sure, but only on the first $147000 of your income (i.e. not the vast majority) and all of the deductions you can make vs W2 is pretty good (you can even rent out an office in your home to your business and 3 martini lunches are 100% tax deductible for now). Nowadays (following the trump tax changes), being a contractor almost always works better than W2 for most higher earners. You can also contribute up to 61k to a solo 401k, and for some people there may be additional benefits of having an S corp, paying yourself a lower salary, and getting 20% pass through deduction.
Locum jobs can be good for people early on in their career (e.g. post residency), at the end of their careers (e.g. in retirement or near retirement), or for those who are otherwise unemployable (e.g. red flags such as disciplinary action, substance use disorders, severe mental illness etc). Locum positions aren't all bad, and aren't all in undesirable locations (there are locum positions in major metropolitan areas include LA, SF, NYC etc). However, outside of remote or rural locations, it almost always indicates incompetent management. BTW 450-500 is average for locum psychiatrists, there are higher paying positions out there, though often in correctional or state hospital facilities.
