Explore psychiatrist salary ranges, hourly rates, and how practice setting and locum work shape earning potential.
Most psychiatrists earn between $270,000 and $360,000 annually, with inpatient, correctional, and subspecialty coverage pushing compensation higher.
That range is driven less by geography alone and more by:
Psychiatry is one of the fastest-rising compensation categories in medicine because demand has outpaced supply across nearly every high-acuity setting.
| Source | What it Measures | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS — Psychiatrists SOC 29-1223 (May 2024 release) | Mean annual wage | $269,120 |
| Medscape Physician Compensation Report (2025) | Average total compensation | $341,000 |
| Doximity Physician Compensation Report (2025) | Median total compensation | $341,977 |
| SalaryDr (as of April 2026) | Median verified compensation | $360,000 |
| Merritt Hawkins 2025 Recruiting Incentives Review | Average starting salary | $315,000 |
psychiatry starting salaries rose 10.4 percent year-over-year in the 2025 Merritt Hawkins data, one of the largest increases in the survey. The acute shortage across both adult and child/adolescent psychiatry is the driver, and the rate of increase shows no signs of slowing.
Not all salary data measures the same thing.
Each source is valid, but psychiatry has wider variation across employment models than many specialties, and the gap between a salaried academic psychiatrist and a private-practice psychiatrist with a full cash-pay panel is structural, not a data error.
Psychiatry compensation varies by care setting. Outpatient psychiatrists run panel-based clinic schedules. Inpatient, consult-liaison, emergency psychiatry, and correctional psychiatrists work shift-based coverage, which is how most locum assignments are priced. The hourly framing below is the cleanest translation across both.
| Compensation Type | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|
| W-2 employed (BLS derived hourly) | ~$129 per hour |
| Locum tenens market rate | $225 to $235 per hour |
Sources: BLS OEWS 29-1223 Psychiatrists (May 2024 release)
the setting-based spread in locum psychiatry is wide. Clinic-based outpatient rates sit near the floor of the band. Psychiatric hospital, correctional, and inpatient acute-care coverage runs at the top, because call, shift length, and acuity all drive the premium. Child and adolescent psychiatry is a separate high-demand category with its own rate pressure.
The highest-paying psychiatry markets are often mid-sized states and underserved regions where hospitals and behavioral health systems compete aggressively for limited psychiatric coverage. North Dakota, Indiana, Minnesota, and several Mountain West markets consistently rank near the top, while some large coastal markets lag despite higher costs of living.
Psychiatry pay follows access gaps more than prestige markets. Rural and underserved systems consistently pay premiums to secure inpatient and emergency coverage.
Psychiatry does not have a single society-published clinical-hours-per-week or visits-per-day benchmark. The American Psychiatric Association workforce publications document acute demand and wait times — new patients seeking in-person psychiatric care wait more than two months on average in many markets — but do not publish a standardized full-time clinical load figure. The typical full-time schedule is best understood as an industry convention rather than a society standard, and it varies meaningfully by setting:
The four locum scenarios below reference the shift-based framing because that is how the majority of psychiatry locum assignments are priced. Outpatient-only locum exists but is a smaller share of the market.
Locum psychiatry gives physicians control over schedule, geography, and workload while maintaining strong earning potential.
To exceed $500K:
Psychiatry locum income scales with acuity and staffing difficulty. The highest premiums sit in inpatient, correctional, and child/adolescent coverage.
A higher locum rate creates more than just additional income potential. 1099 psychiatrists gain flexibility in how income, taxes, and workload are structured over time.
While independent physicians manage their own benefits, retirement planning, and taxes, they also gain access to advantages unavailable in most employed models, including business deductions, larger retirement contribution limits, the Qualified Business Income deduction, and S-corp tax optimization at higher income levels.
For many psychiatrists, the larger shift is control. Schedule, patient mix, geography, and workload become variables they can actively design around their career goals.
Most physicians do not optimize this alone. Barton partners with Earned, a wealth and tax firm built specifically for doctors, to give locum clinicians entity formation, tax planning, and long-term financial strategy designed around how physicians earn.
Several psychiatry subspecialty tracks and practice settings influence compensation:
The Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) category on the advanced practice provider side has expanded rapidly, with 2024 compensation averages reported between $105,403 and $154,475 depending on source, reflecting the broader mental health workforce buildout alongside psychiatry physicians.
child and adolescent psychiatry, addiction medicine, and interventional psychiatry are the three tracks where the supply-demand imbalance is most severe and the locum premium is highest. Outpatient adult psychiatry runs closer to the national mean, but cash-pay private practice can push effective hourly compensation well above the employed band.
Psychiatry compensation has risen sharply across the major benchmarks.
On the workforce side, AAMC Physician Workforce Data projects a psychiatry shortage ranging from 19,500 physicians to a surplus of 4,300 by 2036, with wide uncertainty tied to the pace of PMHNP expansion and telepsychiatry adoption. The American Psychiatric Association continues to document wait times above two months for new in-person psychiatric appointments in most major markets.
psychiatry is the one specialty where telehealth adoption has structurally changed the workforce model, but even with telepsychiatry absorbing a share of demand, the inpatient, consult, emergency, and correctional coverage segments remain severely understaffed. That is where the locum premium sits and where it will stay.
Smaller agencies often introduce friction through credentialing delays, licensing gaps, unclear malpractice coverage, and payment issues. That’s where we shine.
Barton Associates differentiates on three verified features.
Physician-led clinical leadership. Barton has a Chief Medical Officer and physician-led clinical oversight, a structure that is unheard of in the locum staffing category.
Earned partnership for physician financial life. Barton partners with Earned, a wealth and tax firm built specifically for doctors, to give locum clinicians access to entity formation, tax planning, and long-term financial strategy designed around physician income.
Reflective-practice continuing medical education platform. Barton operates a continuing medical education platform built around reflective practice on clinical work physicians are already doing.
a reliable locum partner shows up in the moments when something goes wrong. Ask any agency how it handles a credentialing delay, a clinical concern at a site, or a mid-assignment malpractice question. The answer separates established partners from everything else.
Barton coordinates your job search from start to finish!
We’ll schedule a phone consultation to discuss your interests, goals, and work history to find the right opportunities.
Your Barton rep will submit your information to the facility you want to take an assignment at and work on next steps.
Barton handles licensing, credentialing, and travel arrangements before you arrive so you’re ready on day one.
Most earn between $270,000 and $360,000 annually,
Most earn between $270K and $360K annually depending on setting and structure.
~$129/hr W-2, $225–$235/hr locum.
Often yes, especially in inpatient, correctional, and emergency psychiatry.
Underserved markets, inpatient systems, correctional facilities, and child/adolescent psychiatry.
Yes. Psychiatry continues to face major workforce shortages, particularly in acute-care and pediatric settings.
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