Kentucky, a state with exactly one Pulmonary Critical Care listing in our dataset, is currently paying more than New York, which has eight. That is not a typo, and it is not a rounding error. It is the entire story of this market in a single sentence. Across 36 total listings spanning 18 states, the physicians who keep lungs inflated and ICUs functional are being courted from both coasts and, increasingly, from the middle of the country where the money quietly lives. The thesis: in Pulmonary Critical Care, geography and volume are actively working against compensation, and the Midwest is winning a race no one told the coasts they were running.
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The Pulmonary Critical Care Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 36
Listings with disclosed salary: 6
Full national salary range: $300,000 to $460,000
National average salary range: $370,000 to $410,000

Six out of thirty-six. That is the transparency baseline for a specialty that spends its working hours managing ventilator settings with clinical precision but apparently cannot commit to a number in a job posting. The disclosed range spans $160,000 from floor to ceiling, which is less a range than a gulf.

States represented in the dataset: New York, Indiana, Texas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Missouri, Utah, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Connecticut, and Alabama.

Eighteen states. Six salary numbers. The rest is negotiation.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers:

• Kentucky posts a flat $450,000 on a single listing and takes the national compensation crown without breaking a sweat.
• Indiana clocks $400,000 via ProMedical Staffing in Indianapolis, quietly outperforming every disclosed coastal offer.
• Illinois lands a range of $350,000 to $425,000, with three listings and a ceiling most states cannot touch.

Near-average:

• Illinois again straddles the national average on both ends, making it the most honest benchmark in the dataset.
• New York’s upper bound of $395,000 grazes the national average floor but never quite crosses it.

Underperformers:

• New York averages $340,000 to $395,000 across three disclosed listings, which is below the national floor despite leading the country in volume.

Volume leaders: New York (8), Texas (5), Pennsylvania (4), Illinois (3), Indiana (2), Florida (2), North Carolina (2). Texas and Pennsylvania combined for nine listings and zero salary disclosures (a combined batting average of .000 on transparency).
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: Kentucky’s $450,000 flat offer is the highest disclosed single-number salary in the dataset, and Indianapolis, Indiana ($400,000 via ProMedical Staffing LLC) is the highest specific listing with a named employer and city. Both are Midwestern, and both are asking you to consider a ZIP code you may not have Googled recently.

If your priority is maximum optionality: New York (8), Texas (5), and Pennsylvania (4) offer the most listings — but Texas and Pennsylvania disclosed nothing, and New York pays below the national average. Optionality is real. Leverage is not.

If your priority is balance: Illinois. Three listings, a $350,000 to $425,000 range, and a location that will not require you to explain your decision at Thanksgiving.

The cost-of-living mismatch worth scrutinizing: Long Island’s $300,000 to $350,000 Anapol Enterprises listing. It is the lowest range in the country, situated in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. Do the math twice.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 6 of 36 listings, or 16.7%.

That is a candidate pipeline problem dressed up as a job board. Pulmonary Critical Care physicians are in demand, mobile, and increasingly willing to compare offers across state lines. When 83.3% of your competition refuses to disclose, the recruiter who leads with a real number wins the click and the callback.

The volume-pay misalignment is stark: Texas and Pennsylvania together field nine listings and produced not a single salary figure, while Kentucky and Indiana disclosed and outperformed. Recruiters in high-volume, low-transparency states will need to lead with case mix, ICU acuity, call structure, and lifestyle — because on paper, they are being outbid by a state with one job.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scarcity is pricing itself in. Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois — three states not traditionally associated with premium physician compensation — are producing the highest disclosed offers in the country. Pulmonary Critical Care is a dual-boarded, ICU-tethered specialty, and underserved markets are paying for the privilege of recruiting one. When supply is thin, the wallet opens.

Transparency is a competitive weapon nobody is using. At 16.7% disclosure, the market is opaque by default. Any employer willing to post a number instantly becomes the most legible option on the page. Silence is not strategy. It is friction.

Volume and pay are inversely correlated here. New York has the most jobs and some of the lowest disclosed pay. Kentucky has one job and the highest. This is not the pattern most physicians assume, and it is not the pattern most recruiters price against.

Coastal prestige is not covering the spread. The Anapol Enterprises listing on Long Island at $300,000 to $350,000 is the lowest range in the dataset, and it is sitting in a market where a two-bedroom starter home requires a co-signer and a prayer. The prestige premium has become a prestige discount.

The Bottom Line

Pulmonary Critical Care in 2026 is a market where the map has been redrawn without telling most of the players. The coasts have the volume and the name recognition; the Midwest has the money and the willingness to say so out loud. Six disclosed salaries are not enough to build a full picture, but they are enough to notice that every single one above the national average is west of the Appalachians and east of the Rockies.

If you can keep someone alive on a ventilator, Kentucky would like a word — and it brought a checkbook.
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Salary data based on 6 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.