Physician Job Market Analysis Report: Urgent Care Physician
PhysEmp Market Intelligence | PhysEmp.com
The Hook
The single highest-paying urgent care listing in the country right now is in Sunnyvale, California, where a physician can earn up to $410,000 per year to triage sore throats, sprained ankles, and the occasional existential crisis walking in without an appointment.
That is not a hospitalist salary.
That is not a surgical salary.
That is urgent care—the specialty built around the phrase “we’ll get you in quickly.”
Across 134 active listings spanning 37 states, the market is broad, geographically scattered, and quietly generous at the top.
The takeaway is simple: Urgent care has stopped being the fallback specialty and started acting like a compensation contender.
The National Snapshot
- Total listings: 134
- Listings with disclosed salary: 18
- Full national salary range: $208,000–$410,000
- National average salary range: $299,189–$327,798
- Salary transparency rate: 13.4%
Only 18 of 134 listings disclose compensation.
That is a transparency rate that would embarrass most industries—and does embarrass this one.
What the disclosed data does reveal is a market with a floor-to-ceiling spread of approximately $202,000. Two urgent care physicians in different ZIP codes could be doing substantially similar work for nearly double the pay.
The average clusters in the low $300,000s, which is respectable but not the real story.
The story is the ceiling.
When urgent care listings begin pushing $400,000, the specialty has quietly repriced itself.
States Represented
California, Ohio, Georgia, Nevada, Kansas, Kentucky, Colorado, Indiana, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Illinois, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oregon, Missouri, Iowa, Alabama, Hawaii, Arkansas, Utah, Maryland, Minnesota, Texas, New York, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Idaho, South Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, South Dakota, Michigan, and North Dakota.
State-by-State Analysis
Overperformers
Colorado
Average salary range: $345,000–$365,000
Colorado posts the highest average compensation in the country across two disclosed listings.
Small sample, large statement.
Massachusetts
Average salary range: $343,200–$353,600
Massachusetts is a rare high-cost state that appears to compensate for the cost of living.
Kansas
Average salary range: $330,000–$355,000
Quiet Midwestern money without the coastal tax burden.
Nevada
Average salary range: $325,000–$336,000
Nevada offers a tight compensation range, a relatively high floor, and no state individual income tax.
California
Average salary range: $311,333–$355,333
California sets the national ceiling, driven largely by the Sunnyvale listing.
Near-Average Markets
Indiana
Average salary range: $312,000–$332,800
Indiana functions as a textbook benchmark market.
Georgia
Average salary range: $300,000–$325,000
Georgia sits near the center of the national market while also offering relatively strong listing volume.
Iowa
Average salary range: $300,000–$400,000
A compensation range wide enough to drive a combine through.
Kentucky
Average salary range: $280,800–$305,760
Kentucky falls slightly below the national average but is at least transparent about it.
Underperformers
New York
Average salary range: $208,000–$312,000
New York contains the lowest disclosed salary in the dataset despite being one of the country’s highest-cost markets.
Minnesota
Average salary: $270,000
No floor, no ceiling, and apparently no negotiating range.
Ohio
Average salary range: $270,000–$280,000
Ohio falls below the national midpoint and offers a narrow compensation band.
Florida
Average salary range: $280,800–$291,200
The sunshine discount appears to be real.
South Carolina
Average salary: $280,800
The least dynamic disclosed salary band in the dataset.
Volume Leaders
- Missouri: 15 listings
- Oregon: 11 listings
- California: 9 listings
- Wisconsin: 9 listings
- Florida: 7 listings
- Georgia: 7 listings
- North Carolina: 7 listings
Missouri, Oregon, Wisconsin, and North Carolina account for 42 combined listings and disclose zero salary figures.
Several of the highest-volume states in the country are effectively black boxes.
What This Means for Physicians
If Your Priority Is Maximum Compensation
The national ceiling is a full-time Premise Health role in Sunnyvale, California, with a salary range of $390,000–$410,000.
Colorado, Massachusetts, and Kansas are the next strongest markets.
Kansas is the sleeper: compensation approaches coastal levels while the cost of living remains decidedly non-coastal.
If Your Priority Is Maximum Optionality
Missouri, Oregon, California, and Wisconsin offer the largest pools of open positions:
- Missouri: 15 listings
- Oregon: 11 listings
- California: 9 listings
- Wisconsin: 9 listings
The problem is visibility.
Missouri, Oregon, and Wisconsin do not disclose compensation on any of their listings, so candidates will need to ask directly before investing heavily in the recruiting process.
If Your Priority Is Balance
California and Indiana offer two of the stronger combinations of:
- Listing volume
- Disclosed compensation
- Competitive salary ranges
- Geographic variety
New York deserves particular scrutiny.
A $208,000 floor in a state where housing costs can rival a rural mortgage is a compensation mismatch worth naming directly.
What This Means for Recruiters and Healthcare Executives
Salary Transparency Is Extremely Low
Only 18 of 134 urgent care listings disclose compensation.
That produces a transparency rate of approximately 13.4%.
Roughly 86% of urgent care postings ask physicians to inquire before learning what the role pays.
In a market where the national ceiling is $410,000 and the floor is $208,000, that is asking a great deal of a candidate’s time.
High-Volume Markets Are Recruiting in the Dark
Missouri and Oregon combine for 26 listings with no disclosed compensation.
Recruiters in those states will need to lead with factors other than salary, including:
- Work schedule
- Shift length
- Weekend expectations
- Patient volume
- Clinical autonomy
- Staffing support
- Paid time off
- Signing incentives
- Partnership or ownership opportunities
- Benefits and retirement contributions
Florida and South Carolina present a different challenge.
Both are relatively high-volume, lower-paying markets, so recruiters may need to emphasize lifestyle and flexibility rather than compensation.
Market Forces Shaping Urgent Care Recruitment
One Employer Is Setting the Ceiling
Premise Health, an on-site and near-site care operator, appears to be posting some of the highest-paying urgent care roles in the market, including the $410,000 Sunnyvale position.
When one employer defines the ceiling, that ceiling may reflect a specific business model rather than a broad market equilibrium.
The next round of postings from that employer will be worth watching.
Transparency Is the Story the Data Cannot Fully Tell
A 13.4% disclosure rate makes every regional average vulnerable to small-sample distortion.
Colorado’s top-ranking range is based on two listings.
Massachusetts’s figure also rests on limited data.
The states that appear to lead may not actually be the highest-paying markets. They may simply be the markets most willing to publish compensation.
Volume and Pay Are Decoupled
Several of the highest-volume states disclose no salary information.
Meanwhile, some of the highest-paying states—Colorado, Massachusetts, and Kansas—have relatively few listings.
The market appears to be signaling that:
- Scarcity drives visible premium compensation.
- High-volume states are relying on candidate demand.
- Lower-volume states are using salary to compete more aggressively.
Cost of Living Is Not Consistently Priced In
New York’s $208,000 floor and Florida’s below-average compensation suggest that urgent care salaries are often set by local wage norms rather than actual purchasing power.
A physician moving from Kansas to Manhattan may earn less in nominal terms and considerably less in real terms.
Cost-of-living comparisons should therefore be part of every contract review.
The Bottom Line
Urgent care has grown up.
The national ceiling now reaches $410,000, the average sits comfortably in the low $300,000s, and the specialty is competing for physicians with fields that once looked down on it.
The market is also opaque, geographically uneven, and unforgiving to candidates who fail to ask hard questions before signing.
Colorado, Massachusetts, and Kansas offer some of the strongest disclosed compensation.
Missouri and Oregon post the most jobs while revealing the least about them.
The rest is negotiation.
Urgent care is now a $400,000 specialty for physicians who know where to look—and a $208,000 specialty for those who do not.
Salary data is based on 18 job listings with disclosed compensation. Figures may reflect part-time, employer-specific, leadership, or specialized roles. This report is informational and should not replace professional judgment, contract review, or financial planning.
