Somewhere in Normal, Illinois, a health system is prepared to pay a radiologist up to $850,000 a year to look at pictures in a dark room. Somewhere in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, the federal government has posted a radiology role starting at $68,405. Both jobs are real. Both are radiology. Both were live on the same board, in the same week, in the same country. Across 364 total Radiology listings nationwide, the spread between the ceiling and the floor is roughly $781,595, a gap large enough to buy a second home in most of the states hiring. The thesis is simple: Radiology remains one of medicine’s most lucrative specialties, but the pay depends almost entirely on who is signing the check.
👉 Explore Radiology job market insights and trends

The Radiology Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 364
Listings with disclosed salary: 28
Full national salary range: $68,405 to $850,000
National average salary range: $510,046 to $587,550
Cluster for permanent full-time roles: $450,000 to $700,000

The spread is theatrical. Strip out the Defense Health Agency outlier in Virginia and the private-sector floor lifts to roughly $400,000, which is still a healthier baseline than most specialties will ever see. The ceiling, meanwhile, keeps drifting upward as imaging volumes outpace the supply of humans willing to read them.

States represented in the dataset: New York, Ohio, West Virginia, Missouri, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, California, Florida, Virginia, Hawaii, Colorado, North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, North Dakota, District of Columbia, Indiana, Oklahoma, Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Delaware, Kentucky, Oregon, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Maine, Alabama, Northern Mariana Islands, and Nevada.
👉 Browse Radiology physician job opportunities

How States Stack Up

Overperformers:

• Illinois averages $650,000 to $807,500, anchored by that Normal, IL listing that tops the entire dataset.
• Colorado posts $750,000 to $790,000 on just two listings, which is what scarcity pricing looks like in real time.
• North Carolina lands at $707,200 to $759,200, propped up by a locum tenens role doing exactly what locum tenens roles do.
• Maryland sits at $625,000 to $675,000, respectable and unshowy.
• Washington State comes in at $589,346 to $637,131, the Pacific Northwest quietly minding its business.
• Minnesota shows a wide $500,000 to $700,000 range on limited data.
• Alabama’s single disclosed listing hit $600,000 flat.

Near-average:

• New York averages $466,667 to $600,000, which is fine until you factor in New York.
• Ohio at $465,000 to $550,000 is textbook midwestern median.
• New Jersey averages $488,333 to $516,667, tight and predictable.
• Massachusetts at $460,000 to $520,000 undersells itself given the academic gravity.
• Missouri at $524,250 to $557,000 is the dictionary definition of market rate.

Underperformers:

• Virginia posts $68,405 to $88,926, entirely because of a federal Defense Health Agency role that answers to a different pay scale than the rest of medicine.
• West Virginia lists $400,000 to $401,000, a range so narrow it barely qualifies as a range.
• Hawaii comes in at $400,000 to $500,000, where the sunset is the compensation package.

Volume leaders: Florida (36), Pennsylvania (26), California (25), Virginia (19), Illinois (15), Indiana (14), Texas (14), Michigan (13), New York (13), Missouri (12), Washington (12), Kentucky (11).

Florida leads the country in postings and still pays a modest $450,000 to $525,000. Pennsylvania, second in volume, disclosed nothing at all. Colorado is second-to-last in volume and first-tier in pay. The relationship between volume and compensation is not a relationship. It is a coincidence.
👉 Compare Radiology compensation and opportunities by region

What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: Chase Illinois or Colorado. The highest-paying listing in the dataset is a CompHealth-posted radiology role in Montrose, CO at $750,000 to $790,000 per year. The highest ceiling belongs to Normal, IL at $650,000 to $850,000. Both are in markets most coastal radiologists cannot locate on a map without a hint.

If your priority is maximum optionality: Florida (36), Pennsylvania (26), and California (25) offer the deepest inventory. Just understand that Florida’s average tops out at $525,000, which is below the national average, and Pennsylvania disclosed zero salaries at all (make of that what you will).

If your priority is balance: Missouri, Ohio, and Washington offer solid volume and honest, mid-to-upper-market compensation without a cost-of-living surcharge.

Cost-of-living flag: California’s single disclosed listing ranges $500,000 to $800,000, which sounds generous until San Francisco takes its cut.
👉 Search Radiology jobs by location and compensation

What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 28 of 364 listings disclosed compensation. That is 7.7%. In a specialty where candidates already know the market pays north of half a million, refusing to post a number is not discretion. It is friction. Pennsylvania posted 26 roles and disclosed nothing. Texas posted 14 and disclosed nothing. Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Georgia, and D.C.: also silent. These are the states where the pipeline thins first, because radiologists have options and no patience for guessing games. Florida recruiters, meanwhile, have volume but a below-average pay band; the pitch will need to lead with lifestyle, subspecialty scope, or partnership track, because the number alone will not close the candidate.
👉 Post Radiology positions on PhysEmp

What’s Driving the Numbers

Scarcity is a compensation strategy. Colorado has two listings and pays $750,000 to $790,000. North Carolina has eight and averages $707,200 to $759,200. Illinois’s top listing sits in Normal, not Chicago. Underserved and secondary markets are pricing in scarcity, and radiologists willing to leave the coasts are collecting the premium in cash.

Locum tenens distorts the top of the range. The North Carolina figure is anchored by an hourly locum role, and locum rates annualize aggressively on paper (a $340/hour locum shift extrapolated across 2,080 hours annualizes to $707,200, which is exactly the kind of math that makes W-2 comparisons misleading). The floor stays honest. The ceiling flatters itself.

Federal pay is a separate universe. The Ft. Belvoir DHA listing at $68,405 to $88,926 drags Virginia’s average into a statistical cartoon. Strip it out and Virginia looks like a normal mid-market state. Leave it in and the state ranks dead last by a factor of six.

Volume does not equal leverage. Florida, Pennsylvania, and California together account for 87 listings and disclosed exactly three salaries. High volume in radiology is a signal of turnover and unmet demand, not of premium pay. Candidates should read job counts as opportunity, not as evidence of a bidding war.

The Bottom Line

Radiology in 2026 is what it has been for a decade: highly paid, geographically uneven, and increasingly generous to physicians willing to work where the volume actually is. The specialty pays a comfortable half-million at the median, rewards scarcity with three-quarters of a million at the ceiling, and quietly punishes anyone who assumes the biggest cities carry the biggest checks. Transparency remains rare, locum arithmetic remains flattering, and the federal government remains the federal government.

Radiology pays the most to the radiologists willing to read the room, not just the scans.
👉 Browse all Radiology physician jobs
👉 Upload your CV to get matched with opportunities
👉 Set alerts for new Radiology roles

Salary data based on 28 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.