Yearly Salary of an Anesthesiologist

Anesthesiologists are among the highest-paid doctors, earning an average salary in excess of $200,000 as of May 2009. Surgeons were the only higher-paid doctors and, along with obstetricians and gynecologists, the only other physicians with an average salary over $200,000.

Salary

• Anesthesiologists made average, or mean, wages of $101.80 per hour or $211,750 per year in May 2009, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Salaries for the lowest-paid 10 percent of anesthesiologists were $55.52 or less hourly or $115,470 or lower per year. All other percentile wages were $80 or more per hour or $166,400 and greater per year.

Top-Paying Areas

• Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Missouri were the highest-paying states for anesthesiologists, according to the BLS, though specific wage figures were not available. All had wages of greater than $80 per hour or $166,400 per year for anesthesiologists, as did the five highest-paying metropolitan areas: Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Connecticut; Tucson, Arizona; Toledo, Ohio; Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida; and Tacoma, Washington. Detailed wage estimates for these top-paying cities were not available from the BLS.

Top Employers

• Physicians' offices were the biggest employer of anesthesiologists, providing jobs to 29,970 of them in May 2009, and also the highest-paying, with an annual average salary of $221,010 per year, the BLS reports. General medical and surgical hospitals, the second-biggest employer, provided 5,360 jobs and paid an average annual salary of $176,630, the nation's third-highest. Outpatient care centers, the third-largest employer, provided fewer than 1,000 jobs but paid $207,240 per year, on average, second only to hospitals.