Physician net worth by age: what's normal?
For a doctor, normal starts lower and climbs later. Most doctors finish medical school owing money and spend years in training on a resident's salary, so a small or even negative net worth in your early thirties is where many careers begin, not a sign you're behind.
The most reliable public figures by age are the Federal Reserve's, for all U.S. families. Use them as background, and measure yourself mainly against your own last year.
Why do doctors' numbers look different?
Net worth is what you own minus what you owe. Two things push a doctor's starting point down.
- Loans. 70% of medical students who graduated in 2025 had education debt. Among them, the median owed was $215,000.
- A late start. After medical school come years of residency, and often fellowship, on a trainee's salary. Friends who went straight into work have had years to save by the time your attending pay begins.
Put together, a new attending with $215,000 of loans and a small retirement account has a net worth below zero. That's the starting line for a lot of doctors. What changes the picture is the years that follow, when a higher income meets a plan for the loans and steady saving.
What's the typical net worth by age?
The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances is the standard source. Its 2025 survey, published in October 2026, gives these figures for all U.S. families, grouped by the age of the head of the family.
| Age | Median | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $33,000 | $135,400 |
| 35 to 44 | $155,600 | $681,900 |
| 45 to 54 | $253,700 | $1,244,500 |
| 55 to 64 | $411,900 | $1,878,000 |
| 65 to 74 | $431,300 | $1,897,600 |
| 75 or older | $504,900 | $1,962,200 |
| All families | $215,900 | $1,241,500 |
Read the median first. It's the family in the middle. The mean is pulled up by a small number of very wealthy families, which is why it's several times higher at most ages.
These are all families, not doctors. They're a rough backdrop for a doctor, who often starts out in debt and, with a higher income, can move past them later. A figure here is not a target for you.
Is there a net worth figure just for doctors?
Physician-specific net worth surveys exist, but the current ones are behind paywalls, and the tables you see quoted online often come from surveys done in 2016 or 2019. A table that old says little about a doctor today, so we don't repeat one here.
Even a current one would mix every specialty, region and career path into each age group. Your own trend, year over year, tells you more.
What's more useful than a net worth number?
The direction you're heading. Once a year, check whether what you owe is going down and what you own is going up, and why. A year with a house deposit or a practice buy-in can look flat on paper and still be the right move.
In your first attending years, a few decisions shape the trend more than anything else: your loan plan, your retirement accounts and how much of the new income you keep. What should I do with my money in my first year as an attending?
Can I compare myself with doctors like me?
For pay, yes. Compare your pay places your income among doctors in your specialty, at your career stage, in your state. It compares income, not net worth: it doesn't ask what you own or owe.
The fuller picture, with your assets and debts, is in the app.
Questions to ask yourself once a year
- What do I own today: retirement and investment accounts, cash, home equity?
- What do I owe: student loans, mortgage, car, cards?
- Is my net worth higher than it was a year ago, and what moved it?
- How much of this year's pay went to savings and to paying down debt?
- Is my loan plan still the right one for the job I have now?
- What changes in the next year: a new contract, a partnership, a house, a child?
alooola.com/guides/physician-net-worth-by-age/
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances, October 2026, table 2 (family median and mean net worth by age of reference person, 2025 dollars); published Oct 9, 2026, read Oct 13, 2026.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Consumer Finances (2025 survey, report and tables), read Oct 13, 2026.
- Association of American Medical Colleges, Medical Student Education: Debt, Costs, and Loan Repayment Fact Card for the Class of 2025, October 2025 (AAMC 2025 Graduation Questionnaire); read Oct 13, 2026.
General information, not advice for your situation. Rules and figures change; each source is dated.
Talk it through with an advisor.
- Pick a time that suits you, by video or phone.
- Bring the question and whatever documents you have to hand.
- Leave with a clear next step. What you do with it is up to you.