Iowa—a state with exactly one Emergency Medicine listing in this dataset—pays $613,600 and outearns 46 other states with salary data. The national Emergency Medicine market currently shows 777 active listings spread across 48 states and territories, with compensation data disclosed on 48 of them. The full range spans $310,000 to $707,200 annually, a $397,200 spread that reflects everything from part-time rural shifts to premium full-time hospital contracts. The data reveals a market with enormous geographic demand, selective salary transparency, and compensation that rewards both scarcity and volume depending on where you look.
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The Emergency Medicine Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 777. Listings with salary data: 48. Full salary range: $310,000 to $707,200. Average range: $482,171 to $513,509.

That average is deceptive. The floor is dragged down by part-time and hourly roles that annualize below $350,000, while the ceiling is lifted by locum tenens gigs paying north of $600,000 when annualized at full-time equivalency. Most full-time hospital roles cluster between $330,000 and $480,000, a comfortable but unremarkable band. The top quartile—roles paying $520,000 and above—are geographically scattered and often tied to underserved markets or premium hourly contracts. The $707,200 ceiling appears to be an annualized locum rate, not a salaried W-2 position, which means the true employed ceiling is closer to $624,000.

States with active listings include Florida, Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, South Carolina, Alabama, Missouri, California, Washington, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oregon, Nebraska, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, West Virginia, Vermont, Colorado, Maryland, Washington DC, Arkansas, Rhode Island, Alaska, North Dakota, Idaho, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers:

• Iowa: $613,600 flat—one listing, one very persuasive number.
• Texas: $520,000 to $624,000 across one disclosed listing in San Antonio, anchoring the high end of the national range.
• Washington: $554,667 to $568,400 across three listings, delivering top-tier pay with slightly more data density.
• Louisiana: $543,920 to $588,640 across two listings, quietly outperforming most of the South.
• Tennessee: $553,280 to $599,040 on a single listing, pairing strong pay with 44 total openings statewide.
• California: $536,264 to $594,504 across five listings, which is respectable but not extraordinary given cost of living.
• Florida: $532,624 to $569,232 across five listings, competitive and well above average despite high volume.

Near-average performers:

• North Carolina: $499,200 to $561,600 on one listing, landing squarely at the national midpoint.
• Vermont: $495,040 flat, the platonic ideal of average.
• Missouri: $493,044 to $503,911 across nine listings, offering the most statistically reliable snapshot of the national center.

Underperformers:

• Ohio: $463,440 to $501,680 across five listings—35 total jobs statewide, but paying $20,000 to $30,000 below the national average low end.
• South Carolina: $444,267 to $451,200 across three listings, significantly below average despite 32 total openings.
• New Jersey: $426,400 to $447,200 on one listing, surprisingly low for the Northeast corridor.
• Illinois: $425,000 to $475,000 across two listings, underperforming the Midwest average.
• Hawaii: $416,000 to $457,600 on one listing, which sounds appealing until you price a gallon of milk in Honolulu.
• New York: $402,000 flat on one listing, shockingly low for a state with 17 openings.
• Minnesota: $386,667 to $443,333 across three listings, dragged down by part-time or hourly roles.
• Michigan: $350,000 flat, no range, no explanation.
• Colorado: $345,000 to $365,000, inexplicably low for a desirable mountain state.
• Kansas: $330,000 to $355,000, the floor among states with salary data.

Volume leaders: Florida and Texas lead with 70 listings each. Indiana posts 39 openings but discloses zero salaries. Tennessee offers 44 jobs and one strong compensation data point. Ohio, South Carolina, and Alabama each show 32 to 35 listings, but only Ohio and South Carolina provide salary transparency, and both pay below average. High volume does not guarantee high pay—Ohio and South Carolina prove that. Low volume does not preclude it—Iowa proves that.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: Target Texas, Iowa, Washington, Louisiana, and Tennessee. The single highest disclosed listing is in San Antonio, Texas, paying $520,000 to $624,000 annually (annualized from $250 to $300 per hour). If you can tolerate a single data point, Iowa’s $613,600 listing is the highest fixed figure in the dataset. Washington offers $554,667 to $568,400 with three listings, giving you options and premium pay in the same market.

If your priority is maximum optionality: Florida and Texas each offer 70 listings and competitive pay in the $520,000 to $570,000 range. Indiana has 39 openings but zero salary transparency, making it a volume play with unknown compensation upside. Tennessee combines 44 listings with one strong salary disclosure above $550,000. Missouri offers 25 jobs and nine salary data points near the national average, giving you the most statistically reliable market to evaluate.

If your priority is balance: Missouri, North Carolina, and Vermont sit at or near the national average with disclosed pay in the $493,000 to $561,600 range. Missouri provides the deepest salary data (nine listings), making it the safest bet for benchmarking. Avoid Ohio and South Carolina if you want average pay—they have volume but underperform by $20,000 to $40,000. Avoid Kansas, Colorado, and Michigan entirely unless you have compelling non-financial reasons to be there.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 6.2% (48 listings with compensation data out of 777 total listings).

That is not a typo. Ninety-four percent of Emergency Medicine listings in this dataset do not disclose compensation, which means recruiters are operating in a market where pay is either assumed, negotiated case-by-case, or intentionally obscured. For candidates, this creates friction. For recruiters, it creates leverage—but only if you are prepared to lead with geography, lifestyle, volume, or partnership track instead of a number.

Volume-pay misalignments are significant. Florida and Texas dominate volume with 70 listings each, and both pay competitively, making them recruiter-friendly markets. Indiana has 39 listings and zero disclosed salaries, which suggests either a highly localized compensation strategy or a market that has not yet embraced transparency. Ohio and South Carolina combine for 67 listings but pay $20,000 to $40,000 below the national average, meaning recruiters in those states will need to emphasize cost of living, practice autonomy, or community stability to compete for talent. Kansas, Colorado, and Michigan are pay deserts—if you are recruiting there, compensation is not your opening move.

Candidate pipeline implications: Physicians have 777 options and only 48 salary benchmarks. They will triangulate. If your listing does not disclose pay and your market does not command a geographic premium, you are competing on intangibles from the first conversation.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scarcity pricing is real, but inconsistent. Iowa posts one listing at $613,600, the highest fixed salary in the dataset. That is not an accident—it is a market signal. Low-volume states with acute shortages can and do outbid high-volume markets when they need to. But scarcity pricing does not apply uniformly. Kansas has 11 listings and pays $330,000 to $355,000, well below the national average, suggesting either a saturated local market or a compensation strategy that has not yet responded to competitive pressure. Louisiana and Tennessee both post top-tier pay with limited salary data, reinforcing that underserved or high-need markets will pay premiums when they must. The lesson: scarcity commands a premium only when the employer chooses to compete on price.

High volume does not guarantee high pay. Florida and Texas each have 70 listings, but their compensation strategies diverge. Florida averages $532,624 to $569,232 across five disclosed salaries—competitive, but not elite. Texas averages $520,000 to $624,000 on one disclosed listing, anchoring the top of the national range. Ohio has 35 listings but pays $463,440 to $501,680, roughly $20,000 below the national average. South Carolina has 32 listings and pays $444,267 to $451,200, even further below. Indiana has 39 listings and discloses nothing. High job volume signals demand, but it does not signal premium compensation. In some cases, it signals the opposite: a saturated market where employers have negotiating power.

Part-time and hourly roles distort the floor. The $310,000 floor is almost certainly a part-time or reduced-scope role, not a full-time employed position. Several listings in Missouri, Hawaii, and Minnesota reference hourly rates in the $200 to $260 range, which annualize to $416,000 to $540,800 at 2,080 hours but likely reflect locum, PRN, or part-time arrangements. This compresses the lower end of the published range and makes state-level averages difficult to interpret without context. Michigan’s flat $350,000 figure and Colorado’s $345,000 to $365,000 range likely reflect similar dynamics. The true full-time employed floor is closer to $400,000 in most markets, not $310,000.

Transparency is a strategic choice, not a standard. Only 6.2% of listings disclose salary. That is a feature, not a bug. Employers in high-pay markets like Texas, Iowa, and Washington disclose selectively, likely when compensation is a competitive advantage. Employers in high-volume, lower-pay markets like Ohio and Indiana disclose rarely, likely because pay is not the lead selling point. Missouri is the exception—nine disclosed salaries across 25 listings suggests a market that has embraced transparency as table stakes. For physicians, this means most negotiations will begin without a number. For recruiters, it means compensation is either your opening move or your last resort, depending on where you sit in the range.

The Bottom Line

The Emergency Medicine job market is geographically vast, selectively transparent, and unevenly compensated. Physicians who prioritize pay will find it in Texas, Iowa, Washington, and Louisiana. Physicians who prioritize options will find them in Florida, Texas, Indiana, and Tennessee. Physicians who want both will need to choose carefully, because high volume and high pay rarely overlap outside of Texas. Recruiters in low-transparency, high-volume markets will need to lead with lifestyle, geography, and partnership potential, because 94% of this market does not disclose a number until someone asks.

Emergency Medicine pays well nationally, but it pays exceptionally in markets that either cannot fill shifts or choose to compete aggressively.
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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.