A surgeon in Smithtown, New York can earn $575,000 a year to do what a surgeon in Lompoc, California will do for $300,000. Same scalpel. Same OR lights. Same fourteen years of training. Nearly double the paycheck. The current national Surgery board carries 138 active listings spread across 37 states, from Manhattan academic centers to one-stoplight towns in Wyoming. Of those 138 postings, exactly 15 disclose what they will actually pay you (more on that arithmetic later). The thesis: Surgery is a deep, geographically scattered market where the highest-volume states stay quiet on compensation and the loudest paychecks come from places you would not necessarily circle on a map.
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The Surgery Job Market at a Glance

Total listings: 138
Listings with disclosed salary: 15
Full national range: $300,000 to $575,000
National average range: $393,540 to $455,033

The spread between floor and ceiling is $275,000, which is itself a respectable surgeon’s salary in roughly half the country. That gap is not a rounding error — it is a structural feature of a specialty where subspecialty, call burden, and rural scarcity premiums can swing an offer by six figures before anyone mentions signing bonuses.

The average range is tight relative to the full range, suggesting most disclosed offers cluster in the $400,000s while a handful of outliers (both directions) stretch the tape.

States represented: California, New York, Vermont, Connecticut, West Virginia, Virginia, New Jersey, Oregon, Arkansas, Iowa, Tennessee, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, Illinois, Montana, Texas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, Georgia, South Dakota, Indiana, Utah, Pennsylvania, Washington, Maine, Florida, Michigan, Wyoming, Colorado, South Carolina, and Arizona.
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How States Stack Up

Overperformers:
Minnesota leads the country on disclosed pay with an average range of $500,000 to $550,000 (on a single listing, so calibrate accordingly).
Illinois posts $477,500 to $507,500, anchored by Central Illinois offers in the $475,000 to $490,000 band.
New York averages $400,018 to $473,416 across six reporting listings, with a West Islip position climbing to $565,000.
New Jersey lists a flat $425,000 — modest by metro-NYC standards but above the national midpoint.

Near-average:
Ohio reports $373,000 to $545,000, essentially a one-state microcosm of the national spread.

Underperformers:
Vermont and Connecticut both sit at $300,000 to $350,000, roughly $93,000 under the national midpoint (the Northeast premium is, apparently, optional).
California averages $325,000 to $375,000, dragged down by Lompoc listings starting at $300,000 (the cost-of-living math here is, to put it gently, unkind).

Volume leaders: New Mexico (14), Wisconsin (10), Indiana (10), Tennessee (8), North Carolina (8), West Virginia (7), Arkansas (7), New York (7). Of those eight, only New York discloses salary.
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What This Means If You’re a Physician

If your priority is maximum compensation: The highest-paying Surgery listing in the country is in Smithtown, NY at $575,000 per year. West Islip, NY follows at $565,000. Minnesota and Illinois both clear $500,000 on the high end of their averages.

If your priority is maximum optionality: Go where the volume is. New Mexico (14), Wisconsin (10), and Indiana (10) lead the country, though none of them disclose salary — you will need to dial the phone to find out what the offer actually is.

If your priority is balance: New York is the only state offering meaningful listing volume (7) and above-average disclosed pay simultaneously. Illinois is a close second.

Flag for scrutiny: California’s $325,000 to $375,000 average against California cost-of-living is the compensation gap of this report. Vermont and Connecticut similarly underperform their regional reputation.
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What This Means If You’re a Recruiter

Salary transparency rate: 15 of 138 listings, or 10.9%. Nearly nine out of ten Surgery postings tell candidates nothing about what the role pays.

That is a pipeline problem. Surgeons comparing offers across states cannot benchmark what they cannot see, and the highest-volume markets — New Mexico, Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas — are precisely the ones going dark on compensation. If you are recruiting into one of those states and your offer is genuinely competitive, disclosing it is the cheapest differentiator available.

The volume-pay misalignment is stark: the eight highest-volume states collectively post one disclosed salary range (New York’s). Recruiters in the silent states will need to lead with lifestyle, case mix, call structure, partnership track, or loan repayment — because the candidate is otherwise comparing your blank space to Smithtown’s $575,000.
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What’s Driving the Numbers

Scope and geography command a premium, but not where you would guess. The top-paying disclosed listings sit in Long Island, Central Illinois, and Minnesota — not Manhattan, not San Francisco, not Boston. Surgery pay tracks need and case volume, not zip code prestige.

Small samples distort the floor and the ceiling. Minnesota’s $500,000 to $550,000 average rests on one listing. Vermont’s $300,000 likewise. With only 15 salary-reporting postings nationally, every disclosed number is doing heavy statistical lifting (read the ranges, not the rankings).

Underserved markets are not pricing in scarcity — at least not publicly. New Mexico has 14 open Surgery roles and zero disclosed salaries. Either those offers are competitive and employers are choosing opacity, or they are not competitive and employers are choosing opacity. Both readings are unflattering.

The volume-pay relationship breaks almost entirely. New York is the lone state where listing depth and disclosed compensation both clear the national average. Everywhere else, you pick one.

The Bottom Line

Surgery in 2026 is a market of two parallel realities: a small, transparent tier where New York, Illinois, and Minnesota publish strong numbers and compete openly, and a much larger silent tier where New Mexico, Wisconsin, Indiana, and the rest list jobs without listing pay. The 10.9% transparency rate is the headline number behind every other finding in this report — it is what makes the floor look soft, the ceiling look exotic, and the middle nearly impossible to triangulate from a job board alone.

In Surgery, the money is real, the spread is enormous, and 89% of employers would prefer you call to find out which one you are looking at.
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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.