43rd
• Raw Score -- 41.99
• Opportunity and Competition – 41st
• Medical Environment – 31st
• Avg Annual Wage for Physicians (adj for cost of living) – 50th

HNN: Report: Hawaii among worst states to be a doctor