Psychiatrist Salary in Florida 2026,
$316,200 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $316,200 a year, or $152.02 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 12.2% above the national median of $281,870, and Florida takes no state income tax from it. The band runs $71,680 at the 10th percentile to $568,460 at the 90th, with the middle half between $179,670 and $474,250. That spread is among the widest of any physician specialty in this state.

Gainesville at $404,240, narrowly ahead of Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach at $403,430 and Ocala at $396,200, with Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford $320,250 and Jacksonville $319,610 behind. North-central Florida matching South Florida is a recruitment signal — inpatient and institutional psychiatric capacity there is staffed at rates the region's cost of living does not explain.

Remotely, yes, under Florida's out-of-state telehealth provider registration in section 456.47, Florida Statutes. A psychiatrist holding an active licence in another state can register with the Department of Health and provide telehealth services to Florida patients without obtaining full Florida licensure. That registration is a genuine competitive factor in routine outpatient psychiatry, where care is readily delivered remotely. It does not extend to in-person work, so inpatient, emergency, forensic and correctional psychiatry — which is where the $474,250 seventy-fifth percentile sits — is unaffected.

Because four different markets sit inside one occupational code. Residents and fellows are at the $71,680 end. Part-time outpatient and community mental health practice occupies the $179,670 quarter-point. Full-time clinical practice sits around the $316,200 median. And inpatient, crisis, forensic and correctional psychiatry, plus high-volume private practice, reaches the $474,250 to $568,460 band. Psychiatry has an unusually high share of part-time and flexible practice, which stretches the lower half further than in most specialties.

The financial case is strong: 12.2% above the national median, no state income tax on any of it, and no state tax on private practice profit either. The clinical case depends on where. Florida has significant mental health professional shortage areas outside its major metros, and inpatient and crisis capacity under the Baker Act framework is chronically hard to staff — which is why Gainesville and Ocala publish figures level with South Florida. Those are also the roles that carry the highest demands and the least flexibility.

Because the work there is different in kind. Gainesville at $404,240 and Ocala at $396,200 sit in a region with concentrated institutional psychiatric capacity — academic, inpatient, state facility and correctional psychiatry — and comparatively few psychiatrists willing to take it. Those roles carry acuity, on-call burden and, in forensic and correctional settings, working conditions that outpatient practice does not, and they must be priced to recruit. South Florida's $403,430 reflects a large, competitive private and hospital market. The same number arrives by two different routes, which is exactly why a metro median should never be read as a cost-of-living index.

The distribution is too wide to summarise with one number. With $179,670 at the 25th percentile and $474,250 at the 75th, the median describes the boundary between part-time and salaried practice on one side and intensive clinical or private practice on the other. The wage measure also excludes private practice profit distributions, locum arrangements and telepsychiatry contract income, all of which are common in this specialty. And with about 1,930 psychiatrists statewide, the metro rows rest on modest samples.

Setting first — inpatient, crisis, forensic and correctional psychiatry pay above outpatient practice here, and that difference is most of the distance from the $316,200 median to the $474,250 seventy-fifth percentile. Willingness to work in shortage areas second, which the north-central Florida metro figures price explicitly. Private practice ownership third, since distributed profit escapes state income tax entirely in Florida. And volume and subspecialty fourth — child and adolescent psychiatry and addiction medicine are the scarcest subspecialties in this state's market.