While doctors are one of the
To pinpoint where doctors have the best (and worst) opportunities, WalletHub ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 19 metrics, such as physician's average annual wages, hospitals per capita, insured population rate, quality of public hospital systems and physician burnout. Each state was scored out of 100 points, with Montana taking the number one spot at 73 points, while Hawaii placed last at just under 42 points.
"The metrics related to opportunity and competition for physicians were the most important in ranking the states," says Jill Gonzalez, an analyst at WalletHub. "Among the things that doctors should consider when deciding where to practice, the most important ones are the earning potential, the quality of the medical environment, as well as the cost factor of malpractice liability insurance."
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To Gonzalez's surprise, states like Louisiana and Utah ranked in the top 10 despite scoring low in opportunity-related metrics. However, she notes that Louisiana has a large number of hospitals per capita and a lack of current and projected competition, while Utah has a large percentage of its population enrolled in employer-based health insurance and overall patient safety. And since WalletHub considered the state-wide cost of living when ranking annual wages, states like Hawaii and New York found themselves at the bottom of the list.
Here are the 10 best and worst states for doctors, according to
