Med-Ped is the specialty built for physicians who could not pick between adults and children and decided, reasonably, to treat both. The market has rewarded that indecision unevenly. Of 88 active listings spread across 27 states, exactly one position — somewhere in California — sits at a flat $400,000. The next closest contenders are in Iowa and Rockford, Illinois, which is a sentence rarely written in compensation journalism. Most of the country is quieter, and most of the country is also not telling you what it pays.

The thesis: Med-Ped pays well when it pays openly, but the majority of employers would prefer you call first.
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The Med-Ped Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 88
Listings with salary data: 16
Full national range: $200,000 to $400,000
National average range: $248,344 to $286,919

The spread is wide but the disclosed sample is narrow. Sixteen listings out of 88 is not a market — it is a focus group. Within that focus group, the floor sits at $200,000 (Kansas) and the ceiling doubles it (California). Everything between is clustered in the $240,000 to $285,000 corridor, which is roughly where Med-Ped has lived for years.

States represented: New York, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, California, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, Texas, West Virginia, Oregon, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Alabama, New Hampshire, Arizona, Indiana, New Jersey, Arkansas, Kentucky, Iowa, and Ohio.

Twenty-seven states, sixteen disclosed salaries. The math is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers:

• California — One listing at $400,000, which is the national ceiling and also the only data point the state offered out of ten postings.
• Iowa — A single listing at $300,000 to $400,000, proving that cornfields and competitive pay are not mutually exclusive.
• Illinois — Rockford, of all places, posted $300,000 to $325,000, the cleanest high-end range in the dataset.
• Kentucky — A flat $300,000 from one listing, quietly outperforming most coastal markets.

Near-average:

• New York — Nine listings, six with salary data, averaging $230,583 to $270,950. The most statistically honest state on the board.
• Missouri — One disclosed listing at $240,000 to $250,000, parked squarely on the national midpoint.
• Ohio — A flat $250,000, average in every direction.

Underperformers:

• Kansas — Four listings, all disclosed, all between $200,000 and $260,000. Full transparency, modest numbers.

Volume leaders: Massachusetts (10), California (10), New York (9), Missouri (7). Massachusetts leads the country in postings and disclosed exactly zero salaries. California tied it on volume and produced one number, which happened to be the highest in the report. Make of that what you will.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: The highest-paying listing in the dataset is a Med-Ped position in California at $400,000 flat. Iowa’s $300,000 to $400,000 range matches the ceiling. Rockford, Illinois offers the most clearly bounded high-end at $300,000 to $325,000.

If your priority is maximum optionality: Massachusetts (10), California (10), New York (9), and Missouri (7) carry the most postings. Three of those four largely decline to disclose pay, so optionality here means interviews, not spreadsheets.

If your priority is balance: New York is the most honest market — six disclosed salaries averaging $230,583 to $270,950, with reasonable volume. The California ceiling deserves scrutiny: a single $400,000 listing in a state with notorious cost of living is a data point, not a trend.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 16 of 88 listings, or 18%.

Eighteen percent is not a pipeline strategy. It is a wall. Med-Ped candidates evaluating 88 listings can price-check 16 of them, which means the other 72 are competing on culture, geography, and the candidate’s willingness to email a stranger. Massachusetts is the clearest example — ten postings, zero numbers, and a cost-of-living profile candidates will calculate without your help. North Carolina (5), Virginia (5), and Michigan (4) follow the same pattern. Recruiters in these markets will need to lead with scope, schedule, loan assistance, and lifestyle, because the compensation line is blank and candidates have noticed.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scope and leadership do not visibly command a premium. The disclosed listings read as straight clinical Med-Ped roles, and the highest numbers come from geography, not title. Rockford, Iowa, and Kentucky are paying ceiling-adjacent rates without the words “director” or “chief” attached.

Part-time roles are not obviously distorting the floor. Kansas posted four disclosed listings between $200,000 and $260,000, which is consistent with full-time primary care comp in a low-cost market. The floor is the floor because the market priced it there, not because someone is working three days a week.

Underserved markets are pricing in scarcity. Iowa, Kentucky, and Rockford are not destination zip codes. They are also paying at or near the top of the national range. The pattern is straightforward: where Med-Ped physicians are scarce, employers stop negotiating with themselves.

The volume-pay relationship breaks cleanly. Massachusetts and California tie for volume; one discloses nothing, the other discloses the highest number on the board. New York carries the most disclosed listings and lands at the national average. Volume reflects demand. Pay reflects leverage. They are not the same variable.

The Bottom Line

Med-Ped is a small, geographically diffuse market where the highest-paying jobs are in places most physicians cannot find on a map without squinting, and the highest-volume markets prefer to discuss money in person. The $200,000 to $400,000 spread is real but thinly documented — 16 disclosed salaries cannot carry 88 listings. Candidates who want the ceiling should look at Iowa, Kentucky, and Rockford. Candidates who want the floor explained to them should look at Kansas, which at least had the decency to publish it.

Med-Ped pays best where physicians are hardest to recruit, and discloses least where physicians are easiest to find.
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Salary data based on 16 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.