Money · 1 of 5
What chest surgeons make
Median for the group
$414,010
Bottom tenth
$80,320
Top tenth
$655,320
There is no separate federal wage line for thoracic surgeons. They sit inside a residual group called Surgeons, All Other, a mix of surgical specialties. In the 2025 federal wage survey that group's median is $414,010 a year, the bottom tenth earn $80,320 or less and the top tenth $655,320 or more. These figures describe the whole group, not this specialty alone, and they count only surgeons paid a wage, so surgeons who own part of their practice are missing.