Endocrinologist Salary (2026): What Endocrinologists Earn, Pay Per Hour, and Whether the Fellowship Pays Off

Endocrinologist salary in 2026, by source

The middle of the evidence is roughly $285,000 to $360,000, and the more representative surveys sit at the bottom of that range. Doximity's figure rose 6.6% in its latest report, faster than the roughly 2% Doximity measured for physicians overall, and MGMA's employer data also shows a 5.0% increase. Endocrinology pay is climbing, from a low base.

Why endocrinologist pay figures disagree

The gap between Medscape's $284,000 and SalaryDr's $360,000 is about $76,000, which is bigger than the difference between endocrinology and several other specialties. Three things explain most of it:

1. Who answers. Doximity surveyed about 23,000 physicians in 2025 and models its averages with seven years of responses; Medscape surveyed 5,916 physicians across more than 29 specialties, so each specialty's sample is much smaller. SalaryDr is a self-selected group of 61 who chose to post their pay, and people who post salaries online tend to be those who negotiated well.
2. Average vs. median. Doximity and Medscape publish averages, which a few high earners pull up; SalaryDr publishes a median. That usually makes the median lower, so it doesn't explain why SalaryDr is higher here, which points back to sample selection.
3. What's counted. All three aim at total compensation (salary, bonus, profit share), but definitions of full time differ. Doximity requires at least 40 hours a week; SalaryDr includes whatever respondents report.

For benchmarking an offer, use the Doximity figure as the typical full-time pay and SalaryDr's middle half ($335,000 to $370,000) as what a well-negotiated job looks like. Our guide to MGMA compensation data explains how employers use the paywalled benchmarks against you.

Endocrinologist pay vs. internal medicine and other fellowships

Endocrinology is the lowest-paid of the adult internal medicine fellowships on Doximity's list, below nephrology, infectious disease and rheumatology, and $29,492 below the general internist average. Medscape shows the same order: $284,000 against $307,000 for internists. The reason is the payment system rather than the work. Endocrinologists spend most of their day on evaluation and management visits for diabetes, thyroid disease and other chronic conditions, which Medicare pays at the same rates as primary care visits, and they do few procedures. Fellowships that pay well, such as gastroenterology and cardiology, earn their premium from procedures.

How endocrinologists are paid

Most endocrinologists are employed, and most employed contracts pay a base salary plus a productivity bonus measured in work RVUs. The parts:

1. Base salary. Usually guaranteed for the first one to three years, then reset to production.
2. Productivity (wRVU) bonus. Paid per wRVU above a threshold. Office visits drive nearly all endocrinology wRVUs, so the number of visit slots and the visit mix (new patients and complex follow-ups) matter more than anything else. Medicare's G2211 add-on for longitudinal care of a serious or complex condition, payable since 2024, fits most endocrinology follow-ups; ask whether your employer credits its wRVUs to you.
3. Ancillary services. Continuous glucose monitor interpretation, thyroid ultrasound and fine-needle aspiration, and bone density reading add wRVUs or revenue where the practice offers them. In private practice they flow to the group; in employed jobs they count only if the contract credits them.
4. Call and inpatient consults. Endocrinology call is usually light (inpatient diabetes, adrenal and thyroid emergencies), and many jobs pay nothing extra for it. Where hospital consult coverage is heavy, ask for a stipend.
5. Quality and value-based pay. Some systems pay a small share for diabetes quality measures such as A1c control.

We couldn't verify a current, specialty-specific wRVU rate or volume benchmark for endocrinology: SalaryDr's endocrinology rate page still held 2025 data in October 2026, and secondary summaries of MGMA's volume figures conflict. Compare any offer's rate with our pay per wRVU by specialty data and ask the employer for its own median.

What drives endocrinologist pay higher or lower

• Visit volume and template. Pay tracks visits. A schedule of 20-minute follow-ups produces far more wRVUs than 40-minute slots, at the cost of shorter visits.
• Ancillary ownership. Groups that own ultrasound, bone density and diabetes education services keep the technical revenue; employed endocrinologists usually don't share in it.
• Advanced practice clinicians. Supervising nurse practitioners or physician assistants can add income in private practice and in contracts that credit their work to you.
• Market need. Recruiting is easiest in large metros and hardest in rural areas, where systems offer signing bonuses and loan repayment to fill long waitlists.
• Part-time work. Doximity's average counts only physicians working 40 or more hours a week, so it says nothing about reduced schedules. A 0.8 FTE offer should be compared at full-time equivalent; our part-time physician guide shows how.

Endocrinologist salary by practice setting

Unusually, private practice doesn't lead. In most specialties owners out-earn employees because they keep ancillary and facility revenue; endocrinology has little of either, and small practices carry the overhead. Academic and hospital-employed jobs come out about even in SalaryDr's data.

• Academic. Lower clinical load, teaching and research time, and an employer that almost always qualifies for PSLF. Academic pay often includes a research or administrative component that isn't tied to wRVUs.
• Hospital and health-system employed. The most common setting. Base plus wRVU bonus, benefits and malpractice covered, and PSLF eligibility if the system is a nonprofit.
• Private practice. Income depends on the group's payer mix and ancillaries, and on the length and terms of the partnership track. Before buying in, see our partnership buy-in guide.

Endocrinologist hours and pay per hour

SalaryDr's 61 endocrinologists report about 42 hours a week, rate their satisfaction 4.1 out of 5, and 92% say they'd choose endocrinology again. That is the specialty's real compensation: about 23% more per hour than a general internist on the same site, with mostly daytime clinic work and light call. The trade-off is volume: chronic disease visits generate messages, prior authorizations and refill requests between appointments, much of it unpaid.

Endocrinologist take-home pay by state

On the same salary, an endocrinologist keeps about $28,736 more a year in Texas than in California, about as much as the $29,492 a year that separates endocrinology from internal medicine on Doximity. We couldn't find a verified, endocrinology-specific regional pay survey with a usable sample, so taxes are the location effect we can compute. Run your own numbers in the take-home pay calculator and see physician salary by state.

Is an endocrinology fellowship worth it financially?

We use the method from our is a fellowship worth it guide: an internist starts practice after residency; the endocrinologist spends two years at fellow stipends ($77,593 and $81,807, the AAMC 2025 PGY-4 and PGY-5 means), then earns the endocrinology figure. Both work 30 years after residency, single, in Texas, and future dollars are discounted at 3% a year.

• On the large surveys, it never pays back. Doximity's endocrinologist earns less than its internist every year, so the $349,766 after-tax cost of fellowship is never recovered, and the gap widens to $867,115 over a career.
• On SalaryDr's medians, it barely pays back. A $32,000 premium recovers the fellowship in about 16.7 years. To break even in present value, a two-year fellowship needs about $30,203 a year more than the Doximity internist average for a whole career.
• Against hospital medicine, it doesn't. Hospitalists report a $345,000 median on SalaryDr, close enough to endocrinology that the fellowship cost isn't recovered within 30 years. The case for endocrinology over a hospitalist job is the schedule: clinic hours instead of shifts, nights and weekends.

Put per hour, the picture flips: at 42 hours a week against an internist's 47, the endocrinologist earns more per hour of work on SalaryDr's numbers. If you value those five hours a week, the fellowship buys them. Our specialty ROI calculator lets you change the assumptions.

Student loans and PSLF for endocrinologists

A lower-paid fellowship is where Public Service Loan Forgiveness does the most. Using our student loan hub's model ($215,000, the AAMC median debt for indebted 2025 graduates, at 6.5%; payments from the start of residency; single; Doximity average pay after training):

Because five of the ten PSLF years fall in training at stipend-sized payments, the endocrinologist pays about $61,881 less on IBR than a general internist and has about $203,277 forgiven. Without PSLF, paying the loan off on the 10-year Standard plan after training costs about $379,945 in total ($2,977 a month), since interest builds through fellowship. Academic centers and most hospital systems qualify, which covers most endocrinology jobs; check yours with does my hospital qualify for PSLF, and compare paths in PSLF vs. refinancing and our PSLF guide.

The endocrinology job market and demand

The two projections point in opposite directions, and the difference is time. The Endocrine Society's 2014 study, built with The Lewin Group, found too few endocrinologists for the diabetes and thyroid caseload and warned the adult gap could grow to about 2,700 without more fellows. Fellowship programs did grow, and they fill: 97.7% of positions in the most recent match. HRSA's December 2025 model now projects endocrinology supply at 109% of demand by 2038, among the few specialties expected to have a surplus. HRSA's figure is national, though, and says nothing about where endocrinologists practice; local waitlists still vary widely.

For pay, a balanced national market means less leverage than in nephrology or infectious disease, where fellowships go unfilled. Your leverage comes from the local waitlist: a system with a three-month wait for new patients has a reason to pay above its benchmark.

Pediatric endocrinologist salary

Pediatric endocrinology averaged $242,274 in Doximity's 2026 report, up from $230,426, and remains one of the three lowest-paid specialties Doximity tracks. It follows a three-year pediatrics residency with a three-year fellowship, so training runs a year longer than adult endocrinology for about $67,508 less a year. Most jobs are at children's hospitals and academic centers, nearly all of which qualify for PSLF, which is often the deciding financial factor. Our pediatrician salary guide and the fellowship guide cover the pediatric fellowships side by side.

Negotiating an endocrinology offer

1. The clinic template. Visit length for new and follow-up patients, and how many slots a day. This decides your wRVUs more than the rate does.
2. wRVU rate and threshold. Ask for the employer's benchmark source and percentile. A threshold set at a high-volume template punishes a normal endocrinology schedule.
3. Credit for G2211 and ancillaries. Confirm whether the visit complexity add-on, CGM interpretation, thyroid ultrasound and biopsies count toward your production.
4. Inbox and non-visit work. Ask how portal messages, prior authorizations and insulin titration are staffed and whether any of it is paid.
5. Call and inpatient consults. Frequency, number of hospitals, and whether there's a stipend.
6. Loan repayment and PSLF. Confirm the employer is a qualifying nonprofit, and ask for loan repayment in underserved areas.
7. Non-compete. Endocrinology is a referral business; a broad radius can force a move. Read our non-compete guide and contract red flags.

Use our contract analyzer to compare offers, and our salary negotiation and signing bonus guides before you respond.

Sources

1. Doximity Physician Compensation Report 2026 (endocrinology $309,782, pediatric endocrinology $242,274, internal medicine $339,274) and the 2025 report ($290,606 and $230,426).
2. Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2026; sample and survey dates via Becker's ASC.
3. SalaryDr: endocrinology salaries, pay by practice setting and lifestyle survey, plus the internal medicine and hospitalist medians. Self-reported; read October 2026.
4. MGMA 2026 Provider Compensation data, one-year change by specialty, via Marit Health.
5. Results and Data, Specialties Matching Service 2026, National Resident Matching Program.
6. Physician workforce projections fact sheet, HRSA National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, December 2025.
7. Vigersky et al. The clinical endocrinology workforce: current status and future projections of supply and demand, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2014, and the Endocrine Society announcement.
8. AAMC 2025 Survey of Resident/Fellow Stipends and Benefits, as tabulated in our resident salary guide; fellowship length from the ACGME program requirements for endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism.
9. Take-home pay, fellowship and loan figures: computed from our 2026 tax model and student loan model (AAMC median debt for indebted 2025 graduates).