Somewhere in Plattsburgh, New York — a town better known for its proximity to the Canadian border than its compensation packages — an anesthesiologist can earn $600 an hour. Annualized at 2,080 hours, that is roughly $1,248,000 per year. To keep people unconscious. In Plattsburgh. The national Anesthesia market currently shows 370 active listings, scattered across more than 40 states and ranging from a $250,000 floor to a seven-figure ceiling. The thesis is simple: Anesthesia pay is enormous, wildly inconsistent, and quietly rewarding the physicians willing to read the fine print.
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The Anesthesia Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 370
Listings with disclosed salary: 48
Full national range: $250,000 – $1,248,000
National average range: $492,771 – $552,866
Practical full-time cluster: $400,000 – $600,000

The spread here is the story. From floor to ceiling, the gap is just shy of a million dollars, which is unusual even by physician standards. The average lands comfortably in the high four-hundreds to low five-hundreds, but the ceiling is being dragged skyward by hourly locums work and a handful of metro outliers willing to pay whatever it takes.

Most full-time W-2 roles still live in the $400,000 to $600,000 corridor. That is the honest benchmark. Everything above it is either a major-metro premium, a leadership scope, or someone in upstate New York quietly out-earning Park Avenue.

States represented: NY, NJ, CA, TX, FL, PA, VA, IL, CT, MD, HI, MA, OH, CO, MO, WA, SD, GA, LA, OR, OK, IA, AL, NH, WV, NC, WI, AZ, KY, AK, TN, ME, SC, MN, MI, NE, IN, ND, DE, NM, NV, VT, and AR.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers:

• Missouri ($750,000 – $750,000): One listing, one number, top of the leaderboard (sample size of one, but still).
• California ($675,000 – $750,000): The rare state where high volume and high pay coexist.
• Colorado ($564,500 – $590,000): Mountain-state pay without mountain-state apology.
• Massachusetts ($530,000 – $550,000): Northeast academic gravity holding firm.

Near-average:

• New York ($496,933 – $567,200): The benchmark itself, with enormous internal variance.
• New Jersey ($477,143 – $542,857): Competitive, predictable, unsurprising.
• Ohio ($475,000 – $547,279): Middle of the market, middle of the country.
• Illinois ($482,143 – $518,571): Solid, not spectacular.
• Hawaii ($475,000 – $550,000): Pay is fine; the commute is the compensation.

Underperformers:

• Connecticut ($443,750 – $512,500): Trailing peer Northeast markets despite the cost of living.
• Maryland ($450,000 – $491,667): Below the national low average — in a high-cost corridor.
• Washington ($450,000 – $500,000): Underpriced relative to the metro it’s anchored to.
• South Dakota ($250,000 – $400,000): The clear outlier, and the only state where Anesthesia pay starts with a 2.

Volume leaders: New York (30), California (30), Texas (22), Florida (19), Illinois (18), Virginia (17), Pennsylvania (16), Georgia (14). Of those eight, four — Texas, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania — disclosed zero salary data. High volume, total opacity.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: The headline number is the Plattsburgh, NY hourly role at $550 – $600/hr (roughly $1,140,000 – $1,248,000 annualized at 2,080 hours). For a full-time W-2 role, the Los Angeles, CA listing at $650,000 – $800,000 is the clearest top-of-market opportunity. Missouri and Colorado deserve a serious look.

If your priority is maximum optionality: New York and California each offer 30 listings. Texas (22), Florida (19), Illinois (18), and Virginia (17) round out the volume tier — though the lack of salary disclosure in TX, FL, VA, and PA is a flag worth raising before you fly out.

If your priority is balance: New York, Illinois, and New Jersey combine real volume with average-or-better pay. Maryland and Connecticut, by contrast, look like cost-of-living traps — sub-average pay in expensive corridors. Scrutinize accordingly.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 48 of 370 listings, or 13%. That is low. That is, frankly, a problem.

Candidates today open three tabs before they open one email. When 87% of your listings withhold compensation, the candidate assumes the number is bad — even when it isn’t. Texas, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania collectively post 74 Anesthesia roles with zero salary disclosure. That is a pipeline issue dressed up as a policy choice.

The volume-pay misalignment is most acute in Maryland and Connecticut, where listings exist but pay underwhelms. Recruiters in those markets should lead with case mix, call schedule, partnership track, or geography — because the comp line will not carry the pitch on its own.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scope and scarcity command a premium, loudly. Missouri’s lone $750,000 listing and Colorado’s $564,500 – $590,000 average are not random. Less-saturated markets are pricing in the difficulty of recruiting subspecialty Anesthesia coverage, and they are pricing it generously. The premium is real; the catch is that you have to live there.

Hourly and locums work is distorting the ceiling, not the floor. The Plattsburgh listing annualizes to $1,248,000, which mathematically pulls the national high into seven-figure territory. Most physicians will not work 2,080 hours of locums in a year, and most won’t want to. The number is real; the lifestyle attached to it is the asterisk.

The volume-pay relationship is broken in the Sun Belt. Texas, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania post heavy listing counts and disclose no compensation. California is the only high-volume state pairing scale with transparent, top-tier pay. Everywhere else, volume and pay live in separate buildings.

High-cost markets are quietly underpaying. Maryland, Connecticut, and Washington all sit below the national average low while operating in expensive metros. Either the cost-of-living adjustment is missing entirely, or the market has decided proximity to D.C., Hartford, and Seattle is its own form of currency. Physicians may disagree.

The Bottom Line

Anesthesia in 2026 remains one of the most lucrative corners of the physician job market, but the headline averages obscure the real action. The middle of the market is healthy and predictable. The top of the market is hourly, geographic, and occasionally located in places you’ve never heard of. The bottom of the market is concentrated in expensive states pretending they’re not. And 87% of the listings won’t tell you what they pay.

There is a fortune available for keeping people unconscious — but you’ll have to wake up the listing first to find out how much.
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Salary data based on 48 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.