How much do internal medicine doctors make in Canada?

Net income among physicians varies widely. Figures in this article are based on data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (October 2021), and represent average gross clinical income before overhead, taxes and other expenses.

Internal medicine physicians in Canada earn an average of $464,759. Earnings vary by province, ranging from $546,288 in Alberta to $365,418 in Nova Scotia. There are currently 11,369 internal medicine doctors in Canada. 

Take me to the income tables

Most internal medicine doctors are not paid a salary by an employer¹ — they are paid using a fee-for-service model. When we talk about their income, we mean their gross income (also called gross clinical payment), which is the amount that the physician bills the government.

Self-employed physicians still need to pay their overhead expenses, such as rent, staff salaries, equipment and insurance; and their income tax.

Note that the average gross incomes in this article are for a “full-time equivalent” physician. This metric allows the earnings of part-time physicians to be counted in, on a pro rata basis.

What is internal medicine?

Internal medicine doctors diagnose and manage diseases of any of the organ systems in adults. Internal medicine is a broad-based specialty, and there are numerous subspecialties within it.

After medical school, it takes four years of residency to become an internal medicine doctor. Subspecialty training can be started after the three core years of internal medicine, and takes another two to three years.

Internal medicine income by province

The figures in the following tables are from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), published in October 2021 and based on 2019–2020 data.²

The figures are averages across all subspecialties of internal medicine, including cardiology and gastroenterology which are also reported as individual specialties.

Note that Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut are not included in the tables, as there were not enough data. In Prince Edward Island, there was only one cardiologist and three gastroenterologists, so there is no average reported for these subspecialties.

Internal medicine (all subspecialties) — gross annual income by province

Cardiology — gross annual income by province

Gastroenterology — gross annual income by province

¹ Note that incorporated physicians can choose to have their medical professional corporation pay them a salary.

² To find this information, go to https://www.cihi.ca/en/physicians-in-canada. Scroll down to “National Physician Database” and download “Data tables (ZIP).” Go to the file titled “NPDB-historical-payments-data-tables-1999-2019-en-web.xlsx,” and see Table D2 (“Average payments”). Click row 3 (“Type of average payment”) and select “Average gross clinical payment per full-time-equivalent physician” from the drop-down menu.

The above information should not be construed as offering specific financial, investment, foreign or domestic taxation, legal, accounting or similar professional advice, nor is it intended to replace the advice of independent tax, accounting or legal professionals.