Wichita, Kansas is paying up to $355,000 annually to ensure workers can safely return to their jobs. Long Branch, New Jersey is offering $240,000 for roughly the same work. The gap between them — $115,000 — is larger than the median household income in 48 states.
Fifty-one Occupational Medicine positions are currently active across 21 states, with only seven disclosing compensation. The data reveals a market where geography, not volume, determines leverage — and where transparency remains the exception, not the rule.
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The Occupational Medicine Job Market at a Glance
Fifty-one total listings. Seven with salary data. The full range spans $240,000 to $355,000, with a national average between $269,857 and $290,714.
That $115,000 spread tells the story of a specialty still finding its pricing equilibrium. The floor sits well above primary care but below procedural specialties. The ceiling approaches what some hospitalists earn in high-demand rural markets. The middle reflects a profession that straddles corporate health, workers’ compensation, regulatory compliance, and clinical care — none of which command procedural premiums, but all of which require board certification and liability tolerance.
States represented: California, Colorado, Florida, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, South Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Idaho, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nebraska, Indiana, Maryland, Maine, and Missouri. The geographic distribution suggests Occupational Medicine demand follows neither population density nor physician supply, but rather industrial footprint and employer concentration.
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How States Stack Up
Overperformers: Kansas leads the nation with an average range of $330,000 to $355,000, driven by a single Wichita listing that sets the national ceiling (and suggests that someone in the Midwest takes workplace safety very seriously). Illinois follows at $282,000 to $295,000 across two listings, positioning it as a consistent above-average market without the single-listing risk of Kansas.
Near-average: California averages $251,667 to $283,333 across three listings, straddling the lower half of the national range and offering a useful baseline for what “normal” looks like in a high-volume, high-diversity state.
Underperformers: New Jersey reports a single salary of $240,000 — nearly $30,000 below the national average floor — in a state where the cost of living ranks among the nation’s highest (a mismatch worth interrogating before signing).
Volume leaders: California dominates with 14 listings, followed by Colorado with 8, then Florida and Washington with 3 each. Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Wisconsin each contribute 2 listings. The remaining 11 states offer 1 listing apiece. California’s volume advantage does not translate to pay advantage — its average sits below Kansas, Illinois, and the national mean.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician
If your priority is maximum compensation: Target Kansas and Illinois. The highest-paying listing is offered by Premise Health in Wichita, KS, at $330,000 to $355,000 annually. Illinois provides a safer bet with two listings averaging $282,000 to $295,000, reducing single-employer risk while still clearing the national average by a comfortable margin.
If your priority is maximum optionality: California and Colorado combine for 22 of the 51 national listings — nearly 43% of the market. California’s 14 postings offer geographic and employer diversity, though pay trends below average. Colorado’s 8 listings provide no salary data, but volume alone suggests competitive demand (and possibly leverage for those willing to negotiate in a transparency vacuum).
If your priority is balance: Illinois offers two listings, both with disclosed pay, both above the national average, in a state with manageable cost of living and established industrial infrastructure. It is the rare market where volume, pay, and transparency align without requiring you to move to Wichita.
Cost-of-living mismatch alert: New Jersey’s $240,000 salary ranks lowest nationally despite the state’s top-tier living costs. California’s below-average pay in a high-cost state warrants scrutiny, though the volume of listings may provide negotiation leverage unavailable elsewhere.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter
Salary transparency rate: 13.7% (7 of 51 listings disclosed compensation).
That figure is low even by healthcare recruiting standards, and it creates pipeline risk. Occupational Medicine physicians are a niche cohort — often board-certified in Preventive Medicine or Family Medicine with added qualifications — and they know it. In a market where 86% of listings omit salary, candidates will either skip your posting or open negotiations with a number pulled from the top of the range (which, in this dataset, is $355,000). Neither outcome favors the employer.
Volume-pay misalignment: California and Colorado account for 43% of national listings but provide zero and limited salary data, respectively. California’s disclosed figures trend below the national average despite high cost of living. Recruiters in these states will need to lead with employer brand, benefits, work-life balance, or scope flexibility — because compensation alone will not close candidates coming from Kansas or Illinois.
Kansas and Illinois, by contrast, are low-volume markets with above-average pay. Recruiters there can lead with the number. Everyone else will need a better story.
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What’s Driving the Numbers
Transparency remains optional, and that benefits no one. Only 13.7% of listings disclose salary, forcing physicians to guess and employers to defend ranges they never published. In a specialty with 51 active listings nationwide, every undisclosed salary is a missed opportunity to set market expectations and reduce negotiation friction. The states that do disclose — Kansas, Illinois, California, New Jersey — span the full compensation spectrum, suggesting that transparency is not a function of pay level but of employer policy.
Volume does not correlate with pay, and that breaks the usual market logic. California leads in listings but trails in salary. Kansas offers two jobs and the highest pay in the nation. Colorado contributes 8 listings and zero salary data. The implication: Occupational Medicine demand is geographically diffuse, and physicians willing to move hold the leverage. Employers in high-volume states cannot rely on supply to suppress wages, because supply in this specialty is national, mobile, and scarce.
The salary floor is higher than expected, and the ceiling is lower than proceduralists. Even the lowest reported figure — $240,000 in New Jersey — exceeds median primary care pay in many states. But the top of the range, $355,000, sits well below what Anesthesia, Radiology, or Gastroenterology command. Occupational Medicine pays like a cognitive specialty with procedural scarcity, which is exactly what it is: high liability, low volume, and dependent on employers who need the role filled but do not build revenue around it.
Geography drives compensation more than scope or employer type. The highest pay is in Kansas. The lowest is in New Jersey. California, with 14 listings, sits near the middle. There is no evidence in this dataset that leadership roles, part-time arrangements, or specialized practice settings command a premium — only that location determines the number. Physicians who can relocate will be paid accordingly. Those who cannot will not.
The Bottom Line
The Occupational Medicine job market is geographically broad, moderately compensated, and frustratingly opaque. Physicians have leverage if they can move. Employers have leverage if they can tell candidates what the job pays before the third interview. The $115,000 gap between the top and bottom of the range suggests that this specialty has not yet settled on what it is worth — or where.
Occupational Medicine pays well enough to keep workers safe, but not so well that anyone confuses it with Orthopedic Surgery.
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Salary data based on 7 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.
