In 2025, 41.9% of physicians reported at least one burnout symptom, according to the American Medical Association's National Physician Comparison Report. Emergency medicine had the highest rate at 49.8% and infectious diseases the lowest at 23.3%, a gap of 26.5 percentage points.
The AMA published the figures on April 16, 2026. They come from the AMA Organizational Biopsy and cover nearly 19,000 physician responses from 106 health systems and organizations in 38 states. The organizations chose to run the survey, so the rates describe participating employers and not a random national sample.
Overall burnout has fallen each year since 2023
The share of physicians with at least one burnout symptom was 48.2% in 2023, 43.2% in 2024 and 41.9% in 2025, per the AMA. That is a drop of 5.0 points in the first year and 1.3 points in the second. About two in five physicians still report a symptom.
The AMA tracked two other measures over the same period. Physicians who reported "a great deal" of job stress made up 50.7% in 2023, 45.1% in 2024 and 42.9% in 2025. Job satisfaction rose from 67.6% in 2022 to 72.1% in 2023, 76.5% in 2024 and 77.0% in 2025. The AMA states that the 2024 to 2025 change in satisfaction was not statistically significant.
| Measure | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| At least one burnout symptom | n/a | 48.2% | 43.2% | 41.9% |
| A great deal of job stress | n/a | 50.7% | 45.1% | 42.9% |
| Job satisfaction | 67.6% | 72.1% | 76.5% | 77.0% |
Source: AMA, "Physician burnout rate continues to decline, falling to nearly 42%," April 16, 2026. Base: physician responses from the AMA Organizational Biopsy. The AMA article gives no 2022 figures for burnout or stress.
Satisfaction also differs by schedule. The AMA found 75.9% of full-time physicians satisfied against 78.1% of part-time physicians, a gap of 2.2 points.
Burnout by specialty, 2025
The AMA named 14 specialties in its April 16, 2026 release and in coverage by Medical Economics. Six of them sit at or above 45.0%, and five sit below 40%. The table lists each one against the all-specialty rate of 41.9%.
| Specialty | Burnout rate, 2025 | Points vs. 41.9% overall |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency medicine | 49.8% | +7.9 |
| Urological surgery | 49.5% | +7.6 |
| Hematology/oncology | 49.3% | +7.4 |
| Obstetrics and gynecology | 45.7% | +3.8 |
| Radiology | 45.2% | +3.3 |
| Family medicine | 45.0% | +3.1 |
| General surgery | 43.8% | +1.9 |
| Cardiology | 43.5% | +1.6 |
| Gastroenterology | 43.5% | +1.6 |
| Anesthesiology | 39.2% | -2.7 |
| Psychiatry | 31.6% | -10.3 |
| Dermatology | 31.5% | -10.4 |
| Nephrology | 29.3% | -12.6 |
| Infectious diseases | 23.3% | -18.6 |
Source: AMA press release, "AMA: Physician burnout rates are falling, specialty gaps remain," April 16, 2026. The last column is calculated from the AMA figures. The AMA did not publish rates for other specialties in these releases.
Family medicine has a rate of 45.0%, 3.1 points above the all-specialty figure. Dermatology and psychiatry differ by 0.1 points, at 31.5% and 31.6%.
Hospital-based specialties score lower on satisfaction
The AMA measured five indicators: burnout, job stress, job satisfaction, intent to leave the organization and feeling valued. Four of the five improved significantly from 2024 to 2025. Hospital-based specialties, including emergency medicine, radiology and anesthesiology, fell below the overall benchmark on three of the five measures.
Job satisfaction was highest in psychiatry at 83.0% and in obstetrics and gynecology at 81.2%. Hospital-based specialties had the lowest figure at 74.8%, which is 8.2 points under psychiatry. Burnout and satisfaction do not rank specialties the same way. Obstetrics and gynecology has the fourth highest burnout rate at 45.7% and the second highest satisfaction at 81.2%.
Healthcare Dive reported on April 20, 2026 that burnout tends to be higher among physicians employed by hospitals. The article gave no percentages for hospital-employed physicians against other practice settings, so a practice cannot yet compare itself against an ownership benchmark.
Feeling valued and the sources of stress
Across all specialties, 56.2% of physicians felt valued by their organization to a great or moderate extent. Medical Economics reported that the figure rose 1.7 percentage points from 2024. Physicians in years 1 to 5 of practice reported 57.9%, and those with more than 20 years reported 59.4%.
The AMA lists four sources of job stress: ineffective EHR systems, concerns about leadership transparency and support, inadequate staffing, and excessive administrative tasks.
One organization appears in the AMA article as an example. Dallas Nephrology Associates reached about 70% physician participation in its first well-being survey, and 33% of its physicians reported burnout symptoms. The national nephrology rate in the AMA data is 29.3%, so the group sat 3.7 points above it.
Using the specialty rates as a benchmark
An internal survey result should be compared with the rate for the same specialty, not with 41.9%. A family medicine group that measures 43.0% would be 2.0 points below the 45.0% specialty rate and 1.1 points above the all-specialty rate. The same 43.0% in a dermatology group would be 11.5 points above the 31.5% specialty rate.
The AMA data have limits that affect the comparison. The AMA did not state a response rate, survey dates or margins of error in these releases, and it gave no specialty rates for 2024. Specialty rates from a single year show a gap but cannot show direction.
Sources
- American Medical Association, Physician burnout rate continues to decline, falling to nearly 42%, April 16, 2026
- American Medical Association, AMA: Physician burnout rates are falling, specialty gaps remain, April 16, 2026
- Medical Economics, Physician burnout declines overall, but gaps persist across specialties, AMA data show, April 16, 2026
- Healthcare Dive, report on AMA physician burnout data and specialty gaps, April 20, 2026
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