How Much Do Anesthesiologist Make? Average Salary by State
How much does an anesthesiologist make? What's the average salary of an anesthesiologist? An anesthesiologist is a medical practitioner who uses a local or general anesthesia to keep a patient comfortable, safe, and pain-free during surgery. An anesthesiologist will accompany the patient into the operating room and remain at their side during the procedure, ensuring that they remain stable all the way to the post-anesthesia care unit.
What is an anesthesiologist?
Prior to surgery, an anesthesiologist will visit with the patient to ensure that they are adequately prepared and medically fit to undergo the intended operation and the associated anesthesia. After that, the anesthesiologist will deliver either a general or local anesthesia to the patient immediately before surgery.
During surgery, the anesthesiologist will keep a close eye on the patient's blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, degree of awareness, and blood oxygen levels. The anesthesiologist will keep track of each breath throughout a general anesthesia. This is done by measuring the quantity of carbon dioxide in each breath and the volume of breath expelled.
During surgery, the anesthesiologist's responsibilities include:
- Continuous monitoring of vital signs.
- Monitoring of the level and depth of anesthesia.
- Provide care and make adjustments as needed.
- Recognizing and responding to any potentially life-threatening emergencies.
- Ensuring the patient's safety at all times.
- Like most occupations in the medical field, collaborate with other doctors.
Anesthesiologist s can also specialize in specific field, such as hospice care and sleep medicine within a private practice.
The following are some anesthesiology subspecialties and a brief description of the duties for each:
Anesthesiologist specializing in cardiothoracic surgery
This sort of anesthesiologist has specialized training in cardiac and thoracic anesthesia, which involves the heart and lungs, and whose job it is to keep the patient safe and comfortable throughout the perioperative period.
Anesthesiologist specializing on critical care
In both adult and pediatric institutions, some anesthesiologists pursue additional training to subspecialize in critical care medicine. Anesthesiologists are well-suited to administering to patients in the critical care unit because of their extensive expertise in resuscitation, clinical physiology, and pharmacology.
Anesthesiologist specializing in neurosurgery
Neurosurgical anesthesiologists, like other anesthesiologists, offer anesthesia in the operating room, but they specialize in the anesthetic care of patients with different CNS, brain, and spine disorders.
Aneurysms, head traumas, pediatric neurosurgery, spine surgery, arteriovenous malformations, intracranial tumors, stereotactic operations, and neuroradiological procedures all require anesthetic treatment.
These operations need not only a thorough grasp of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, but also the ability to monitor intracranial pressure, cerebral blood flow, and cerebral metabolic rate.
Anesthesiologist specializing in obstetrics
Obstetric anesthesiologists work in labor and delivery, ready to help with pain management, administering anesthetic for cesarean sections, and dealing with any emergencies that may develop.
Anesthesiologist for children and adolescents
Children are not little adults, and no two children are alike. Pediatric anesthesiologists strive to provide each kid with a unique experience depending on his or her requirements. Pediatric anesthesiologists are engaged in prescribing pain medication or advising pain-relieving measures for each kid after surgery, in order to provide the optimum comfort and rest for maximum recovery.
Anesthetist Nurse
A nurse anesthetist (also known as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA)) is a registered nurse who has finished graduate school and is board certified in anesthesia.
Assistant Anesthesiologist
An anesthesiologist assistant (not to be confused with a nurse anesthetist) is a non-physician anesthesia professional who works under the supervision of a physician anesthesiologist.
How to become an anesthesiologist
Here's how to become an anesthesiologist.
Earn your bachelor's degree
The first step in becoming an anesthesiologist is to get a bachelor's degree in an area such as pre-medicine, biology, science, or chemistry.
Get into medical school
Selecting a medical school that is a good fit for your career objectives and completing a complete application can help you get started in medicine. Due to the difficult nature of admissions, many applicants apply to numerous institutions. A high GPA, excellent references, and a high score on the Medical College Admission Test can all help you get admission to the institutions of your choice.
Earn a medical degree and license
After completing medical school, aspiring doctors must pass a licensure exam, such as the United States Medical Licensing Examination or the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination.
Complete a medical residency
You must finish an internship and residency in anesthesiology before you may practice independently. You will learn from expert anesthesiologists and be closely observed as you begin to work with real patients at this stage of the procedure.
Apply for a state license
After you've completed your training, you'll need to apply for a state license in your area before you can start working as an anesthesiologist.
National average salary for an anesthesiologist
Anesthesiologists need a high income to cover their rigorous schooling as well as career-related expenditures like insurance. An anesthesiologist's average annual income is $331,937.
As a high earner, anesthesiologists may earn up to $663,000, or as low as $113,000 for those just starting out. Several variables, including education and experience, can impact this.
Average anesthesiologist salaries by state
Average anesthesiologist salary by state.
- Alabama: $399,748 per year
- Alaska: $108,930 per year
- Arizona: $325,742 per year
- Arkansas: $183,288 per year
- California: $383,293 per year
- Colorado: $267,637 per year
- Connecticut: $1,634 per day
- Delaware: $374,169 per year
- Florida: $318,441 per year
- Georgia: $385,791 per year
- Hawaii: $191,051 per year
- Idaho: $176,579 per year
- Illinois: $343,775 per year
- Indiana: $423,084 per year
- Iowa: $130,177 per year**
- Kansas: $138 per hour
- Kentucky: $193 per day
- Louisiana: $371,399 per year
- Maine: $185,229 per year
- Maryland: $355,108 per year
- Massachusetts: $120,222 per year
- Michigan: $336,890 per year
- Minnesota: $198,072 per year
- Mississippi: $412,719 per year
- Missouri: $313,718 per year
- Montana: $1,146 per day
- Nebraska: $120,000 per year
- Nevada: $172,923 per year
- New Hampshire: $261,508 per year
- New Jersey: $350,405 per year
- New Mexico: $278,080 per year
- New York: $376,890 per year
- North Carolina: $304,773 per year
- North Dakota: $185 per day
- Ohio: $242,227 per year
- Oklahoma: $374,848 per year
- Oregon: $307,006 per year
- Pennsylvania: $298,650 per year
- Rhode Island: $317,820 per year
- South Carolina: $352,958 per year
- South Dakota: $135,186 per year
- Tennessee: $365,096 per year
- Texas: $334,496 per year
- Utah: $184,452 per year
- Vermont: $400,276 per year
- Virginia: $315,860 per year
- Washington: $394,001 per year
- West Virginia: $193 per day
- Wisconsin: $385 per day
- Wyoming: $250,000 per year
Favorite Resources
Our favorite resources are included below.
Job interview resources
- Common Interview Questions by Marquette University
- Prepare for Behavioral Interview Questions by Marquette University
- Preparing for Job Interviews by the University of Kansas
- Mock Interview Handbook by CSUCI
- Interview Guidebook by Lebanon Valley College
Resume and cover letter resources
- Writing a Resume and Cover Letter by USC
- Resume Writing Tips by the University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Resume and Cover Letter Guide by Harvard University
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