Top States and Cities for Physicians to Practice During COVID-19

One-stop medical resource Medscape ranked all 50 states based on 14 criteria to determine where physicians would most thrive in both their medical practices and the wider communities in which they live.

Of these criteria, five were physician-determined, those being: burnout and happiness and unhappiness at work and outside of work, respectively. Three more of the criteria involved fiscal and regulatory factors of the environments relevant to physicians and five more involved overall state healthcare system performance. The final factor considered in formulating the annual Medscape list was the general livability of each given state.

According to this thorough analysis, the 10 top states and cities for physicians to practice during COVID-19 times are as follows:

1. Minnesota: Boasting an exemplary public hospital system, Minnesota ranks among the 10 healthiest states in the country. The state has an impressive plan for crisis standard-of-care and a low rate of actions taken against doctors.
2. Washington: In addition to one of the highest rankings for general livability, Washington state also boasts a strong health care system that has benefitted from great development over recent years.
3. Massachusetts: A state uniquely in several top 10 lists, including for overall livability, health and health care system quality, Massachusetts also ranks highly in support services, like unemployment support, housing and food assistance and medical services, and the state has a low rate of adverse actions taken against physicians. In addition, in the age of the COVID-19 crisis, Massachusetts was one of the top 10 states in terms of taking aggressive action against the virus.
4. North Dakota: One of the top five states for emergency preparedness in the public health care system per capita, North Dakota is favorable to doctors in terms of its malpractice and regulatory environments. North Dakota doctors also ranked higher on the happiness scale than their cohorts in other states.
5. Vermont: Named the country’s healthiest state, Vermont is also one of the six states tied for first place in spending the most per capita to fund public health emergency preparedness programs. Vermont is also renowned for its public hospital system quality and low proportion of citizens who lack health insurance.
6. New Hampshire: Ranking high in overall health, physician happiness and overall livability, New Hampshire boasts being one of the lowest 20% of states for adverse legal actions taken against doctors.
7. Colorado: Though doctors here do note a higher burnout rate than in other states, they also rank among the happiest outside of work of doctors in any state. Colorado has a low rate of malpractice payouts per capita and its state health system ranks in the top 10 nationally.
8. Utah: Boasting a healthy citizenry, a strong health system and a livable environment, Utah does have a higher burnout rate than many other states. Still, a highly community-oriented state, doctor happiness here remains high.
9. Nebraska: A famously friendly, happy populace, Nebraska boasts comparatively low burnout and high happiness outside of work among physicians. It also boasts one of the ten highest cost-adjusted compensation rates among the states and ranks high for livability.
10. Idaho: With one of the lowest per capita malpractice payout rates of all the states, Idaho ranks in the top 40% of states across most metrics examined in this study. Idaho doctors also rate themselves high in measures of happiness.

Additionally, the 10 top cities with the highest demand for physicians in 2020 according to Medical Economics and a Doximity study include:

1. El Paso, Texas
2. Miami, Florida
3. Cleveland, Ohio
4. Phoenix, Arizona
5. Denver, Colorado
6. Portland, Maine
7. Seattle, Washington
8. Honolulu, Hawaii
9. Minneapolis, Minnesota
10. Los Angeles, California

Outside of medical practices and communities, physicians also thrive due to other factors. To learn more about these factors, check out our physician jobs FREE guide.