Somewhere in Arizona, a dermatologist is being offered up to $1,000,000 a year to look at skin. Meanwhile, in Laurel, Mississippi, an advanced practice provider in the same specialty is being offered $120,000 to do work that is, broadly speaking, also skin-related. That is the spread. That is the entire story, compressed. Across 198 active Dermatology listings spanning 40 states, the data shows a specialty where the median is comfortable, the ceiling is absurd, and the floor depends entirely on what letters follow your name. Dermatology is no longer just lucrative — it is bifurcated, geographically capricious, and quietly one of the most lopsided physician markets in the country.
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The Dermatology Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 198
Listings with disclosed salary: 94
Full national salary range: $120,000 to $1,000,000
National average salary range: $419,266 to $546,223

Most board-certified dermatologists land between $350,000 and $550,000 — a tidy, predictable band. The tails are where things get interesting. The $120,000 floor is an APP role; the $1,000,000 ceiling is a single Arizona listing doing heroic work to drag the national average upward. Strip out the extremes and you have one of the more orderly specialty markets in medicine. Leave them in and it looks like a hedge fund compensation chart.

States represented: California, New York, Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, Virginia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Delaware, Indiana, Minnesota, Colorado, Missouri, Iowa, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Vermont, Alaska, Nevada, DC, Kentucky, Oregon, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Maine.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers

• Arizona: Averages $800,000 to $1,000,000 on a single listing, which is either a unicorn or the new benchmark (the data does not say which).
• Wisconsin: $503,571 to $764,286 across 12 listings — the only state delivering both volume and top-tier pay.
• Minnesota: $550,000 to $600,000, quietly outperforming on a small sample.
• Rhode Island: One listing, $400,000 to $800,000, punching well above its population weight.
• Vermont: $540,000 to $541,000 on one listing — strikingly narrow, strikingly high.
• Colorado: Tops out at $700,000 on a single listing.
• Massachusetts: $404,500 to $651,167, with the upper end pulling hard.

Near-Average

• California: $469,167 to $542,500 — solid, not spectacular.
• New York: $431,250 to $562,500.
• Virginia: $410,000 to $570,000.
• Maryland: $425,000 to $458,000 (tight band, modest ceiling).
• Florida: $391,667 to $491,667.
• Texas: $400,000 to $487,500.
• Pennsylvania: $400,000 to $575,000.
• Washington: $423,000 to $470,667.
• Tennessee: $412,500 to $575,000.
• South Carolina: $437,500 to $525,000.
• Illinois: $368,750 to $533,750.
• Georgia: $383,333 to $516,667.
• Alabama: $400,000 to $483,333.
• Michigan: $425,000 to $525,000.
• West Virginia: $450,000 to $550,000.
• Indiana: $400,000 to $600,000.
• Missouri, DC, Nevada, North Carolina, Alaska: All cluster around $400,000 with modest ceilings.
• Connecticut: $375,000 to $525,000.

Underperformers

• Mississippi: $292,500 to $375,000 — the only state with an average low below $300,000, dragged down by APP roles.
• Delaware: $325,000 to $350,000, with a ceiling lower than most states’ floors.
• New Jersey: $356,250 to $456,250, below average despite 8 listings of moderate volume.

Volume leaders: California (38), New York (21), Wisconsin (12), Florida (9), Massachusetts and New Jersey (8 each). California leads on volume but lands squarely mid-pack on pay. New York posts 21 listings and only 4 disclosed salaries — make of that what you will.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: Arizona is the headline. The top listing in the country is a dermatologist role reaching $1,000,000 annually. Wisconsin’s Green Bay and Appleton listings ($500,000 to $800,000) are the more replicable bet — real volume, real ceilings, no unicorn required. Minnesota and Vermont also reward the willing.

If your priority is maximum optionality: California (38 listings) and New York (21) offer the broadest menu, though New York’s salary transparency is thin enough to require direct negotiation.

If your priority is balance: Wisconsin is the answer the data keeps giving. Twelve listings, top-quartile pay, no cost-of-living catastrophe. New Jersey deserves scrutiny — eight listings, sub-average pay, and proximity to NYC priced in (badly).
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 94 of 198 listings, or 47.5%. Slightly better than a coin flip, which in physician recruiting counts as candor.

That gap matters. New York posts 21 listings and discloses salary on 4. California discloses on 12 of 38. Candidates are increasingly filtering by disclosed compensation first, which means more than half of these listings are invisible to the most decisive applicants. The pipeline implication is direct: undisclosed roles lose to disclosed ones, regardless of underlying generosity.

Volume-pay misalignments are concentrated in California, New York, and New Jersey — high listing counts, average-to-below-average pay. Recruiters in these markets cannot lead with money. Lead with lifestyle, partnership track, cosmetic mix, or schedule. Lead with anything else.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scope and Credential Drive the Floor, Not the Ceiling

The $120,000 to $150,000 Mississippi listing is an APP role, not a physician role. Strip APP listings out and the national floor rises meaningfully. The bifurcation between MD/DO dermatologists and advanced practice providers is the single largest source of variance in this dataset — larger than geography, larger than volume, larger than practice setting.

Part-Time and Specialized Roles Distort the Extremes

Arizona’s $800,000 to $1,000,000 average rests on one listing. Rhode Island’s $400,000 to $800,000 rests on one listing. Vermont’s $540,000 to $541,000 rests on one extremely confident employer. Single-listing states are signal-poor; treat them as anecdotes with decimal points.

Underserved Markets Price In Scarcity (Sometimes)

Wisconsin, Indiana, West Virginia, and Vermont all post above-average compensation in markets with limited dermatologist density. The scarcity premium is real — but it is not universal. Mississippi and Delaware are also underserved, and they pay less, not more. Scarcity rewards specialties only when local systems can afford to compete.

The Volume-Pay Relationship Breaks in the Big States

California and New York together represent 30% of all national listings and deliver middling compensation. Wisconsin, with one-third California’s volume, pays meaningfully more. High-volume markets do not need to overpay. Low-density markets with capital do.

The Bottom Line

Dermatology in 2026 is a tale of two specialties stapled together. Board-certified physicians in the right state are earning anesthesiologist money for a substantially better calendar. Advanced practice providers in the wrong state are earning a fraction of that for adjacent work. The middle is orderly, the tails are wild, and the smart money is in Wisconsin — a sentence almost no other physician market produces.

Dermatology pays best where the patients are dry, the winters are long, and the disclosed salary actually means something.
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Salary data based on 94 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.