salary and income medical sector France

Information on salary and income in the medical sector in France

In France, there are essentially three types of situations:

I Private practice (‘exercice en libéral’)

A health professional may practice as a private practitioner (private clinics, city offices, etc.). His or her income depends on the number of patients he or she receives and the type of procedures he or she performs. See below (as an indication) for the average generalised income in France.
Then, there is a sector 1 with agreed tariffs and a sector 2 which allows to ask for higher tariffs. The choice between these two options depends, among other things, on the doctor’s career path (additional academic career or not, for example).
In addition, there are installation bonuses and other tax advantages for certain underfunded areas.

II Salaried position

A health professional can be a salaried employee; most often it is a public hospital that pays a salary according to scales that are set at the national level (see below). But it also happens that local authorities (a department or a town) pay a salary to a general practitioner who comes to work in a nursing home, for example.
There are different types of contract, but in the majority of cases, a European health professional starts with a fixed-term contract (6 months renewable several times) before passing a hospital practitioner examination (‘Concours de praticien hospitalier’) after which the work experience can be taken into account (before that, it is necessary to negotiate).
In addition, there are certain installation bonuses that exist for the public hospital sector.

III Mixed practice

A health professional can also work in both a private and a public structure: this is calles ‘exercice mixte’. For example, a specialist doctor who has a practice in town for his patients’ consultations (maximum 49% private practice) and then operates in a public hospital where he is employed. This type of practice naturally increases his income compared to a simple salaried position which is limited to 35 hours per week.

Ad I: Private sector income / private practice
This is the latest data on disposable incomes. They are averages realized in France, for illustrative purposes only!

Spécialité médicale

Honoraires nets HT ***

Bénéfice comptable ***

Médecin généraliste

152641

88277

Kinésithérapeute

77934

40970

Infirmier

77877

45160

Anesthésiste

274885

167090

Angiologue

202770

101891

Cardiologue

233361

126603

Chirurgien (général)

274053

136257

Chirurgien orthopédique

288169

153864

Chirurgien plastique

288692

117283

Chirurgien urologique

246558

138706

Dentiste

257574

91299

Dermatologue

173973

81617

Endocrinologue

123960

55169

Gastro-entérologue

228410

120512

Gynécologue

203610

97242

Néphrologue

269625

190568

Neurochirurgien

147795

84305

Neurologue

186961

93439

Ophtalmologue

306628

151931

ORL

219825

106220

Pédiatre

140204

71827

Pneumologue

197956

103820

Psychiatre

126342

67418

Radiologue

252718

108447

Rhumatologue

171047

85027

Urgentiste

162054

99175

Urologue

253905

140902

Ad II, Public sector salary, Hospital Practitioner status.

For the salary (status January 2020), click here.
This is the gross salary *** for 35 hours per week, without overtime, without allowances for on-call duty and without possible installation bonuses.

*** Gross and net income/wage
In France, to be able to calculate your net income, you need to know the amount of your taxes and this depends on your family situation (married or single, number of children).
This is also the reason why, when we speak of ‘net income or net salary’, we speak in principle of ‘net income/net salary before taxes’, which means that social security contributions have already been deducted from gross income (mainly health insurance and pensions), but that income (or corporation) tax still has to be paid.
Work your Way to France will of course assist you in calculating your net income/wage after tax, as is the case in most European countries.

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