A physician's specialty, gender and practice location have a lot to do with how well he or she is compensated, according to WebMD's first annual physician compensation survey, conducted by Medscape.

Most notably, the survey of 15,000 physicians from 22 specialty areas revealed that specialists continue to significantly outearn primary-care physicians, who make $159,000 per year on average vs. $350,000 for orthopedic surgeons and radiologists, and $325,000 for anesthesiologists and cardiologists. A surprising 18 percent of PCPs reported earning less than $100,000, which researchers attribute to more physicians working part-time.

In part for the same reason, female physicians earned much less than their male counterparts, reporting a 2010 median income of $160,000 compared with men's $225,000. In addition, fewer women than men were represented in some of the higher-earning specialties, such as orthopedic surgery, cardiology and gastroenterology, researchers noted, while the pay gap was less dramatic between men and women in primary care.

In general, doctors located in the North Central United States reported the highest median income of $225,000, while those in the Northeast and Southwest reported the lowest, at $190,000. Surprisingly, the survey revealed that physicians in small towns and rural areas with populations under 25,000 earned more in 2010 than their urban colleagues did. With fewer doctors to go around, small-town doctors reported seeing more patients each week than their colleagues in larger and medium-size metropolitan areas.

Both PCPs and specialists fell into a similar pattern regarding their 2009 vs. 2010 earnings. About half stayed the same, almost a third reported an increase and roughly 20 percent earned less.

To learn more:
- read the press release from WebMD
- check out the report from Medscape Today

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