How much on average does a brain surgeon make?

This varies according to region, level of expertise, and clientele.

Answers from the community include:

• $500,000 - $550,000
• $600,000
• millions, assuming you're a good surgeon.
• $300,000 - $375,000
• $800,000 for a typical brain surgeon with good business.
• $460,000 (from a brain surgeon from a 4-year college)
• £85,000 in the UK
• $180,000 - $200,000
• up to $1,500,000 a year if a talented brain surgeon with 10 years of experience
• $385,000; half of this goes to malpractice insurance
• £200,000 when you start then increasing to about £350,000. If you work about 20 years and are really good £500,000 to £956,000 a year.
• $250,000
• $600,000
• $300,000 - $700,000
• $300,000 - $800,000

In US Academic Medicine:

<3 years experience: $288,000 (25 percentile), $364,000 (Median), $454,000 (75 percentile)

>3 years experience: $347,000 (25 percentile), $451,000 (Median), $586,000 (75 percentile)

Data source: Association of American Medical Colleges. Report on Medical School Faculty Salaries 2007-2008. Washington, DC: Association of American Medical Colleges; 2009

Private/Group practice neurosurgeons are paid directly by insurance companies and so their income is determined by the amount of procedures they bill for. Usually academic salaries tend to be 30-40% less than private/group practice salaries. However, non academic surgeons must pay all overhead costs (office space, help etc..) thus their reported salaries often represent the net earnings of their business and not the individual. I have seen Job offers attempting to recruit neurosurgeons to under-served areas with salary guarantees of over $1,000,000 per year.

This seems impressive but may represent a recruitment tactic, meaning that salary may be guaranteed for a few years but after that the NS makes whatever the income potential in that community actually is. Many neurosurgeons engage in research that leads to patents, these are another source of potential income over and above their base pay. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information's Average Gross Fee-for-Service Payment Report 2005-2006, the average gross fee-for-service payment per neurosurgeon in 2005-06 was $300,393.

Note that this is gross billings and does not take into account deductions for overhead expenses, taxes, etc.