Experience

• Cardiac surgeons may see a wide range of income not entirely dependent on the number of years spent in the profession. According to information from 195 professionals employed as cardiac surgeons, PayScale.com reports that surgeons with less than one year experience earn $101,000 to $486,000 (salaries rounded to the nearest thousand). The information was last updated in May of 2011, and surgeons with one to four years of experience said the pay range was slightly tighter, from $119,000 to $306,000. Surgeons with 10 to 19 years of experience saw some of the highest incomes, ranging from $181,000 to $487,000. For surgeons with experience of 20 years or more, salaries ranged form $292,000 to $405,000.
  
  

Location

• Geographic location played a part in salaries, with compensation in large cities ranging from approximately $294,000 to $457,000. Los Angeles had the lowest top salary, at $294,000. Baltimore, Boston and New York had top salaries ranging from $358,000 to $396,000. Salaries in Houston, Atlanta and Chicago saw the range top out at $400,000 to $450,000. When considering states as a whole rather than specific cities, Pennsylvania average salaries ranged from $260,000 to $495,000, which beat several other states. Jobs in California ranged from $136,000 to $393,000 while Illinois had the widest range of salaries, from $136,000 to $485,000. New York was the most popular state for cardiac surgeons, with California coming in second place.
  
  

Hospital Size

• Based on 86 respondents, salaries varied by the size of the facility the surgeons worked in. Healthcare facilities with fewer than 50 beds paid cardiac surgeons salaries ranging from $51,000 to $257,000. Facilities with 100 to 299 beds paid surgeons the most, with a range of $294,000 to $512,000. Larger faculties with 300 to 499 beds paid slightly less, from $253,000 to $504,000, and the largest healthcare facilities with 500 or more beds paid even less, with a range form $252,000 to $405,000.
  
  

Career Prospects

• Cardiac surgeons used to have an easy time finding work, complete with very high compensation. That trend is changing, due to new medical innovations that treat patients differently and do not require cardiac bypass surgery nearly as much. Interest in the specialty has waned among medical school graduates, and those who do choose cardiothoracic surgery have difficulty finding work once they finish their five to seven years of general residency and two to three additional years to pursue specialized cardiothoracic training. As older surgeons retire and baby boomers start to have health problems, though, the outlook may improve for cardiac surgeons.