How Much Do You Get Paid as a Navy Doctor?

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I received a few e-mails asking for help figuring out physician pay in the Navy, and this is a long overdue blog post. In the spreadsheet below is the pay info for the various stages as you move throughout your Navy Medical Corps Career. I’m making a few assumptions:

  • These are FY20 pay numbers (since the FY21 pay plan is not out yet).
  • You promote at the normal times (O4 at 6 years, O5 at 12 years, and O6 at 18 years).
  • Basic Allowance for Housing is with dependents in San Diego. You can personalize this here.
  • The specialty is Emergency Medicine. You can look at the different amounts for other specialties here.
  • You pass your boards and become board-certified after residency.

For those who don’t want to look at the spreadsheet, here are the bottom line annual salaries:

  • New O3 intern – $95,976
  • O3 GMO – $121,803
  • Mid-grade O3 EM Resident – $120,348
  • New O4 EM Attending – $180,249
  • O5 EM Attending on a 6-Year Retention Bonus – $264,665
  • O6 EM Attending on a 6-Year Retention Bonus – $287,878

Here’s the spreadsheet with hyperlinks:

Physician PaysDownload

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6 thoughts on “How Much Do You Get Paid as a Navy Doctor?”

    G. Allen said:
    December 1, 2020 at 07:48

    Thank you for the spreadsheet! Doesn’t the new IP include the BCP though?

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    Chris said:
    December 1, 2020 at 09:15

    When you start talking compensation it is often quickly compared to civilian pay.

    However you need to look at your take home income.
    That is your paycheck after taxes. Your taxable income is VERY low compared to it all being taxed as a civilian.

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    C. Carroll said:
    December 1, 2020 at 21:30

    I believe you’ve posted GAO-20-165 elsewhere but it may be worth it’s own treatment. While the report is often referenced for its comparison of maximum military pay by rank to civilian pay percentiles (Fig. 4, pp. 22), that comparison does little service to the body of the report. There is a wealth of useful information in there beyond pays including rigorous evaluations of compensation value vs civilian practice; physician recruitment; physician retention; obligated service; and future directions for the medical corps. https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/703877.pdf

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    Stephen Madaras said:
    May 23, 2021 at 22:32

    I’m a little late to the party, but first off this website has been a gold mine! Thank you Dr. Schofer. I’m having difficulty fully navigating through this site, but is there a forum discussing or calculating the compensation between EM civilian pay and EM military if I were stick out the 20 years? With taxes, retention bonuses, and my incomplete understanding of my complete benefits after the 20 years it’s difficult for me to crunch my own numbers. I’d appreciate any references if anybody has it.

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