The Average Salary of a Spinal Surgeon

Pay Scale

The median annual salary of spine and other neurological surgeons was $470,410, as of June 2011, according to salary.com. The middle 50 percent of all spinal surgeons made salaries ranging from $383,078 per year to $595,244 annually. The highest paid spinal surgeons earned $708,899 per year or more, while the bottom 10 percent of those working in this medical and surgical specialty earning $303,567 or less.

The average salary of a spinal surgeon earned $710,055 per year, according to Becker's Orthopedic and Spine & Pain Management Review. The publication takes its data from the Medical Group Management Association's 2010 publication, the "Physician Compensation and Production Survey." Data provided by this survey was current as of 2009. The average salary of all surgeons in the U.S., regardless of specialty, was $225,390 in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Becker's Orthopedic and Spine & Pain Management Review indicates that the average general orthopedic surgeon made $524,259 in 2009, making the difference between spinal and general surgeons some $185,796. Trauma orthopedic surgeons were closer in terms of annual salaries, but still only made $592,563 by comparison. The only other specialists to break the $600,000 mark for average salaries were sports medicine surgeons, who averaged $653,642 per year.

The amount of time and training it takes to become an orthopedic spine training requires considerable commitment. Beyond the four years of required medical school, the typical spinal surgeon will complete an additional seven years of training in internships and residencies to become proficient in their area of specialization. The training can be well worth the time. A 2007 salary survey noted by Edu Degree indicates that the typical starting salary for a neurosurgeon is about $354,000 per year, with that salary increasing to about $541,000 after the third year and finally maxing out somewhere around $936,000 per year.