Somewhere in Wisconsin, an Emergency Medicine listing is advertising $50,000 a year. Somewhere in Urbana, Illinois, another is offering up to $534,520. Both are listed under the same specialty. Both, presumably, involve people having very bad days at 3 a.m. The Emergency Medicine market spans 701 active listings across 47 states and one Canadian province, with a national salary band so wide it has its own weather system. The data shows a specialty in heavy demand, paid generously where disclosed — and disclosed almost nowhere.
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The Emergency Medicine Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 701
Listings with salary data: 40
Full salary range: $50,000 – $707,200
Average salary range: $460,164 – $489,327

Forty out of 701 listings tell you what they pay. The other 661 want you to ask nicely. Among the disclosed forty, the average lands comfortably near half a million dollars — a respectable number for a specialty whose entire job description is “handle whatever walks through the door.” The full band, $50,000 to $707,200, is less a range than a Rorschach test: part-time moonlighting on one end, fully loaded directorship on the other.

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

Overperformers:

• Washington — $598,000 to $613,600 across two listings; the Pacific Northwest is paying like it knows you have options.
• California — $550,887 to $599,420 across six listings; rare combination of volume and disclosed top-tier pay.
• Texas — $520,000 to $624,000 on a single disclosed listing, but with 54 total openings behind it (more on that).
• Oklahoma — $520,000 to $603,200; one listing, very loud.
• Missouri — $501,550 to $510,650 across eight listings, the largest disclosed sample at this altitude.
• Vermont — $495,040 flat on one listing, which is a lot of money for one ED in Vermont.
• Mississippi — $520,000 on a single listing; scarcity pricing, undisguised.
• South Carolina — $472,000 to $489,333 across three listings; quietly competitive.

Near-average:

• Illinois — $423,543 to $460,389 across seven listings; the closest thing to a national benchmark.
• Ohio — $415,333 to $447,867 across three listings; reliably mid.
• Minnesota — $410,000 to $450,000; predictable, in a good way.
• Hawaii — $416,000 to $457,600 annualized (from $200–$220/hour at 2,080 hours); paradise, hourly.

Underperformers:

• Kansas — $330,000 to $355,000 on one listing.
• Colorado — $345,000 to $365,000 on one listing; the mountains are not subsidizing the offer.
• Pennsylvania — $250,000 to $260,000 in Harrisburg; more than $200,000 below the national low-end average.
• Wisconsin — $50,000 on one listing, almost certainly a part-time or contract artifact, but it is what the data says.

Volume leaders: Florida (55), Texas (54), Tennessee (49), Indiana (41), Ohio (39), North Carolina (29), South Carolina (29), Alabama (28). Of those eight, only Texas, Ohio, and South Carolina disclosed any salary at all. Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, North Carolina, and Alabama lead the country in postings and tell you nothing about pay.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: the highest-paying disclosed listing is in Urbana, Illinois at $430,000 to $534,520 — a corn-belt college town, not a coast. Washington and California also clear $598,000 on the low end of state averages. The Honolulu listing at $200–$220/hour ($416,000–$457,600 annualized) is competitive on paper, though Honolulu cost of living has opinions about that.

If your priority is maximum optionality: Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and Indiana together account for 199 listings. Most will not tell you the salary until you call.

If your priority is balance: Missouri, South Carolina, and Illinois offer disclosed pay near or above average with sample sizes large enough to trust. Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg listing at $250,000–$260,000 deserves direct scrutiny — that is either a part-time role or a serious gap.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 40 of 701 listings, or 5.7%.

That is not a transparency rate. That is a rounding error. In a candidate market where Emergency Medicine physicians can compare offers across state lines in roughly the time it takes to chart one patient, withholding compensation is a pipeline tax. Florida (55), Tennessee (49), Indiana (41), North Carolina (29), and Alabama (28) collectively post 202 listings without a single disclosed number. Recruiters in those markets will need to lead with culture, schedule, malpractice structure, partnership track, or sign-on bonus — because the candidate is already comparing your unstated offer against Texas at $624,000 and assuming the worst.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scope and geography command a premium, not titles. The top of the market — Washington, California, Texas, Oklahoma — is not paying for leadership. It is paying for willingness to staff specific facilities in specific states. Urbana, Illinois at $534,520 is the highest disclosed listing in the dataset, and Urbana is not a major metro. Scarcity beats prestige.

Part-time roles distort the floor, badly. The $50,000 Wisconsin listing is almost certainly not a full-time attending salary. It is dragging the national low down by hundreds of thousands of dollars and should be read as a data artifact, not a market signal. The functional floor among credible full-time roles sits closer to $250,000 (Harrisburg).

Underserved markets are pricing in scarcity, loudly. Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Vermont each disclosed exactly one listing — and each one cleared $495,000. Single-listing states are not statistically robust, but the pattern is consistent: rural and underserved geographies are paying coastal money to get coverage.

The volume-pay relationship breaks almost everywhere except Texas. Florida leads the country in volume and discloses nothing. Tennessee, Indiana, North Carolina, and Alabama do the same. Texas is the lone state pairing high volume (54 listings) with high disclosed pay (up to $624,000). Everywhere else, you have to choose: a lot of jobs, or a known number.

The Bottom Line

Emergency Medicine remains one of the broadest, best-paid, and most opaque specialty markets in American medicine. The disclosed numbers are strong — averaging near $475,000 and reaching $707,200 at the top — but only 5.7% of listings disclose anything at all, which means the real market is being negotiated one phone call at a time. The states that need physicians most are paying the most. The states with the most jobs are saying the least.

Emergency Medicine pays handsomely for the willingness to be there when no one else is — and the salary on the door is usually the part you have to ask about.
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Salary data based on 40 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.