Where medics make the most

Being a doctor in America is lucrative, but not evenly so. The map, based on pay data from more than 18,000 internists, shows striking geographical disparities. Rural medics make more, because few doctors want to live in the boondocks. Pay is lower in fashionable neighbourhoods: a doctor of general medicine in New York typically earns 64% less than his peer in Alabama. The lowest pay is in Massachusetts, which has four medical schools and a surplus of stethoscope-slingers. Greater use of telemedicine would help even things out, as would removing unnecessary restrictions on nurses. Many of the states where doctors earn most are those which most limit what nurses can do.