Everyone thinks the biggest doctor salaries are found in massive coastal cities like New York or LA. For a pediatric neurologist, I’ve found that’s often dead wrong.
I’ve been analyzing physician compensation reports for years, and the numbers for pediatric neurology are some of the most fascinating—and most misunderstood—in all of medicine.
The average salary figure that gets thrown around, currently about $248,000 for 2025, is one of the most misleading figures in medicine.
Let me show you why.
The first thing I noticed is the massive pay gap between working for a university hospital and owning a piece of a private practice.
It’s not even a close race.
The latest Medscape report shows academic docs hovering in the $210k – $260k range.
Solid. Respectable. But the partners in private practice?
They’re often clearing $350,000 or more. Why?
Simple. They’re not just doctors; they’re business owners. T
hey capture the profits. The trade-off, of course, is you have to deal with the headaches of billing, insurance, and payroll. Not everyone is built for that.
This brings me back to my first point about location. It’s not just about big cities vs. small towns; the state you practice in makes a huge difference.
The national ‘average’ is meaningless when a doctor in one state can make $50,000 more than in another for the exact same job.
Official state-by-state data for this subspecialty is ridiculously hard to find, but I compiled the best available data from several sources like Salary.com and CompHealth to build a snapshot.
Look at the wild variation here:
| State | Average Annual Salary (2025 Estimate) |
|---|---|
| North Dakota | $295,500 |
| Nebraska | $289,100 |
| Wisconsin | $281,300 |
| Nevada | $276,500 |
| California | $275,100 |
| Ohio | $266,400 |
| Texas | $258,800 |
| Pennsylvania | $255,300 |
| New York | $251,500 |
| Florida | $241,200 |
*Note: This data is a snapshot compiled from multiple salary aggregators and can fluctuate. It is intended to show relative differences between states.
See? The highest demand—and often the highest pay—isn’t always in the most glamorous locations.
The real money isn’t about being in a big coastal city; it’s about going where you are most needed.
But we have to be blunt about something I call the “pediatric penalty.” It’s a known trend in medicine.
For many specialties, the physicians who dedicate their lives to treating children earn less than their counterparts who treat adults.
General neurology is a perfect example.
An adult neurologist pulls in about $290,000 on average—a noticeable jump from the pediatric neurologist’s $248,000.
Is it fair? No.
But it’s a financial reality of the field you have to walk into with your eyes open.
And this is all after one of the longest training paths in medicine.
Four years of medical school. Three years of residency. Three more years of a pediatric neurology fellowship.
That’s a decade of training after college. The student loan debt is often staggering.
So while a starting salary of $220,000 sounds enormous, you have to weigh it against the mountain of debt and the decade of lost earning potential it took to get there.
So after looking at all this, is it worth it?
Financially, the career is absolutely sound.
The job security is ironclad; with the current shortages confirmed by the American Academy of Neurology, you will never, ever be out of a job.
But I don’t think anyone goes through that kind of punishing training just for the money.
The real “compensation” seems to come from the work itself—from solving some of the most complex puzzles in the human body for the most vulnerable patients.
The bottom line is this: don’t just look at the average salary.
Look at the practice type. Look at the location. And understand the trade-offs.
The numbers are good, but the full story is always more complicated.
Dr. Mary G. Trice is a renowned pedodontist based in Queens, NY. With an unwavering dedication to children’s dental health. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Trice is the writer and manager behind the informative platform pediatricdentistinqueensny.com. Through this site, she offers valuable insights, tips, and resources for parents and guardians, aiming to bridge the gap between professional dental care and everyday oral hygiene practices at home.
