Psychiatry residency is a pivotal period for physicians, offering a wealth of clinical training and diverse mental health exposure. During these crucial years of education and training, residents grapple with unique financial pressures as they balance responsibilities in the workplace and manage the burden of student loans. Stipends paid to psychiatry residents, moonlighting opportunities, and entry-level salaries each play a distinct role in shaping a physician’s financial trajectory. Let’s examine some of these factors and their impact on physicians.
Key Takeaways
- Psychiatry residency stipends range from $65,000 to $80,000 but vary by year of training and geographic location.
- Moonlighting while in psychiatry residency can significantly boost income but must be balanced with time commitments.
- Early-career salaries for psychiatrists range from $220,000 to $300,000+, depending on practice type and region.
- Careful financial planning during residency and as a new physician can help build wealth and pay off debt more quickly.
- Starting contract review, insurance, and financial planning services early maximizes earning potential and income growth.
Table of Contents
Average Psychiatry Residency Stipends
Psychiatry resident pay and benefits vary by hospital or academic medical center but generally reflect national averages for medical residents. The average psychiatry residency salary is between $64,000 and $77,000 per year, with increases of 3–5% from PGY-1 to PGY-4, or year 1 through year 4 of training.
Programs in major urban areas such as New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago often offer higher salaries to account for higher costs of living, while those in smaller, more rural communities tend to hover around the national average. Pay for psychiatry residents can also be slightly higher or lower depending on the teaching hospital’s funding source, unionization, or the presence of additional benefits like housing stipends or meal allowances.
For most residents, this income is all that they earn while working full-time, often more than 60 hours per week, providing them limited financial resources while paying off student debt. This makes psychiatry residency a critical time for beginning a strict budget, building an emergency fund, and developing a strong debt payoff plan.
Moonlighting During Psychiatry Residency
One benefit of psychiatry training over some surgical and procedural specialties is the ability to work additional shifts, or moonlight, outside of regular hospital hours. Many psychiatry residents are eligible to take on extra shifts after completing at least one year of training and becoming board-eligible.
Resident pay when moonlighting often ranges from $80 to $150 per hour, depending on the setting and region, with common shifts including:
- Inpatient weekend coverage
- Telepsychiatry consults
- Evening or night crisis intervention shifts
Moonlighting can dramatically increase financial flexibility for residents. However, it is important to balance this income-earning opportunity with the potential for burnout and overwork. Residents should track their time to ensure they are getting adequate rest, not exceeding duty hour limits, and protecting their own well-being as well as the well-being of their patients.
Early Career Pay After Psychiatry Residency
After residency, psychiatrists earn a much higher salary than when they were residents. Earnings in the first few years of practice for psychiatrists range from $220,000 to $275,000 with many physicians able to exceed $300,000. Medscape’s report corroborates these findings, noting salaries in the same range and pointing out that psychiatry is one of few specialties where demand continues to grow year-over-year.
Medscape adds that additional years of training in specialties like child and adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, or psychosomatic medicine tend to boost early-career salaries even higher. Location also matters. A number of states have higher-than-average salaries to incentivize specialists to practice in their underserved regions, including North Dakota, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Rhode Island.
For early-career physicians, opportunities to maximize earning potential as a private practice psychiatrist or hospital-based provider through contract negotiations and performance-based pay. This is a good time to connect with financial professionals familiar with physician income structures to optimize earning potential.
From Residency to Attending: Contract and Compensation Essentials
As psychiatry residents transition to attending physicians, contract negotiation is one of the most important and impactful decisions in their careers. For that reason, it’s essential that new psychiatrists fully understand the components of a contract that will impact their base pay, call compensation, non-compete terms, and path to partnership.
Insurance, financial management, and investment services can help maximize earning power and preserve wealth in the long run. These experts can help you develop a plan for everything from loan repayment to retirement to make the most of your income from your psychiatric practice.
Build a Strong Financial Foundation Early
Physicians Thrive’s mission is to help doctors protect their income so they can not only practice well but also retire well. As psychiatry residents and as new physicians just starting out, you need guidance from experts who understand the specific challenges that doctors face when it comes to money. Contact us today.
