Rural Physician & Advanced Practice Provider Compensation Report
Stroudwater Associates, in partnership with the NRHA and NOSORH, developed a physician and advanced practice provider compensation survey for rural organizations.
Representing approximately 4,697 rural providers, the results of the survey illustrates the enormous variability in provider compensation across rural organizations and the pressing need for rural healthcare to align provider compensation with the organization’s goals and be compliant with fair market value (FMV).
The report, The State of Rural Provider Compensation in 2025, provides a path forward for rural healthcare organizations facing supply and demand headwinds made more complicated by escalating compensation demands among providers and the rising cost of operations.
2025 Provider Compensation Report
"*" indicates required fields
Key Results Include
43.7% of respondents pay providers a straight salary with no performance or quality incentives; compared to the 2024 report, which reported 54.7% for this metric, this suggests that alternative base-plus-incentive models are being adopted.
While the average family medicine physician without OB’s total compensation is less than $343,000, the survey uncovered a rural spread of $240,287 to $465,000 across family medicine providers.
Both anesthesiologists and CRNAs experienced compensation growth that outpaced inflation; median adjustments from 2024 for anesthesiologists and CRNAs were a 14% increase and an 11% increase, respectively.
42.4% of organizations do not have a requirement for patient-facing hours, and 38% of organizations have requirements that do not meet the industry standards.
FAQs
The third annual rural provider compensation survey received a total of 197 respondents from 41 states. These responses represented approximately 4,697 rural providers.
The rural provider compensation report will contain details around:
- Median compensation data
- Primary care compensation based on respondent ranges
- Types of compensations with amounts for CME
- Student loan repayment
- Relocation
- Sign-on bonuses
- And more
The next survey will be available in January 2026. Please fill out our interest form to receive the survey when it is published.
To see the full results next year, including a further breakout of 10th to 90th percentiles details and data specific to organizations with RHCs, independent hospitals, and CAHs, please sign up to take the survey in 2026.
