The national salary floor for Psychiatry sits at $30,000. The ceiling is $550,000. Between those two figures lies a job market that spans 494 listings across nearly every state in the country, from locum tenens gigs paying $220 per hour in Rhode Island to full-time roles in Oregon that appear to have been posted by accident. The data set includes 148 listings with disclosed compensation, and what they reveal is this: the Psychiatry job market is vast, well-compensated, and structurally inconsistent in ways that create both opportunity and confusion.
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The Psychiatry Job Market at a Glance
Total listings: 494. Listings with salary data: 148. Full salary range: $30,000 to $550,000. National average range: $302,636 to $348,239.
The spread is enormous, but most of it is noise. Strip out the obvious part-time outliers and the market compresses into a more recognizable shape: full-time Psychiatry positions typically pay between $250,000 and $415,000 annually, with the upper end reserved for high-demand geographies, locum work, or roles with administrative or leadership components. The lower bound is distorted by listings in Oregon ($30,000) and North Dakota ($60,000) that almost certainly reflect part-time, per-diem, or otherwise non-standard arrangements. The upper bound, meanwhile, is anchored by a $550,000 listing that sets the theoretical ceiling but does not represent the typical experience.
States with active listings include California, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Connecticut, North Carolina, Indiana, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Hawaii, Washington, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa, Alabama, Nevada, Rhode Island, Colorado, New Jersey, Oregon, Georgia, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Nebraska, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alaska, Maine, Delaware, Louisiana, Wyoming, and an unspecified jurisdiction coded as “DU.”
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How States Stack Up
Overperformers:
Rhode Island leads the nation with an average range of $384,800 to $457,600, driven by a single locum tenens listing at $185 to $220 per hour (annualized). Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas each report averages of $416,000, though all four are based on a single listing and should be interpreted as high-ceiling examples rather than market norms. Kentucky averages $408,000 across two listings, making it one of the few states with both premium pay and some depth of data. Idaho posts $400,000 from a single listing. Alabama averages $370,500 to $378,000 across two listings. Nevada comes in at $373,000 across two listings. South Carolina reports $350,000 from one listing.
Near-average performers:
Ohio averages $330,583 to $353,994 across four listings, sitting comfortably above the national mean. Massachusetts reports $330,000 to $350,000 from two listings. Illinois averages $324,231 to $340,769 across 13 listings, making it one of the more data-rich near-average markets. Iowa averages $320,000 to $325,000 from two listings. Minnesota posts $310,129 to $328,566 across eight listings. Washington averages $309,000 to $347,000 from two listings. Hawaii sits at $306,667 to $316,667 across three listings. California averages $302,260 to $393,647 across 37 listings, making it both high-volume and competitive. New Jersey reports $300,000 to $310,000 from two listings. Colorado and Delaware each report $300,000 to $325,000 from single listings. Connecticut averages $297,000 to $331,143 across 14 listings.
Underperformers:
Missouri averages $285,000 to $325,000 from two listings, with a floor below the national mean. New York, despite leading the nation in job count with 52 listings, averages just $283,075 to $325,687 across 31 salary-disclosed roles—a clear case of volume without premium pay. Maryland averages $273,000 to $315,000 across five listings. Pennsylvania, the fourth-highest volume state with 34 listings, averages just $262,500 to $331,000 across four salary-disclosed roles—another high-volume, below-average market. Virginia averages $220,000 to $350,000 from two listings, with a floor that sits nearly $83,000 below the national average. North Dakota reports $60,000 from one listing, almost certainly part-time. Oregon posts $30,000 from one listing, which defies explanation unless it reflects a per-diem or consultation role.
Volume leaders:
New York leads with 52 listings, followed by California with 48, Pennsylvania with 34, Indiana and North Carolina with 22 each, and Illinois, Connecticut, and Massachusetts with 21 each. Wisconsin has 18 listings, Florida has 19, and Tennessee has 16. High volume does not guarantee high pay: New York and Pennsylvania both post below-average compensation despite ranking in the top four for job count.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician
If your priority is maximum compensation, target Rhode Island, Arizona, Kentucky, or Idaho. The single highest-paying listing identified is $550,000, location unspecified in the data but confirmed to exist within the national set. The highest geographically identified listing is $500,000 in Fresno, California. A part-time role in Phoenix, Arizona offers $200 per hour ($416,000 annualized), and a locum tenens position in Westerly, Rhode Island pays $185 to $220 per hour ($384,800 to $457,600 annualized). These represent the ceiling.
If your priority is maximum optionality, focus on New York (52 listings), California (48 listings), Pennsylvania (34 listings), or Indiana and North Carolina (22 listings each). These states offer the most opportunities to compare offers, negotiate terms, and find a role that fits your practice preferences. California is the rare market that combines high volume with above-average pay.
If your priority is balance, California is the clear winner: 48 listings, 37 with salary data, and an average range of $302,260 to $393,647. Connecticut, Illinois, and Minnesota also offer a reasonable mix of volume, transparency, and competitive pay. Avoid New York and Pennsylvania if compensation is a top-three priority—they are buyer’s markets.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter
Salary transparency rate: 29.96%. That is 148 listings with disclosed compensation out of 494 total. Less than one in three Psychiatry job postings includes salary data, which means the majority of your candidate pipeline will need to ask, guess, or walk away. In a specialty this competitive, that is a structural disadvantage.
The volume-pay relationship is broken. New York has the most listings and pays below average. Pennsylvania ranks fourth in volume and also underperforms on compensation. Meanwhile, Rhode Island, Kentucky, and Idaho—states with minimal job counts—lead the nation in average pay. This suggests that high-volume markets are saturated or institutionally constrained, while low-volume markets are pricing in scarcity or competing for talent with fewer built-in advantages (brand, location, amenities). If you are recruiting in New York or Pennsylvania, you will need to lead with culture, flexibility, or geography, because the numbers will not close the deal on their own.
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What’s Driving the Numbers
Part-time and non-standard roles distort the floor, but not the market.
Oregon’s $30,000 listing and North Dakota’s $60,000 listing are statistical outliers that almost certainly reflect part-time, per-diem, or limited-scope arrangements. They pull the national floor down dramatically but do not represent the experience of a full-time Psychiatry job seeker. Recruiters and physicians alike should disregard the bottom 5% of the range when evaluating market norms. The functional floor for full-time Psychiatry is closer to $220,000, and even that figure (from Virginia) sits well below the national average.
Locum tenens and hourly models command a meaningful premium.
The highest-paying opportunities in the data set are hourly or locum roles: $200 per hour in Arizona, $185 to $220 per hour in Rhode Island. Annualized, these figures eclipse most salaried positions. This is consistent with broader Psychiatry market dynamics, where flexibility and short-term commitments are rewarded with higher per-hour compensation. Physicians willing to trade stability for income will find the upper end of the market more accessible through locum work.
High-volume states do not pay premium rates.
New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida rank in the top six for job count but post average or below-average compensation. This is the inverse of what you would expect in a supply-constrained specialty. The most likely explanation: these states have deep institutional infrastructure (academic medical centers, large health systems, established private practices) that can absorb Psychiatry talent without competing aggressively on price. Alternatively, they may simply have more Psychiatrists per capita, reducing scarcity-driven wage pressure.
Low-volume states price in scarcity, but only sometimes.
Rhode Island, Kentucky, and Idaho offer top-tier pay despite minimal job counts. But Indiana and North Carolina—also high-volume states—offer zero salary-disclosed listings, making it impossible to assess whether they are pricing in scarcity or simply not disclosing. The takeaway: scarcity creates pricing power, but only when employers choose to compete on compensation. In states where employers rely on other advantages (cost of living, lifestyle, mission-driven work), scarcity may not translate to higher pay.
The Bottom Line
The Psychiatry job market is large, well-compensated, and geographically diffuse, but it rewards strategic decision-making. Physicians who prioritize income should target low-volume, high-pay states or pursue locum work. Those who want options should focus on California, New York, or Illinois. And those evaluating offers in high-volume markets should scrutinize the numbers carefully, because volume does not guarantee competitive pay.
There is a lot of work available for people who treat the mind. The pay is strong, the demand is national, and the gap between the top and bottom is wide enough to matter.
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Salary data based on 148 listings with disclosed compensation. Figures may reflect part-time or specialized roles. This report is informational and should not replace professional judgment or financial planning.
