We analyse the determinants of annual net income and wages (net income/hours) of general practitioners (GPs) using data for 2,271 GPs in England recorded during Autumn 2008. The average GP had an annual net income of £97,500 and worked 43 hours per week. The mean wage was £51 per hour. Net income and wages depended on gender, experience, list size, partnership size, whether or not the GP worked in a dispensing practice, whether they were salaried or self-employed, whether they worked in a practice with a nationally or locally negotiated contract, and the characteristics of the local population (proportion from ethnic minorities, rurality, and income deprivation). The findings have implications for discrimination by GP gender and ethnicity, GP preferences for partnership size, incentives for competition for patients, compensating differentials for local population characteristics. They also shed light on the attractiveness to GPs in England of locally-negotiated (Personal Medical Services) versus nationally-negotiated (General Medical Services) contracts
