Career Atlas USA

Emergency Medicine Physicians

Median salary
$335,550
Average salary
$317,480
Employment
32,880
Projected growth
2.7% growth
Annual openings
1,000
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree

What Emergency Medicine Physicians Do

Make immediate medical decisions and act to prevent death or further disability. Provide immediate recognition, evaluation, care, stabilization, and disposition of patients. May direct emergency medical staff in an emergency department.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 2024–2034.

Related work experience
None
On-the-job training
Internship/residency
Self-employed
4.6%

Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.

How Much Preparation Does This Take?

Job Zone 5 of 5

Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience.
Education
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Job training
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Source: O*NET Job Zones.

Key Knowledge Areas

Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.

  • Medicine and Dentistryimportance 5.0/5
  • English Languageimportance 4.8/5
  • Biologyimportance 4.5/5
  • Psychologyimportance 4.4/5
  • Therapy and Counselingimportance 4.0/5
  • Customer and Personal Serviceimportance 3.9/5
  • Education and Trainingimportance 3.7/5
  • Public Safety and Securityimportance 3.3/5

Work Environment

What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.

  • Indoors, Environmentally Controlled5.0/5
  • Exposed to Disease or Infections5.0/5
  • Contact With Others5.0/5
  • Telephone Conversations4.9/5
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.9/5
  • Consequence of Error4.9/5

Careers With Similar Skills

Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.

  • Social Perceptivenessimportance 4.3/5
  • Service Orientationimportance 4.1/5
  • Complex Problem Solvingimportance 4.1/5
  • Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 4.1/5
  • Coordinationimportance 4.0/5
  • Persuasionimportance 3.6/5
  • Instructingimportance 3.6/5
  • Negotiationimportance 3.3/5

Software & Technologies

Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.

Hot Technologies

Work Style

Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.

  • Attention to Detail
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Self-Control
  • Dependability
  • Integrity
  • Cautiousness
  • Adaptability

Career Interests

This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.

  • InvestigativeHigh
  • SocialHigh
  • ConventionalMedium
  • RealisticMedium
  • EnterprisingLow
  • ArtisticLow

Specific Interests

A more detailed breakdown of this occupation’s interest profile, per O*NET.

Military Backgrounds That Lead Here

Military occupations commonly matched to this career, per the DMDC Military Crosswalk.

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

Where This Career Is Most Concentrated

Metro areas where emergency medicine physicians make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).

  1. 1Rochester, MN5.39× national avg
  2. 2Bangor, ME3.10× national avg
  3. 3Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT2.91× national avg
  4. 4Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI2.87× national avg
  5. 5Syracuse, NY2.71× national avg

Possible Career Moves

A computed starting point, not observed job-change data — see the full list for why each one might fit.

See the full career path from Emergency Medicine Physicians →

Related Education Programs

Schools that offer related fields of study, based on the NCES CIP-SOC crosswalk — not a guarantee that graduates enter this specific career.

Medicine

Full salary data & percentiles →Best states for this career →Highest-paying states →