Physician pay growth cooled in 2026 — but bonuses didn't

Physicians navigating today's job market are seeing a compensation landscape that looks stable on the surface but has shifted underneath. Resolve's 2026 Physician Salary & Employment Report, built from 4,417 actual signed physician employment contracts rather than self-reported survey data, shows base salary growth cooling to 2.9%–3.7% nationally, down from the 5–6% pace of the post-pandemic years. But employers haven't pulled back on total compensation — they've restructured it. Median bonus opportunity climbed 12% year-over-year while base pay rose just 2%, and signing bonuses now median $25,000, ranging as high as $57,500 depending on specialty. (For strategies on evaluating a compensation package beyond the headline number, see our guide to negotiating physician contracts.) Non-compete clauses also remain widespread despite regulatory upheaval — the FTC's proposed nationwide ban was formally abandoned in September 2025, leaving enforcement to a state-by-state patchwork, and physicians should understand how non-compete provisions affect career mobility before signing. Regional gaps widened too, with Midwest and South markets leading on raw pay while coastal markets lag once cost-of-living is factored in. The report's authors emphasize that contract structure — wRVU conversion rates, quality metric definitions, termination clauses, and call pay — often matters more to long-term financial outcomes than the base salary line itself.

Here are the key findings: