A single job listing in Sterling, Illinois — population roughly 14,000, best known for steel and corn — currently tops the national Cardiology Interventional market at $990,000. Not New York. Not Boston. Sterling. The country has 144 active listings for physicians who thread catheters into coronary arteries for a living, and the highest dollar figure attached to any of them lives in a town most coastal cardiologists could not find on a map. The numbers tell a clear story: in interventional cardiology, geography is no longer destiny — but it is still very much a paycheck.
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The Cardiology-Interventional Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 144
Listings with disclosed salary: 13
Full national salary range: $480,000 – $990,000
National average range: $665,484 – $735,358
States represented: 36

The spread here is wide enough to drive a cath lab through. A half-million-dollar gap separates the floor from the ceiling, and the average range itself spans nearly $70,000 — a reminder that “interventional cardiologist” describes a job title, not a price tag. Only 13 of 144 listings (about 9%) bothered to post compensation, which means the public dataset is a keyhole view of a much larger room.

States represented: IL, NV, MO, CA, IN, WY, MN, TX, AR, WI, OH, FL, AZ, MS, OR, NM, SC, MI, GA, PA, VA, MT, OK, AL, NC, KS, ID, UT, TN, ND, WV, MA, NY, KY, LA, AK.

Thirty-six states. Thirteen salaries. One very motivated negotiation environment.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers:

• Illinois — Three disclosed listings averaging $791,667 to $888,333, anchored by Sterling and Dekalb (more on those shortly).
• Kentucky — A single listing at a flat $900,000, which is the kind of number that makes you double-check the decimal point.

Near-average:

• Missouri — Six listings averaging $625,000 to $700,000, comfortably in the benchmark zone.
• Minnesota — Three listings averaging $645,596 to $680,596, the textbook middle of the market.
• Nevada — Two listings, one disclosed at $600,000 to $625,000.
• Wyoming — Two listings, one disclosed at a flat $600,000 (scarcity priced in, but modestly).

Underperformers:

• California — Four listings averaging $527,550 to $714,229, with Sacramento posting $525,000 to $600,000 (and California cost of living posting no apologies).
• Indiana — A single listing at a fixed $580,000, well beneath the national floor.

Volume leaders: Texas (15), Arizona (11), Illinois (9), Wisconsin (9), Florida (9). Of those five, only Illinois disclosed a single dollar figure. Texas and Arizona — the two largest markets in the country for this specialty — released exactly zero salary data.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: Look at Sterling, IL, where one listing posts $800,000 to $990,000 — the highest top-end number in the entire dataset. Dekalb, IL follows at $825,000 to $925,000. Kentucky’s lone disclosed listing sits at a flat $900,000. The Midwest is, improbably, where the money is.

If your priority is maximum optionality: Texas (15), Arizona (11), and the Illinois/Wisconsin/Florida trio (9 each) offer the deepest benches. Just bring a calculator — four of those five disclose nothing.

If your priority is balance: Missouri and Minnesota deliver mid-six-figure compensation, reasonable listing volume, and a cost of living that does not actively pursue you. Sacramento’s $525,000 floor against California housing is the cost-of-living mismatch worth scrutinizing.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 13 ÷ 144 = 9%.

Ninety-one percent of interventional cardiology listings disclose no compensation at all. In a specialty where the visible top end is $990,000, that opacity is a candidate-pipeline problem dressed up as a negotiation strategy. Sophisticated cardiologists assume the worst when they see no number — and they have other listings to click on.

The volume-pay misalignment is glaring. Texas, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Florida combined post 44 listings without a single disclosed salary. Recruiters in those markets will need to lead with case mix, call structure, partnership track, and scope — because they have ceded the compensation conversation to Illinois, which is currently winning it.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scope and geography command a premium, not prestige. The top-paying listings sit in Sterling and Dekalb, Illinois — not academic powerhouses. Rural and small-metro hospitals are paying interventional cardiologists what coastal academic centers will not, because someone has to staff the cath lab at 3 a.m. and the market has noticed.

Part-time and locum roles likely distort the floor. The $480,000 low in Rochester, MN is below what most full-time interventional cardiologists would entertain, suggesting the bottom of the range reflects reduced FTE or specialized scope rather than a true market floor. Read the fine print before you read the salary.

Underserved markets price in scarcity — sometimes. Wyoming and Kentucky, both low-volume states, post compensation at or above the national average. But Indiana’s $580,000 flat figure shows that scarcity pricing is not automatic; it requires an employer willing to actually pay it.

The volume-pay relationship has broken. The highest-volume states (Texas, Arizona, Florida) disclose nothing. The highest-paying state (Illinois) is mid-volume. Demand and disclosed compensation are no longer correlated — they may even be inversely related, because the markets with the most leverage feel the least pressure to advertise it.

The Bottom Line

Interventional cardiology in 2026 is a market of extremes wrapped in a market of silence. The disclosed numbers stretch from $480,000 to $990,000, the geography stretches from Alaska to Florida, and 91% of employers have decided that the salary conversation is best had behind a closed door. Physicians with leverage — and in this specialty, most have it — should treat Illinois as the published benchmark and Texas and Arizona as the negotiation frontier.

In interventional cardiology, the money is real, the transparency is not, and the highest-paying job in America is in a town you have never heard of.
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Salary data based on 13 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.