Anesthesiologist salary

How much does an anesthesiologist make?

An anesthesiologist makes $391,490 a year at the national median and $360,570 on average, and the middle half of anesthesiologists earn between $207,000 and $490,530.^{[onet_anes][oews_api]} The mean sits below the median because a group of lower-paid positions pulls the average down while most of the distribution is bunched high. BLS counted 38,760 anesthesiologist jobs in May 2025.

*Single filer, 2026 federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare (with the 0.9% surtax over $200,000); before state tax.

These are the first BLS anesthesiology figures that are not capped. Until the May 2024 estimates, BLS printed every percentile above $239,200 only as “$239,200 or more”; starting with May 2025 it publishes specific values for many of them.^[oews_faq] Older articles that quote “at least $239,200” for anesthesiologists are describing that cap, not the pay.

Anesthesiologist salary per hour

Anesthesiologist pay per hour is $188.22 at the median, $48.78 at the 10th percentile and $267.85 at the 90th, using the 2,080-hour year BLS uses to convert annual pay.^[oews_faq] Anesthesiologists who work longer weeks or take call earn less per actual hour than this conversion shows.

*Single filer, 2026 federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare including the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax over $200,000; before state tax.

Anesthesiologist take-home pay

A single anesthesiologist paid the median keeps about $272,495 a year, or $22,708 a month, after 2026 federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, before any state tax.^[irs][ssa] Federal tax alone takes $100,156: at this income the top dollars fall in the 35% bracket. Social Security stops at the 2026 wage base of $184,500, so it costs at most $11,439, while the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies to every dollar above $200,000. In a no-income-tax state such as Texas or Florida the federal figure is the whole bill; elsewhere, enter your state rate in the calculator.

Anesthesiologist salary by state

Washington has the highest average anesthesiologist salary at $508,520, followed by Minnesota ($449,130) and New Hampshire ($433,850); District of Columbia has the lowest published average at $239,320.^[oews_api] The most anesthesiologist jobs are in New York (7,230), Texas (2,800), Florida (2,530), Washington (1,540). In Alaska, Arizona, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah BLS published the mean only as $239,200 or more. BLS released no May 2025 anesthesiologist wage for 13 states, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, usually because too few employers reported.

Jobs: BLS OEWS employment estimate, May 2025. “—”: not released. “≥ $239,200” means BLS published only that the wage is at least that much (its top-code of $115.00 an hour). No May 2025 wage estimate for Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Wyoming.

Download all anesthesiologist wages as CSV (nation, 51 states and every published metro area: mean, 10th–90th percentiles, jobs)

Anesthesiologist pay by metro area

The highest published metro median for anesthesiologists is Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA at $646,930.^[onet_anes] Metro samples for a specialty this small are thin, and when the median and upper percentiles are identical many employers reported the same rate, so treat single metro figures as rough. The calculator above loads every metro area BLS published for a state.

How long it takes to become an anesthesiologist

Becoming an anesthesiologist takes about 12 years after high school: four of college, four of medical school and 4 of residency.^[acgme_anes] ACGME accredits anesthesiology programs in 48-month and 36-month formats; the 36-month format requires a separate 12-month clinical year first, so both take four years. That long, mostly unpaid or low-paid stretch is why the cost of medical school matters as much as the salary; the loan calculator there shows how a typical balance grows during residency.

Anesthesiology pays more than the typical physician: the anesthesiologist median is $120,400 above the median for all non-surgical physicians and $147,310 above family medicine. Surgeons as a group earn a median of $369,540, covered on surgeon salary. Office-based specialties pay less; see dermatologist salary, or every specialty side by side on doctor salary by specialty.

Why anesthesiologist salary figures differ between sources

Salary figures for anesthesiologists differ between websites mainly because they use different years, different averages and different groups of workers. Check these six things before comparing any number with the BLS figures on this page.^{[oews_tec][oews_faq]}