Navy Physician Compensation Lab

Data and definitions

The nonfinancial checklist draws on public descriptions of Navy physician careers, Navy Medicine practice settings, continuing education, Medical Corps CME funding, and military leave. Options are potential advantages, not guaranteed opportunities or measured dollar values.

2026 O-4/O-5/O-6 basic pay: DFAS. Officer BAS: DoD. Navy primary-care IP, BCP, and annual RB by agreement length: FY26 Medical Corps guidance and FY25 corrected guidance. FY26 rates apply to eligible new agreements; an existing agreement keeps its signed rate unless an approved renegotiation changes it. 2026 BAH by duty-station ZIP, grade, and dependent status: DTMO lookup and annual data. The lab loads a readable 2026 ZIP crosswalk based on a normalized DTMO table; verify unusual cases, rate protection, and midyear adjustments with finance.

Marit Health published San Diego city benchmarks used only when the comparable civilian job ZIP resolves to San Diego, CA: pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine. Marit reports city or metro estimates from self-reported data, not pay for each ZIP or verified civilian-only offers. For other civilian job ZIPs, the lab identifies the location and suggests the nearest city from an embedded list of major U.S. cities within 250 straight-line miles. City-to-ZIP and ZIP-to-city lookups come from Zippopotam.us. A city search selects a representative ZIP, which may differ from a specific job address; city-center coordinates are approximate. The suggested Marit city page may lack a usable figure for a specialty. The lab links the matching specialty page and lets the user enter its displayed amount; it does not retrieve or verify that amount automatically. An actual offer can also be entered. The lab never substitutes San Diego or another nearby-city salary automatically. For example, the Honolulu internist and Honolulu family medicine pages have published figures, but availability varies by specialty and date. Methodology.

Doximity 2026 national specialty averages reflect 2025 responses. Medscape 2026 national specialty averages reflect full-time physicians' 2025 total compensation; the three displayed values are rounded to $1,000. Neither is a San Diego estimate. SalaryDr’s 2026 national attending medians come from verified self-reports through July 17, 2026: pediatrics $310,000 (n=261), internal medicine $345,000 (n=157), and family medicine $310,000 (n=143). Its internal-medicine group includes hospital medicine, so it may not match outpatient general internal medicine. All national sources are separate sensitivity checks; none is averaged with Marit or represented as a local civilian offer.

10 U.S.C. § 1089 generally makes the federal remedy exclusive for military medical personnel acting within the scope of duty. Outside work is a separate coverage question. Civilian premium and tail responsibility depends on the employment contract and policy. The $0 example avoids counting employer-paid coverage or a cost already included in reported compensation.

Tool behavior: “Share lab” copies or sends the fixed page URL without inputs. “Mark comparison complete” calls a third-party counter service with a counter key only; scenario fields are not included in the request. The browser also records completion in session storage to limit repeat counts within that browser session. A third-party service may receive standard network metadata such as an IP address.

FY26 special-pay checks: DFAS lists $8,000 annual board-certification pay for eligible physicians; the $15,000 statutory ceiling is not the FY26 paid rate. NAVADMIN 229/25 continues the program but does not list specialty RB rates; the FY26 Medical Corps guidance and DFAS table provide those rates. This lab assumes a fully qualified primary-care specialist and does not model General Medical Officer tour incentive pay or a GMO training path.

Service-date rules: 10 U.S.C. § 2126 excludes HPSP time from active retirement eligibility and basic-pay service, with limited conditional Selected Reserve credit. Navy HPSP Reserve guidance describes the record-review process for qualifying years and points. DoD active-retirement guidance requires 20 active-service years for non-disability retirement; 37 U.S.C. § 205 governs basic-pay longevity, which may differ from active service. Verify both dates and any retirement points against official records. DoD BRS eligibility and opt-in guidance explains the choice available to eligible pre-2018 members. Training-path credit: the DoD Financial Management Regulation, volume 7B, chapter 1 includes actual USU medical-student time in the retired-pay multiplier after eligibility. USU service-credit guidance explains that it does not count toward active retirement eligibility or current basic-pay longevity. 10 U.S.C. § 2126 excludes HPSP student time from those measures, with a limited, conditional Selected Reserve points provision. 10 U.S.C. § 2106 addresses ROTC advanced-training time. Under 10 U.S.C. § 971, Naval Academy midshipman time generally does not count toward a military officer's length of service. DoD retirement guidance explains that an Academy graduate's initial service-entry date may be the Academy reporting date, which can affect the retirement-plan category without adding creditable pension years. This lab does not automatically credit Academy, ROTC, or HPSP student years. Prior service and special exceptions require personnel-record review.

Life-expectancy sample: CDC U.S. Life Tables, 2024, Table 1. The lab rounds remaining years at each path's pension start age; it does not model individual mortality or longevity risk. Retirement rules: active duty and Reserve. Pension tax treatment: IRS. The optional malpractice starting point is the midpoint of a published 2026 state and specialty carrier-rate range for mature $1 million/$3 million claims-made coverage. It is not a statistical average or personal quote; actual physician-paid cost depends on the employment contract, location, practice activities, and policy. A 2012 White Coat Investor essay motivates a longer stay-or-separate career comparison; its historical dollar examples are not used here. GI Bill transfer rules: VA. Navy tax state generally follows applicable military residency rules rather than duty ZIP; see Military OneSource. Sample estimate sources: IRS 2026 brackets, SSA payroll rules, 2026 state income-tax brackets and basic deductions (Utah rate updated to 4.45%), California 2026 SDI, KFF premiums, BRS TSP, and IRS 401(k) compensation limit. Model is illustrative and should be checked against an actual LES, tax return, contract, and job offer before individual use.