Neurologist Salary (2026): What Neurologists Earn, How They're Paid, and What Moves the Number

What neurologists earn in 2026

The commercial surveys cluster between roughly $341,000 and $400,000. Doximity and Medscape count full-time physicians across practice types; SalaryDr's reports skew toward physicians who are comparing offers and include bonuses. The federal figure runs much lower because the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts only employees, mixes in part-time work, and has a large academic share. Use the commercial surveys for a full-time clinical job, and the federal data as a floor.

Pay is rising, slowly. Doximity's neurology average grew 2.9% from its 2025 report to its 2026 report, roughly in line with inflation over the same period.

Neurology vs. other specialties

Two comparisons matter most to students choosing between related fields. Against neurosurgery, the gap is about $458,074 a year, for a residency that is three years shorter and far lighter on call. Against psychiatry and internal medicine, neurology pays modestly more. Physical medicine and rehabilitation, which shares many neuromuscular and EMG skills, lands within about $5,000 of neurology.

The reason neurology trails procedural fields is structural. Most of a neurologist's billing is evaluation and management: office visits and inpatient consults, which earn fewer work RVUs per hour than procedures. Neurologists who add procedures, such as EMG and nerve conduction studies, EEG interpretation, botulinum toxin injections or, after much longer training, endovascular stroke treatment, are the ones who move toward the top of the range.

Hours and pay per hour

Neurologists on SalaryDr report working an average of 45 hours a week (91 reports). At the $400,000 median, that's about $171 an hour over a 52-week year, essentially the same as psychiatry and well ahead of internal medicine. Counting hours narrows the gap with neurosurgery: its median pay is 2.25 times neurology's, but its pay per hour is about 1.6 times.

In SalaryDr's separate lifestyle survey of 114 neurologists, 89% said they would choose neurology again. That survey's respondents reported a longer average week (49 hours), so the hourly figure above is likely on the generous side.

How neurologists are paid

Most employed neurologists receive a guaranteed base salary for the first one to three years, then move to a model that pays on work RVUs, either fully or as a bonus above a threshold. Our wRVU guide explains how those models work.

• •The rate. SalaryDr's neurology reports show a median of $52 per wRVU (middle half $48 to $63; 73 reports as of September 2026). Hospital-employed neurologists reported a median of $53 and academic neurologists $51.
• •The trend. A study in Neurology using SullivanCotter survey data found neurologists' median wRVUs rose from 4,475 in 2013 to 5,024 in 2023, a 12.3% increase, while compensation per wRVU fell from $72 to $65. Neurologists are producing more for each dollar of pay than they were a decade ago.
• •What it implies. At $52 per wRVU, earning SalaryDr's $400,000 median on production alone would take about 7,700 wRVUs a year, well above typical neurology volume. That is why most neurology offers guarantee a base, add stipends for call and reading, and pay wRVU bonuses on top, rather than paying purely on production.
• •Extra wRVU sources. EEG and EMG interpretation, sleep study reads, botulinum toxin procedures and inpatient consults all add wRVUs. Ask whether reading done for the system counts toward your wRVU total or is paid separately.

A worked neurology offer

Take an illustrative offer: a $300,000 base, plus $52 per wRVU above a threshold of 5,769 wRVUs (the base divided by the rate, which is how many thresholds are set). Here's what the same job pays at three volumes:

Two things stand out. At the 2023 median volume, this offer pays no bonus at all; the threshold sits above what a typical neurologist produces. And the jump from there to the top of the range comes mostly from procedures and reading, which is why it matters whether the EEGs and EMGs you interpret count toward your total. When you get an offer, ask for the threshold and check it against your realistic volume, not the recruiter's.

Neurology pay by practice setting

Hospital-employed outpatient and general neurology

The most common setting, and the one the survey averages describe best. Pay follows the base-plus-wRVU model above, with call and EEG or EMG reading as the main ways to raise it.

Neurohospitalist and telestroke

Hospitals need around-the-clock neurology coverage for stroke and inpatient consults, and neurohospitalist jobs are often paid on salary with shift-based schedules. Posted neurohospitalist offers we found included a $300,000–$350,000 starting range in New Jersey; job postings skew toward employers willing to publish pay, so treat single postings as examples, not benchmarks. Telestroke and teleneurology coverage is often paid per shift or per consult and can be layered on top of a daytime job.

Academic neurology

Academic neurologists typically earn less in cash pay in exchange for teaching, research time and subspecialty practice. SalaryDr's academic neurologists reported a slightly lower wRVU rate ($51) than hospital-employed neurologists ($53). Academic medical centers are usually nonprofit or public employers, so years there generally count toward PSLF; see our PSLF employer guide.

Private practice

Practice owners keep what the practice collects after overhead, so in-office EMG, EEG, infusion and sleep services drive the difference between average and top-quartile income. SalaryDr's small private-practice sample (10 neurologists) averaged $495,000, though a sample that size is a hint, not a benchmark. Private practice also carries the business risk and the overhead. Our buying vs. starting a practice guide covers that decision.

Locums

Locum tenens neurology, including teleneurology, pays by the hour or shift and suits physicians between jobs or adding income. Our locum tenens guide covers the 1099 taxes that come with it.

Neurology pay by subspecialty

The American Academy of Neurology's survey is the largest neurology-only data set (more than 4,300 respondents). Its medians run below the commercial surveys because many respondents are academic neurologists, so compare subspecialties within the AAN column rather than against Doximity.

• •Coverage pays. Neurocritical care tops every source because it is ICU work with shifts and nights. Vascular neurology sits above general neurology in the AAN data for the same reason: stroke call and acute coverage.
• •A fellowship isn't automatically a raise. Epilepsy fellows earn less than general neurologists in the AAN median, likely because many work in academic epilepsy centers. Where an epilepsy or neurophysiology fellowship pays is in reading: EEG and long-term monitoring generate wRVUs if your job credits them.
• •Child neurology has the lowest median, consistent with pediatric pay across medicine; see our pediatrician salary guide.
• •Endovascular neurology (neurointerventional) is the highest-paying path in neurology but requires several additional years of training; there is no neurology-specific public median for it.

Neurology pay and taxes by state

State-level neurology pay data is thin. SalaryDr's state pages have only a handful of neurology reports each, so treat these as rough indicators:

What you keep varies more predictably than what you're paid. At the Doximity neurology average of $371,087, a single neurologist takes home:

That's about $35,243 a year more in Texas than California on the same salary, before cost of living. Our take-home pay guide and salary by state guide cover more states.

Demand for neurologists

• •Patients wait weeks. A 2026 study of 114,034 commercially insured patients in Neurology found an average wait of 49.7 days for a new neurology visit (median 25 days). Among 163,313 Medicare patients referred in 2018–2019, the median wait was 34 days, and 18% waited more than 90 days.
• •Most patients never see one. A Neurology study of Medicare data found only 23.5% of patients with a neurologic condition were seen by a neurologist, and neurologist density varied nearly fourfold across regions, from 9.7 to 43.1 per 100,000 beneficiaries.
• •What it means for pay. Demand gives neurologists leverage on signing bonuses, call pay and schedule, especially in low-density regions. It hasn't lifted pay per wRVU, which fell over the last decade, so the leverage shows up in the terms of an offer more than in the rate.

Training and the first years

Neurology residency is four years: a first year with at least six months of internal medicine, then 36 months of neurology, under the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology's requirements. Resident pay follows the national stipend scale; our resident salary guide has it year by year.

A one-year fellowship at a PGY-5 stipend of about $81,807 costs roughly $289,280 in gross income compared with the specialty's average attending pay. New attendings usually start below the average, so the real cost is somewhat smaller, but it's large enough to ask employers in your target market what the fellowship actually changes in your offer.

The first attending years are where the money decisions compound: how fast lifestyle grows, how student loans are handled, and how much goes into retirement accounts. Our attending playbook covers those first moves.

Evaluating a neurology offer

1. Base and guarantee period. How long is the base guaranteed, and what happens to pay when it ends?
2. wRVU rate and threshold. Compare the conversion factor with the $52 median (middle half $48 to $63), and ask what volume the threshold assumes.
3. Reading and procedures. Do EEG, EMG and sleep reads count toward your wRVUs, or are they paid separately, or not at all?
4. Call and stroke coverage. How often, is telestroke included, and is call paid as a stipend or folded into the base?
5. Non-salary value. Retirement match, malpractice tail, CME, signing bonus terms and PSLF eligibility. Our contract red flags guide lists what to watch for.

Use our contract analyzer to compare offers side by side, and our salary negotiation guide before you respond.

Sources

1. Doximity Physician Compensation Report 2026 (neurology $371,087) and 2025 report (neurology $360,519).
2. Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2026.
3. SalaryDr: neurology salaries and neurology wRVU rates (self-reported; data as of September 2026). Accessed October 17, 2026.
4. Neurologists (29-1217.00) national wages, O*NET OnLine, from Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 data.
5. Permanent neurology physician jobs, AMN Healthcare (posting averages as of May 1, 2025).
6. Neurologist Compensation and Productivity From 2013 to 2023 in the United States, Neurology.
7. Neurology Compensation and Productivity Survey, American Academy of Neurology.
8. Neurology certification requirements, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
9. SalaryDr: neurocritical care, neurology lifestyle survey, neurology career guide (state medians) and state pages for California and Florida. Accessed October 17, 2026.
10. Neurocritical care physician salary, Marit Health (July 2026).
11. Neurology Compensation and Productivity Executive Summary 2025, American Academy of Neurology.
12. Wait times to see a neurologist among the commercially insured, American Academy of Neurology press release on the 2026 Neurology study.
13. Wait Time to See a Neurologist After Referral Among Medicare Participants (2025).
14. Geographic variation in neurologist density and neurologic care in the United States, Neurology, 2021.
15. Neurohospitalist job posting, Valley Medical Group, Neurohospitalist Society job board.