It may pay to be a doctor, but that doesn’t guarantee the best working conditions.
WalletHub compiled its latest ranking — 2018’s Best & Worst States for Doctors — based on 16 factors across two dimensions: “opportunity and competition” and “medical environment.” The research included all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The best state to be a doctor is South Dakota, according to the ranking, followed by Nebraska, Idaho, Iowa and Minnesota. WalletHub rated New Jersey as worst, followed by Rhode Island, New York, Hawaii and the District of Columbia.
The opportunity and competition dimension included metrics like physicians‘ average annual wage, hospitals per capita and employer-based insurance rate. The medical environment dimension’s metrics were quality of the public hospital system and physician assistants per capita, among others.
The highest average annual wage for physicians — when adjusted for cost of living — could be found in Mississippi, South Dakota, Iowa, Georgia and Tennessee. The lowest could be found in the District of Columbia, followed by Hawaii, New York, California and Oregon.
Other factors considered in the ranking included malpractice award payout and the cost of malpractice liability insurance. The least expensive annual malpractice liability insurance, for instance, was found in Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Kansas.
Check out the list of the 10 best states for doctors below, and a look at the complete ranking here.
| Overall Rank | State | Opportunity & Competition Rank |
| 1 | South Dakota | 3 |
| 2 | Nebraska | 7 |
| 3 | Idaho | 1 |
| 4 | Iowa | 2 |
| 5 | Minnesota | 9 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | 6 |
| 7 | Kansas | 8 |
| 8 | Montana | 5 |
| 9 | North Dakota | 14 |
| 10 | Wyoming | 4 |
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The 10 Best States for Doctors originally appeared on usnews.com
