Neurosurgeon salary

How much does a neurosurgeon make?

A neurosurgeon makes about $829,161 a year on average according to Doximity's 2026 compensation report, the only open, dated source we found that reports neurosurgery on its own; official BLS data stop at the wider “surgeons, all other” group, whose median is $414,010.^{[doximity_2026][oews_api]} The two numbers measure different things, so read them side by side rather than as one answer.

BLS figures are official statistics from an employer survey. Doximity is a private survey of its physician members; it is not official data and its specialty figures cannot be checked against BLS.

The survey average is 2.0 times the BLS group median and above the group's 90th percentile of $655,320. That is what you would expect if neurosurgeons sit near the top of a group that also holds lower-paid surgical jobs, but no official figure confirms it.^{[oews_api][doximity_2026]} For what a single surgeon keeps, the calculator above runs any pay level through 2026 federal tax: the BLS group median of $414,010 leaves about $286,604 for a single filer before state tax.^[irs]

Why BLS has no neurosurgeon salary

BLS does not publish a neurosurgeon salary because the federal occupation system has no neurosurgeon code. It lists only three surgical specialties by name: ophthalmologists (29-1241), orthopedic surgeons (29-1242) and pediatric surgeons (29-1243). Every other surgeon falls in 29-1249, defined as “all surgeons not listed separately”.^{[onet_def][onet_surgoth]} General, thoracic, plastic, vascular and neurological surgeons are all averaged together there, so the $414,010 median is a mix of specialties, not a neurosurgery figure. We do not estimate a neurosurgery share or invent a BLS-style number for it.

The table below sets each surgical specialty in Doximity's survey next to the BLS occupation that actually counts those surgeons. Six very different specialties share one BLS line, which is why that line cannot tell you what neurosurgeons earn.^{[doximity_2026][oews_api][onet_ortho][onet_pedsurg]}

Survey averages: Doximity Physician Compensation Report 2026, full-time physicians, 2025 surveys. BLS medians: OEWS May 2025, wage-and-salary employees. The two sources are not adjusted to each other.

For orthopedic and pediatric surgeons, the only surgical specialties with their own BLS figures, and for general surgery by state, see surgeon salary.

Neurosurgeon salary by state

No source publishes neurosurgeon pay by state from official data; the closest is the BLS state figure for “surgeons, all other”, where North Dakota has the highest published mean at $526,650.^{[oews_api][onet_surgoth]} Treat these as the pay of the whole group in each state. Pick a state or metro area in the calculator to see every percentile and the take-home amount.

States with an exact published mean only. “≥ $239,200”: BLS published only that floor for the cell, not the value. Small state samples make single values volatile.

How long does it take to become a neurosurgeon?

It takes about 15 years after high school to become a neurosurgeon: four years of college, four of medical school and a 7-year residency, the longest the ACGME sets for any specialty on this site.^{[acgme_ns][ooh_phys]} ACGME requires neurological surgery programs to be 84 months long, starting with a PGY-1 year of fundamental surgical skills and including a 12-month chief residency. Within those 84 months the program must include 54 months of clinical neurosurgery, at least 42 of them operative, and the remaining months go to electives or research.^[acgme_ns]

• PGY-1 is a surgical skills year. Residents learn basic surgical skills and surgical anesthesia, including anesthetic risks.^[acgme_ns]
• Neuroscience and critical care come early. At least three months of clinical neuroscience and three of neurosurgical critical care must fall in the first 18 months.^[acgme_ns]
• One year as chief resident. A 12-month chief residency, usually in PGY-6 or PGY-7, gives the resident primary responsibility for patients under faculty supervision.^[acgme_ns]

Compare that with five years for general surgery and orthopaedics and three to four for most other fields on how long it takes to become a doctor.^{[acgme_surg][acgme_ortho]}

Neurosurgery resident salary

Neurosurgery residents earn the same hospital stipend as other residents at their training level, about $70,684 in PGY-1 rising to $92,203 in PGY-7, so the seven years pay about $566,955 in all before tax.^{[aamc_stipend]} Medical school debt keeps growing meanwhile: the median graduate owes $215,000, and new federal loans carry 8.07% interest in 2026–27.^{[aamc_afford][fsa]}

*Simple interest at 8.07% with no payments (forbearance), no capitalization. Stipends: AAMC survey, mean weighted by residents (Table 4), as of July 1, 2025; stage descriptions follow ACGME requirement 4.11.

After seven unpaid years the $215,000 balance reaches $336,454, and a 10-year payoff costs $3,868 a month instead of the $2,617 it would have cost straight after medical school. Paying only the interest, about $1,446 a month, during residency holds the balance at $214,986 and the later payment at $2,616. The salary field starts at the BLS group median; the second preset uses the Doximity neurosurgery average instead.

The full cost of the degree that comes before residency is on how much medical school costs, and every specialty's BLS pay is on doctor salary by specialty. Anesthesiologists, who work beside neurosurgeons in the operating room and have their own BLS code, are covered on anesthesiologist salary.