Somewhere in Oregon, a single Pulmonology listing is offering $600,000 a year. That is not the high end of a range. That is the floor and the ceiling, stacked on top of each other like a very confident dumbbell. Meanwhile, in Crystal Lake, Illinois, a part-time pulmonologist can expect $175,000 to read chest CTs and explain, again, that vaping is not a vegetable. Across 88 total listings spanning 31 states, only 26 disclose compensation, which makes the market less of a heat map and more of a séance. The thesis is simple: in Pulmonology, lungs are universal but pay is wildly, almost theatrically, regional.
👉 Explore Pulmonology job market insights and trends

The Pulmonology Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 88
Listings with salary data: 26
Full national salary range: $175,000 – $600,000
National average range: $327,231 – $362,500

The spread tells two stories at once. The bottom is anchored by part-time roles clustering at $175,000–$200,000, which drag the floor into territory most full-time pulmonologists would politely decline. The top is a single Oregon listing levitating at $600,000, untethered from the rest of the dataset (and possibly from gravity).

Strip out the part-time floor and the extreme ceiling, and you get a real-world full-time band somewhere in the $300,000s to mid-$400,000s. That is the actual market. Everything else is noise, narrative, or negotiation leverage.

States with active listings: Illinois, New York, California, Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Washington, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri, Virginia, Oregon, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, New Hampshire, Nebraska, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, North Dakota, New Jersey, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Idaho, and Louisiana.
👉 Browse Pulmonology physician job opportunities

How States Stack Up

Overperformers

• Oregon: $600,000 flat across one listing, a number so round it feels editorial.
• California: $376,667 – $456,667 across three reporting listings, which is what happens when Fresno and Fremont decide to compete.
• Washington: $350,000 – $415,000, quietly excellent and rarely discussed.
• Florida: $350,000 – $400,000, sunshine priced in, state income tax not.
• New Mexico: $350,000 flat, scarcity doing the heavy lifting.
• New York: $350,000 – $363,750, which is fine until you remember New York.

Near-average

• Missouri: $334,000 – $397,500, the textbook benchmark.
• Colorado: $320,000 – $380,000, a nearly identical twin with better hiking.

Underperformers

• Illinois: $270,000 – $287,143, more than $57,000 below the national floor, weighed down by part-time Crystal Lake and Chicago postings.
• Massachusetts: $275,000 – $312,500, partially obscured by missing data and one Hingham part-time listing dragging the rest into the basement.

Volume leaders: Illinois and Arizona tie at 7 listings each. California, Washington, and Pennsylvania post 5. Texas, New York, Florida, Kentucky, and Indiana post 4. Of the high-volume cohort, only California and Washington pay above average. Illinois leads in volume and trails in pay — a combination recruiters will want to address before opening with the salary slide. Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky disclose nothing at all.
👉 Compare Pulmonology compensation and opportunities by region

What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: Oregon is the headline. The highest-paying listing in the country is a full-time Pulmonology role at $600,000. Among listings with disclosed full-time salary detail, Fresno, CA ($430,000–$470,000) and Fremont, CA ($350,000–$500,000) are the next strongest. California pays well; California also costs what California costs. Run the math on take-home before celebrating.

If your priority is maximum optionality: Illinois and Arizona each post 7 roles, but Arizona discloses zero salaries and Illinois pays below national norms. Volume without transparency is a guessing game.

If your priority is balance: California and Washington pair competitive pay with 5 listings each — the only states doing both jobs at once.
👉 Search Pulmonology jobs by location and compensation

What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 26 of 88 listings, or 29.5%. Roughly seven in ten Pulmonology postings ask physicians to apply on faith. That is a pipeline tax, and candidates are paying it by scrolling past.

Arizona (7 listings, 0 disclosures), Texas (4, 0), Pennsylvania (5, 0), and Kentucky (4, 0) are the largest blind spots. Illinois discloses everything but pays below national norms — recruiters there cannot lead with money. They will need to lead with case mix, call structure, partnership track, or lifestyle. Anything but the number.

The misalignment is structural: the loudest volume markets are either silent on pay or quietly underpaying. That is a recruiting brief, not a compensation problem.
👉 Post Pulmonology positions on PhysEmp

What’s Driving the Numbers

Part-time listings are distorting the floor. Three part-time roles in Crystal Lake, Hingham, and Chicago at $175,000–$200,000 are doing real damage to state averages, particularly in Illinois and Massachusetts. Annualized to full-time equivalents, these jobs price closer to the national norm. The floor is a measurement artifact, not a market signal.

Scarcity is being priced in, selectively. Oregon’s $600,000 outlier and New Mexico’s flat $350,000 both reflect single-listing markets where one employer sets the entire state’s compensation narrative. Underserved geographies are paying premiums when they pay at all — but only one or two are showing their hand.

The volume-pay relationship is broken. Conventional logic says high-demand markets pay more. Pulmonology says otherwise. Illinois and Arizona lead in volume; Illinois pays the least with data, and Arizona refuses to say. California and Washington are the only states where volume and pay actually agree on a story.

Transparency itself is a competitive lever. With 70.5% of listings withholding salary, the 29.5% that disclose are effectively filtering the candidate pool toward themselves. Silence is not neutral. It is a sorting mechanism.

The Bottom Line

Pulmonology in 2026 is a market where the headline number ($600,000 in Oregon) and the floor number ($175,000 part-time in Illinois) live in the same dataset and barely acknowledge each other. The real full-time market sits in the $327,000–$460,000 corridor, with California and Washington offering the rare combination of pay and volume, and most high-volume states declining to discuss compensation in mixed company. For physicians, the opportunity is real but requires reading between the (missing) lines. For recruiters, the assignment is to give candidates a reason to click when the salary field is blank.

In Pulmonology, the lungs are the same everywhere — the paycheck is not.
👉 Browse all Pulmonology physician jobs
👉 Upload your CV to get matched with opportunities
👉 Set alerts for new Pulmonology roles

Salary data based on 26 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.