11 Highest Paying States for Orthopedic Surgeons

If you want to find out the 11 highest paying states for orthopedic surgeons, you’ve come to the right place.

Orthopedic surgery is concerned with musculoskeletal diseases and their treatment. This includes tending to injuries of the bones, muscles, and joints. To pursue a career in orthopedic surgery, one must complete their undergraduate education, as well as four years of medical school. After that comes the five-year residency, which trains the individual for orthopedic surgery. This residency is quite a difficult stage for aspiring orthopedic surgeons.

Becoming an orthopedic surgeon may take hard work, but the monetary rewards are most certainly worth it. It is arguably the best paying job for a doctor in any specialized field. The average annual salary for such a specialist in the United States of America is an impressing $426,590. This is a lot more than the average salary of nurses without whom hospitals would not be able to function. For more details on nurse’s salaries, you can read our article on the 11 highest paying states for nurses.

Getting back to orthopedic surgeons: to prepare our list, we consulted Salary Expert, a specialized portal by ERI Economic Research Institute, which has been supplying organizations with salary information for more than twenty-five years. We extracted the average annual salary of orthopedic surgeons for each state and selected the eleven highest paying ones. You might notice that the yearly salary of each state on our list is much more than the national average.

Now, let’s start naming the 11 highest paying states for orthopedic surgeons.

11. Delaware

Average Annual Salary: $449,267

Average Hourly Salary: $215.99

The first state on our list is Delaware, dubbed “The Small Wonder”, setting the bar for the average annual salary at $449,267. The average hourly salary for orthopedic surgeons here isn’t bad either, especially considering how it’s one of the smaller states on our list.

10. Washington

Average Annual Salary: $450,110

Average Hourly Salary: $216.40

The state of Washington follows at number ten, with little difference in the average annual salary as compared to its predecessor. Orthopedic surgeons living in the Evergreen State earn more than $200 every hour on average.

9. Rhode Island

Average Annual Salary: $450,404

Average Hourly Salary: $216.54

Despite being the smallest and the eighth least populous state in the United States of America, Rhode Island doesn’t fall behind in salary for orthopedic surgeons. They proudly earn over $450,000 on average every year here.

8. Maryland

Average Annual Salary: $456,717

Average Hourly Salary: $219.58

Number eight on our list is Maryland, also titled Little America due to its diverse landscapes and its importance in American History. It boasts high average annual and hourly salaries for the orthopedic surgeons who reside here, at $456,717 and $219.58 respectively.

7. Alaska

Average Annual Salary: $460,991

Average Hourly Salary: $221.63

If you are an orthopedic surgeon moving to Alaska, you needn’t be worried about salary. The Last Frontier provides its resident orthopedic surgeons with a comfortable $460K every year.

6. Massachusetts

Average Annual Salary: $463,856

Average Hourly Salary: $223.01

Massachusetts grabs the sixth spot on our list of the 11 highest paying states for orthopedic surgeons. An orthopedic surgeon working in the Bay State earns $463,856 on average each year.

5. Connecticut

Average Annual Salary: $469,966

Average Hourly Salary: $225.95

Next on our list is the Nutmeg State, home to Yale University, where orthopedic surgeons earn almost $226 every hour. The size of the state has little impact on the amount of the average annual salary, which is $470,000.

4. New York

Average Annual Salary: $475,933

Average Hourly Salary: $228.81

The fourth most populous state in the US and home to the Big Apple, New York marks its spot on number four, with a generous average annual salary of $475,933 for orthopedic surgeons working here.

3. California

Average Annual Salary: $484,118

Average Hourly Salary: $232.75

As we move to number three, the annual salary for orthopedic surgeons climbs up by almost $9,000, amounting to $484,118. The Golden State of California also offers $232.75/hour to surgeons living here.

2. District of Columbia

Average Annual Salary: $487,773

Average Hourly Salary: $234.51

Even though it’s not technically a state, the District of Columbia still ends up on our final list due to it being a federally-administered territory in the United States. Plus, thanks to its astonishingly high salaries for orthopedic surgeons it earned the second place on this list.

1. New Jersey

Average Annual Salary: $494,510

Average Hourly Salary: $237.75

With an average annual salary almost reaching an astounding $500,000, New Jersey is number one on our list of the 11 highest paying states for orthopedic surgeons. Its hourly salary is also the highest of any state in the country.