Somewhere in California, a single Med-Ped physician is being offered a flat $400,000 a year. Somewhere in Kansas, four of them are being offered half that. Both listings are for the same specialty, in the same country, in the same month. The national Med-Ped market currently holds 79 active listings across 24 states, of which only 15 bothered to disclose what they intend to pay. The data shows a specialty with impressive geographic reach, uneven compensation discipline, and a transparency problem that quietly does most of the negotiating for employers.
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The Med-Ped Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 79
Listings with disclosed salary: 15
Full salary range: $200,000 – $400,000
National average range: $249,800 – $287,847

The spread is wide enough to drive a residency program through. A $200,000 floor and a $400,000 ceiling in the same specialty means geography, employer type, and shift structure are doing more work than the specialty designation itself. The average range compresses that story into something more civilized — roughly $249,800 to $287,847 — but the tails are where the real conversations happen.

States represented:

• California
• Massachusetts
• New York
• North Carolina
• Illinois
• Kansas
• Michigan
• Missouri
• Maryland
• Tennessee
• Wisconsin
• Indiana
• Florida
• Georgia
• New Jersey
• New Hampshire
• Alabama
• Iowa
• Texas
• Oregon
• Minnesota
• West Virginia
• Arkansas
• Virginia

Twenty-four states, one specialty, and only fifteen employers willing to say what they’d pay. That last number is the one to remember.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers

• California: One disclosed listing at a flat $400,000 — the top of the national market, and, remarkably, from a high-volume state.
• Arkansas: One listing at $350,000, which is what happens when a low-volume market has to price in scarcity.
• Illinois: A $300,000 – $325,000 average, powered by a nocturnist role (i.e., you sleep when the sun does not).

Near-average

• New York: Seven salary listings averaging $236,714 – $278,957, sitting almost exactly on the national midline.
• Missouri: One listing at $240,000 – $250,000, close enough to average to be used as a benchmark.

Underperformers

• Kansas: Four listings averaging $200,000 – $260,000 — the only state with a full salary sample, and the lowest floor in the country.

Volume leaders: California, Massachusetts, and New York tie at 10 listings each. North Carolina follows with 6. Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, and Missouri each post 4. Massachusetts and North Carolina lead on volume while disclosing exactly zero salaries between them — a combined 16 listings, zero numbers. California is the rare high-volume market where the disclosed pay actually matches the hype.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: Follow the shift work and the outlier listings. The clearest premium opportunity in the dataset is a Full Time Med-Ped Nocturnist role in Rockford, Illinois, posted by Curare Group, Inc., at $300,000 – $325,000. California’s lone $400,000 listing is the ceiling, but it is a single data point — treat it as a lead, not a trend.

If your priority is maximum optionality: California, Massachusetts, and New York each carry 10 listings. Massachusetts, however, offers zero disclosed salaries, so optionality there comes with homework.

If your priority is balance: New York is the closest thing to a functional benchmark market — volume, disclosed data, and pay near the national midline. Kansas offers volume and transparency but a $200,000 floor that deserves scrutiny against local cost of living and call structure.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 15 of 79 listings, or 19.0%. Roughly four out of five Med-Ped postings decline to say what they pay.

That is a candidate pipeline problem dressed up as a formatting choice. Physicians increasingly filter and rank listings by disclosed compensation; a blank salary field reads as either a low number or a difficult conversation. Massachusetts and North Carolina — a combined 16 listings, zero salaries — are the clearest examples of high volume with zero pricing signal.

Where volume and pay misalign (Massachusetts, North Carolina), recruiters will need to lead with something other than compensation: schedule, scope, teaching affiliation, loan support, or geography. If the pay is competitive, disclosing it is the cheapest recruiting upgrade available.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scope and shift structure command a real premium. The highest cleanly-defined listing in the country is a nocturnist role in Rockford, Illinois. Med-Ped compensation rewards inconvenience — nights, weekends, and hybrid inpatient-outpatient coverage — more reliably than it rewards geography. When the top of the disclosed market is a night-shift job in a mid-sized Illinois city, the premium is being paid for the hours, not the ZIP code.

Low-volume states are pricing in scarcity. Arkansas has exactly one listing, and it pays $350,000. California has one disclosed listing, and it pays $400,000. Small sample sizes inflate averages, but they also reflect a real dynamic: employers in thin markets pay up to close the deal because there is no bench behind the candidate.

The volume-pay relationship is broken, not inverted. Massachusetts and North Carolina lead on listings and disclose nothing. California leads on listings and pays at the top. New York leads on listings and lands squarely on the average. There is no clean rule here — high volume neither guarantees nor undermines pay, which is itself the finding.

Transparency is the story the numbers keep telling. A 19.0% disclosure rate means the market’s true compensation curve is largely unobservable. Any physician negotiating from a public benchmark is negotiating against 15 data points nationally. Employers know this. Candidates should too.

The Bottom Line

Med-Ped in 2026 is a specialty with genuine national reach, meaningful salary ceilings, and a disclosure culture that would embarrass most other markets. California and New York offer the strongest combination of volume and visible pay. Illinois and Arkansas offer the strongest ceilings for physicians willing to accept a specific shift or geography. Massachusetts and North Carolina offer plenty of listings and almost no information, which is its own kind of answer.

Med-Ped will pay you well to care for children and adults at the same time — provided you can also read the four out of five job postings that decline to mention the money.
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Salary data based on 15 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.