Thinking about moving to New Zealand as a doctor? Or maybe you’re just curious about how much doctors make there in 2025? In any way, you’re not alone. New Zealand has quietly become one of the most attractive destinations for doctors around the world. With its clean air, better lifestyle, and growing demand for healthcare professionals.
So, what about the salary?
Unlike many countries, New Zealand offers transparent pay scales in the public sector, extra rural incentives, and a work-life balance that’s hard to beat. Similarly, like any other country, your earnings will vary based on your experience, specialty, hospital district, and whether you’re working in public or private healthcare.
In this guide, we’ll break down everything from:
- Starting salaries to high-end consultant pay,
- Rural bonuses, and
- Even tax deductions,
So you know exactly what to expect before you make the move to New Zealand. Let’s jump right into it.
Doctor Salaries in New Zealand (2025): What You Can Expect at Each Stage
In New Zealand, a doctor’s pay is more than their role; it grows as you gain more experience, take on new roles, and move up the medical growth ladder. Whether you’re just stepping into the hospital as a house officer or heading departments as a senior consultant, there’s a clear salary structure to guide your journey.
Let’s break it down the way most doctors progress through the system:
1. The house officer
The house officer is a doctor who starts after finishing medical school. They are in their first or second year of practice, usually moving through various departments such as surgery, internal medicine, emergency, and more because they go through close supervision.
| Salary Type | Income |
| Average Salary | NZD 64,000 and 85,000 per year |
| Working Hours | Around 40/50 hours per week (possibility to extend more) |
Note: Multi-Employer Collective Agreement (MECA) sets a national agreement known as MECA (t). That means wherever you work in New Zealand, whether it’s in Auckland or a smaller regional hospital, the pay is generally the same.
2. Registrars (PGY3 and Beyond - In Specialist Training)
By the time a doctor becomes a registrar, they’ve already gained some solid experience. This is when they start training in a chosen specialty like pediatrics, surgery, or psychiatry. Registrars are more independent in their work, take difficult cases, and often monitor more junior house officials.
| Salary Type | Income |
| Average Salary (based on the location and on-duties) | NZD 80,000 and 205,000 per year |
Doctors working in areas like emergency medicine or surgery tend to earn more at this stage. It’s not just the specialty, though; it’s the extra hours, more frequent on-call duties, and the fast-paced environment of those departments that determine the overall income of a Registrar.
3. Consultants / Senior Medical Officers (SMOs)
These roles are assigned once they have completed their training and are assigned a role as a Consultant or a specialist role. Senior roles bring responsibility to guide all medical departments and clinical teams and make major decisions in patient care.
| Sector | Income |
| Standard Salary | NZD 170,000 and 250,000 per year |
| Private Work (Specialist Role) | NZD 300,000 upto NZD 500,000 per year |
Many consultants take on extra private practice work outside their regular hospital hours. That’s where earnings take off, particularly in specialties like orthopedic surgery, cardiology, or anaesthesiology. Some consultants split their week between public and private patients to boost their income.
How Specialty & Location Shape Your Earnings?
So here’s the thing: two doctors might have the same years of experience, but if one’s working in a rural clinic as a General Practitioner (GP) and the other’s in a major Auckland hospital doing surgery, their salaries will be very different.
In New Zealand, what role a doctor is assigned and the location gives a major shift to their paycheck. Let’s break it down.
Specialty Makes a Big Difference
Some specialties just earn more, not because of their role only, but because of things like demand, complexity, or how often they’re needed outside regular hours.
General Practitioners (GPs) usually earn between NZD 160,000 and 250,000, depending on whether they’re in public clinics or running their private practice.
GPs in rural areas: They often make even more thanks to location incentives, around NZD 300k+.
Emergency medicine, psychiatry, anaesthesiology, and OB/GYN roles pay around NZD 200,000 to 300,000. And it mostly depends on the high-pressure, high-demand jobs, and the pay reflects that.
Surgical specialists and cardiologists are among the top earners, especially those with private consulting gigs on the side. Some experienced surgeons reportedly pull in over NZD 500,000 a year.
Junior doctors, even within these specialties, earn less in the early years, but income ramps up fast once you hit registrar level or higher.
Where You Work Also Matters
New Zealand’s health system is relatively centralized, so base salaries are pretty much uniform throughout the cities. If you’re thinking about working as a doctor in New Zealand, where you choose to live and work can make a surprisingly big difference, not just in lifestyle, but in your pay and benefits too.
In larger cities like Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, most hospitals follow standard national pay rates. It's a structured system that is limited to negotiating extras. You get stability with good earnings and a good health system
Conclusion
New Zealand’s public health system offers a clear path for progression, generous leave policies, and benefits like parental support and rural bonuses. If you want more information on pathways to work as a doctor in New Zealand, like NZREX, registration, or rural GP programs. At Academically, we will help you get a personalized consultation with one of our expert team members who will guide you through the entire process.
