Psychiatrist Salary by State (2025 BLS Data)

Psychiatry may have the most favorable supply-demand imbalance in medicine: a majority of U.S. counties lack a single practicing psychiatrist, while demand for mental-health care keeps setting records. That scarcity gives psychiatrists unusual leverage over where and how they work — inpatient, outpatient, telepsychiatry, or a blend — and it shows in the state wage data.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program (May 2025), psychiatrists in the United States earn an annual mean wage of $269,940 and an annual median wage of $281,870. The median is the midpoint — half earn more, half earn less — and it is usually the safer "typical" reference because the mean gets pulled around by the highest earners.

The table below breaks the same May 2025 BLS OEWS dataset down by state.

Rank	State	Annual mean wage
1	Missouri	$345,860
2	Minnesota	$333,320
3	Florida	$328,060
4	Louisiana	$321,300
5	California	$315,380
6	Maryland	$306,100
7	Vermont	$298,070
8	Indiana	$297,220
9	Connecticut	$292,660
10	Utah	$288,370
11	Wisconsin	$282,980
12	Pennsylvania	$282,370
13	Oregon	$282,210
14	Alaska	$278,800
15	Maine	$275,050
16	Iowa	$273,190
17	Virginia	$272,960
18	Oklahoma	$272,510
19	Michigan	$272,010
20	Hawaii	$271,330
21	South Dakota	$270,220
22	Illinois	$269,000
23	Washington	$265,600
24	Kansas	$265,280
25	Arizona	$264,260
26	Colorado	$258,210
27	Rhode Island	$257,290
28	New York	$252,840
29	Ohio	$250,210
30	New Jersey	$244,560
31	Delaware	$243,740
32	New Mexico	$238,260
33	Georgia	$227,430
34	South Carolina	$226,360
35	Kentucky	$221,190
36	Texas	$221,100
37	Mississippi	$218,620
38	Tennessee	$210,520
39	Nevada	$203,980
40	North Carolina	$201,840
41	New Hampshire	$199,220
42	Nebraska	$196,590
43	Arkansas	$182,100
44	District of Columbia	$181,090
45	West Virginia	$173,570
46	Idaho	$159,470

Figures are U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS annual mean wages, May 2025 (46 states/territories with published data; BLS suppresses states with samples too small to publish, and those are omitted rather than estimated).

What moves the numbers

Telepsychiatry has rewired the geography of psychiatric pay. More than almost any specialty, psychiatrists can now live in one state and serve patients in several, which lets clinicians in lower-cost states capture demand from higher-paying markets. Inpatient and correctional roles, along with medical-director add-ons, also carry premiums the state averages only hint at.

Local demand beats national averages. A state's figure reflects how hard its employers are competing for a limited pool. Shortage markets — often rural or rapidly growing — pay above trend and sweeten offers with bonuses and loan repayment the survey can't see.

Cost of living reshapes the ranking. Several states near the top of nominal-wage tables fall in real terms once housing and taxes are counted, and vice versa. Run any two states through our cost-of-living comparison before you conclude one offer is bigger.

Who employs you matters. Health-system employment, independent or democratic groups, academic medicine, and staffing arrangements each price the same specialty differently — in cash, in upside, and in risk.

See who's hiring. Browse open Psychiatry roles on VitalPost — free for clinicians, and pay is shown on a listing whenever the employer posts it.

How to read these numbers

A few caveats keep this table useful instead of misleading.

Median first, mean second. The mean is sensitive to a small number of very high earners; the median is the midpoint and usually the better proxy for a typical offer. Read both to understand the spread in your market.

One number, many jobs. Each state figure blends employers, settings, and experience levels — a first-year attending and a 25-year veteran, a rural solo practice and a flagship academic center — into a single average. Expect your own market position to move you off the line.

The survey measures wages, not packages. Bonuses, productivity incentives, call stipends, benefits, retirement match, paid time off, and loan repayment sit outside OEWS. Evaluate offers on total value.

Self-employment is invisible here. Partnership income and 1099 arrangements are not fully captured, which is one reason real-world compensation in some markets runs above what a wage survey suggests. When you negotiate, pair this federal baseline with specialty compensation surveys and real numbers from colleagues — the BLS data tells you the neighborhood; your diligence prices the house.

References

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025.
• BLS OEWS: Psychiatrists — the occupation series behind the table above.