Forensic Pathologist Salaries in the United States: The Results of Internet Data Collection

Abstract

Despite their longer training period, forensic pathologists are among the lower paid of physicians. However, because forensic pathologists represent a relatively small group with only about 400–600 active full-time practitioners, they are not often included as a specific group in generalized salary surveys. Thus, individuals who practice in this area of medicine have little information regarding their financial worth as an employee. Using publicly available databases and other sources on the Internet, the salaries of 337 forensic pathologists were identified and used to calculate the mean and median salaries, as well as the overall range and 1st and 3rd quartiles for chief medical examiners, deputy chief medical examiners, and other medical examiners across the nation and between the general categories of death investigation offices: state, decentralized state, and county. Given a narrow classification scheme for titles, the range of listed salaries for chief medical examiner was $109 563 to $332 400 (with the lowest of the range being listed as “chief forensic pathologist”), for deputy chief medical examiners was $125 110 to $239 800, and for other forensic pathologists was $91 790 to $303 400. The respective (i.e., based upon a narrow classification scheme) mean listed salary for chief medical examiners was $219 778, for deputy chief medical examiners was $192 872, and for other medical examiners was $183 597. The results are useful for those forensic pathologists seeking employment and wishing to evaluate the salary offered or for those seeking information to use in future salary negotiations with employers.