You would visit a urologist if you need to be checked for problems with urinating or conceiving a baby. Patients go to a urology doctor when they need a consultation related to the urinary or reproductive systems, or genitourinary problems that are impacting both systems at once. This type of physician performs examinations of this part of the body to diagnose problems and provide treatment.
To practice as a urologist, you first go through medical school, and then you gain specialization in urology. Once you’ve entered the field, you can expect good compensation for this specialty.
There is a common concern about the number of urologists retiring and the need to fill those positions. This article from 2021 explains that there is a demand for urologic care in the future.
This might cause some distress for hospitals and healthcare practices in need of urologists.
However, this is good news for new urologists. It’s even better news for urologists with experience under their belt. It gives them more bargaining power when looking for urologist jobs.
Urologists can take definitive action to help them gain more income than the national average. For instance, searching the job market for a specific area, or using smart employment negotiation tactics.
This article will discuss what the urologist job market is like, how to score the salary you deserve, and how to care for wealth once you’ve earned it.
Table of Contents
Average Urologist Salary
According to the 2023 Medscape Compensation Report, the average salary of a urologist in the United States is $506,000 per year.
This number earns urologists the fourth spot on the top paid physician specialty list. Yet, only 58% of urologists surveyed felt fairly compensated.
Even so, an overwheliming 96% of urologists would stay with urology if they had a choice to switch fields of medicine. They love their position. Of course, it’s even easier to love your job if the pay is fair.
Average salary from other sources differs, which happens for a variety of reasons. Often, the different sources look at varying data, such as salary information from different time periods. Some have professionals share their salary on the site while others collect the data from doctor groups, and some include benefits while others list base salary. To gain a better idea of urologist median salary, let’s take a look at a few sources:
- Salary.com: $404,280
- ZipRecruiter: $378,472
- Comparably: $450,000
- Indeed: $220,464
- MGMA: $529,858
Factors That Affect a Urologist Salary
There are several factors to consider when trying to determine a urologist’s fair market value. Knowing how these factors impact your salary can help you with critical career choices.
Years of Experience
Urology residents average $68,279 per year, according to salary.com. This number will increase each year of urology residency.
After finishing your residency and entering the workforce, you can expect to start earning well right away.
You will see a slight pay increase with experience. Yet, according to Salary.com, pay between the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile only differs by $118,000.
Location
When factoring in how much a urologist makes, cost of living and demand come into play.
Zippia provides a map of the best states for urologist jobs.
The states that provide the most benefits, compensation, and opportunities are:
- Wisconsin
- North Dakota
- West Virginia
The cities with the highest salary range for urologists include:
- Grand Forks, North Dakota
- Huntley, Ilinois
- Edmonds, Washington
Although the salary numbers they provide seem low, the state-to-state comparisons are credible. After all, they pull their numbers directly from job postings on their site.
Ziprecruiter also shows that the state and city within a region may also make a difference. Here are the 10 cities in the U.S. pay a urologist salary that’s higher than the national average. These include:
- Sunnyvale, CA
- Livermore, CA
- Manhattan, NY
- Santa Rosa, CA
- Cambridge, MA
- Williston, ND
- Arlington, VA
- Vacaville, CA
- New York City, NY
- Worcester, MA
Type of Practice
The type of practice that a urologist works with will significantly affect the salary they can expect.
The majority of urologists are in some kind of private practice. Over 51% of all urologists worked in private practice in 2022, according to the American Urological Association.
Which type of private practice doesn’t change your income according to Medscape. Multi-specialty, single-specialty, and solo practices all have the same overhead based on its findings.
The use of APPs, either a physician assistant or registered nurse, can greatly increase your private practice income. This allows you to treat more patients without having to partner or hire another physician.
The next biggest group of urologist jobs after private practice is in the academic setting. But those offer a much smaller income opportunity.
The hospital setting is also a good opportunity for urologists to make a significant income. This is all contingent on a solid employment contract, which we’ll discuss further in the sections to come.
While working for a hospital, you could still diversify your time and work outside of the health system to gain multiple income streams.
This includes having a side gig of ancillary services such as lithotripsy. Or picking up on-call weekend shifts above and beyond your full-time position.
Gender Pay Gap
You may want to consider how a urology gender pay gap could impact your salary.
A journal article published in 2016 found that the urologist salary for females, after adjusting for numerous factors that impact compensation, was $76,321 less than the urologist salary for males.
A silver lining of the study was that it showed more women work in this specialty now, as the number has gone from less than 0.5 percent in 1981 to 10 percent today, and that 33 percent of students in urology are female.
Demand for Urologists
You may be able to command a higher salary due to a demand for this type of physician specialist.
There is high demand for urologists due to an aging population, not enough new urologists and an aging workforce in the urology specialty.
Demand is also higher in certain areas, as 62 percent of counties in the U.S. go without a practicing urologist.
Are you interested in the salaries of common physician specialties?
See: Internal Medicine | Dermatology | Oral Surgery | Pathology | Oncology | Cardiology | Plastic Surgery | Vascular Surgery
Urologists and Their Student Loan Debt
More than half of all urology residents carry over $150,000 in debt, and more than a quarter owe over $250,000 — a significant amount of debt to have.
When considering the money you’ll make as a urologist, it’s important to factor in paying back these loans as part of a monthly budget. That will eat into your physician salary.
There are different ways to manage this student loan debt, and some might help you save money.
You could potentially have your student loans forgiven, although this step might require making less by working for a non-profit.
Or, you could refinance your student loans at a lower interest rate, which helps you save over the course of paying them back. Physicians Thrive can help with discount rates for re-financing that you can compare to your current repayment rate.
Another option is to look into different repayment options like starting repayments of the loan while still in your residency.
Negotiating a good benefits package from your employer, and you can shave off a big chunk of debt as a part of your employment contract from a health system.
Subspecialties for Urology
Before finishing residency, you may decide to subspecialize even further in the urology medical specialty. Knowing the financial outcome of this choice can help you better determine your choice.
Urology is one medical specialty that doesn’t necessarily gain from getting further education for subspecialties.
Pediatric Urology
The job description of pediatric urology is pretty self-explanatory. In terms of the average salary, however, this may not be the right choice.
According to ZipRecruiter, a pediatric urologist earns much less than a urologist.
Urological Oncology
This job title sounds like it would earn a higher salary due to the increase in prostate and ovarian cancer over the years.
But ZipRecruiter shows that taking a fellowship in this area will not earn you any more than urology on its own.
Ways to Increase Urologist Salary
Once you’re making a steady income as a urology physician, you can find ways to stretch your money. There are also ways to maximize your income, whether you’re able to do it from the start or over time in your career. Here are some areas to focus on.
You may want to consider relocating if you’re currently working in a region or city that tends to pay less. Look at the data on the areas that pay more to see if a relocation would be worth it. Nonetheless, don’t forget to weigh salary with the cost of living in each area. Otherwise, you may want to look into relocating to a different employer if applicable, as practices with non-physician majority owners pay better in this specialty than physician-owned practices or hospitals.
As a urologist, you could stretch your income by utilizing assistants, which would allow you to focus on the more-intensive tasks and see more patients. You can give other tasks to advanced practice practitioners like physician assistants or nurse practitioners.
Another option is to utilize technology. Minimally invasive therapies provide a way for urologists to make treating benign prostatic hyperplasia, a common urology diagnosis, more efficient. Providing telemedicine is another option for potentially seeing more patients, including ones living in areas without urologists.
Negotiating a bonus and other forms of additional compensation provides another way to beef up your urology salary. You could try to get a signing bonus or production bonus. In addition, when discussing salary, consider compensation like retirement account contributions and paid time off.
Further, you could potentially see more patients to increase your income. There may be an option to do this through your place of work. \
Otherwise, you could consider locum tenens work to fill in for another physician or telehealth services, which could help fill a need in areas without urologists.
How to Negotiate Your Urology Employment Contract
For many physicians, the employment contract negotiation process is a source of anxiety. They may feel like they are out of their comfort zone, but this process is the key to achieving the financial status they desire.
A complete employment contract should include a list of points, explained in language that you can understand clearly.
These points include compensation and benefits to the physician as well as their expected duties and responsibilities to earn the base salary.
One of the main reasons urologists are not content with their compensation is due to the workload they carry to earn it.
If you can negotiate your contract to limit the paperwork or extra duties you need to complete, you can open up your schedule to find more income.
When negotiating with a private practice, partnership and ownership agreements should be clearly outlined before employment begins. Knowing when you can “buy-in” to the practice is critical.
Contracts should also include beginning and end dates of employment, any restrictive covenants, insurance requirements, and who pays what percentage of that.
One of the biggest and most overlooked clauses in a medical employment contract is in the termination details. How you leave a health system and when you do can significantly affect your employment and financial possibilities.
Negotiation Tactics
The longer you work in the field, the more you will be able to understand what you should be looking for in your employment contract. Also, what questions you need to ask to make sure that a specialty group is reliable enough to work with.
But when you are first transitioning from a resident to a practicing urologist, you might feel like you are making a huge blind leap. If you feel similarly, this article on how to secure your first urology job is an excellent source of information.
Overall, when entering an employment contract negotiation, you should follow a few unwritten rules to help it go in your favor.
You should always ask for more than you really want. This gives you the ability to “settle” for less from your employer and still meet your desired base pay.
Before entering a negotiation, it’s always best to research your employer and their competition. This will allow you to speak with a bit of insider knowledge on how they run their business. Which shows that you care about the entire practice, not just your own position.
When making a request, they are more likely to agree to the terms if you have a reason behind them — but be flexible and willing to make compromises.
Allow your potential employer to make the first offer, but don’t accept it. This is only a starting point, and they expect you to make a counteroffer.
Donts of Negotiations
Never lie, bluff, or exaggerate your abilities or expectations. This will only lead to a lack of trust and more likely a refusal altogether.
If you are a foreign-born doctor seeking a green card sponsorship, there are three common issues you may run into during contract negotiations. Find solutions to these problems here.
The AMA has two books available for purchase that will give you in-depth information and tactics when negotiating an employment contract. One is for entering into a position with a hospital, and the other is for entering into a role with a private group.
These books aren’t a light read. Even armed with all this knowledge, it can be challenging to navigate through a negotiation process and confidently secure a contract.
Our compensation specialists have helped thousands of physicians ensure that the language in their employment contract is satisfactorily protective.
You should have a contract review whenever adjustments happen. This includes entering or renewing a contract, changing compensation packages, renegotiating or exiting a deal, or transitioning from employee to partnership agreement.
How Disability Insurance Protects a Urologist’s Salary
Once you’ve decided what you’re willing to accept for a position as a urologist, next secure your employment contract to reflect those numbers. Then there’s still one more step you need to complete to ensure your financial success.
Disability insurance is necessary for high earners, such as urologists, considering the chances of facing one are so high. Finding the right coverage, though, can be tricky.
Our knowledgeable experts can help you set up your disability insurance policy. They’ll help you decide how much coverage you need and which company will best fit your needs.
With your finances protected in case of an emergency, you can rest easy knowing that your family will be cared for no matter what.
This is even more of an issue if you rely on your green card or visa to continue living in the United States.
Continuing to earn an income even while disabled can secure your residency in this country. This is why long-term disability insurance is so vital to foreign-born doctors.
Related: How to File a Disability Insurance Claim for Physicians.
How to Manage Finances as a Urologist
Once you’re practicing as a urologist, it’s important to consider your full financial picture. This means making the best salary you can and also managing your money wisely.
Early retirement is a dream of many doctors. Retirement at all can be just as lofty an aspiration if you don’t set yourself up with the right retirement funds. You have a few options to take advantage of depending on your employment situation.
For the Employed
It’s likely that you’ll receive a retirement plan through an employer, and this is a good benefit to negotiate for.
An employer-offered retirement plan is usually a 401(k) plan. You can consider whether to have some of your salary go to that account each pay period, and the employer often contributes to it as well.
In general, your money goes into it pre-taxes, so you end up paying less in taxes on your paycheck.
In addition to a 401(k) plan or instead of it, there are non-employer retirement accounts to choose from.
Options include a traditional IRA, Roth IRA or SEP IRA. There is also a solo 401(k). Since a retirement account includes investing, you could also consider other types of investment opportunities.
If you happen to work for a non-profit organization, which is rare for a urologist, you can enroll in a 403B plan.
For Private Practice
Those in private practice can enroll in a 401k plan, but they can also take advantage of other options that may or may not be offered by the practice owners.
For Both
Whether you are employed or self-employed, there are other actions that you can take to improve your retirement progression. Traditional and Roth IRA savings plans are popular additional retirement options.
Along with good retirement plans, you can achieve financial independence early with smart investment strategies. Which of these investments you choose depends on your personal preference but should be as close to tax-free as you can get.
Don’t Forget About Malpractice Insurance
Another way to manage your urologist salary well is to have malpractice insurance. It’s likely that an employer will make this insurance standard, but you’ll want to add it if you work for yourself.
Also, you may want to consider supplementing employer options. This insurance will protect you if a patient makes a claim against you at some point in your career.
To protect your finances, make sure your malpractice coverage is adequate enough, and keep in mind that the claims-made type is the more common type compared to the occurrence option.
You may also need tail coverage, which provides protection for unexpected claims. This might come into play in scenarios like transitioning between jobs or taking on extra hours that may not be protected by your regular insurance.
Effective Tax Planning
When you earn hundreds of thousands annually, tax planning can save you thousands of dollars per year.
Without the help of a professional team to find every deduction, credit, or exemption, you are missing the opportunity to reduce your tax burden.
Tax planning is nowhere near simple. Contact Physicians Thrive before you send in your tax return, and we’ll ensure you aren’t overpaying on your taxes.
Conclusion
Urology is one of the higher salary specialties in the medical field, but you can gain even more if you play the numbers right.
The challenges of being a urologist should be fairly rewarded, especially if you have any extra training or sub-specialization.
Do you know what your fair market value is?
Get a free copy of the Physicians Thrive 2022 Physician Compensation Report.
Physicians Thrive will help you get the salary you deserve and help you grow that wealth into a comfortable life now and into retirement.
Subscribe to our email newsletter for expert tips about finances, insurance, employment contracts, and more!
