Medical Residency Salary By Specialty

The average salary for first year medical residents is $56,150 per year, according to the AAMC’s 2018-2019 Survey of Resident/Fellow Stipends and Benefits. This salary number is based on from 186 hospitals that participated in the survey. However, reports listing average residency salary are likely to vary depending on the source of the data and how many respondents there are. For example, a 2018 Medscape survey of 1,900 medical residents reported the average salary as $59,300.

Residency Salary By Specialty

The AAMC does not provide salary data by specialty, but Medscape’s survey reports the following salaries by medical residency specialty, Plastic Surgery is listed as the highest salary at $63,100, while Family Medicine is listed as the lowest at $55,900.

Residency Specialty	Average Salary
Plastic Surgery	$63,100
Neurosurgery	$61,800
Psychiatry	$60,800
Radiology	$60,700
Neurology	$60,500
Orthopaedics	$60,100
Pathology	$60,100
OB/GYN	$59,800
Urology	$59,200
Anesthesiology	$59,000
General Surgery	$58,800
Dermatology	$58,600
Otolaryngology	$58,200
Pediatrics	$58,200
Ophthalmology	$57,600
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	$57,500
Internal Medicine	$57,000
Emergency Medicine	$56,800
Family Medicine	$55,900

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Salary By Gender

Since residency salaries are standardized and nonnegotiable, there is never a salary difference based on gender.

Salary By Residency Year

Residency salary increases for each year of residency training. The AAMC notes that the average Year 1 salary is $56,150, while the average Year 8 salary is $75,841. This is a 35% increase over 8 years, with an average yearly salary increase of 4.4%.

Residency Year	Average Salary
Year 1	$56,150
Year 2	$58,290
Year 3	$60,634
Year 4	$63,634
Year 5	$66,277
Year 6	$69,043
Year 7	$71,339
Year 8	$75,841

Salary Trends

On average, residency salaries have increased by 2.6% annually for the past 10 years with a range of 1% to 4.9% each year. This trend will likely continue since residency salaries have increased every year since 1970.

Year	Average First Year Residency Salary
2018-2019	$56,126
2016-2017	$54,127
2014-2015	$51,586
2013-2014	$50,765
2012-2013	$50,274
2011-2012	$49,394
2010-2011	$48,460
2009-2010	$47,458

Salary By Geography

The AAMC also reports on salary by geographic region (Northeast, West, Midwest and South). The Northeast has the highest average salary at $59,072, while the South has the lowest average salary at $53,557. The table below shows the salary for each region, and the way the AAMC categorizes each state.

Region	Northeast	Midwest	South	West
Salary	$59,072	$55,302	$53,557	$56,663
States	Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Maine Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Rhode Island Vermont	Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Michigan Minnesota Missouri Nebraska North Dakota Ohio South Dakota Wisconsin	Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi North Carolina Oklahoma Puerto Rico South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia	Alaska Arizona California Colorado Hawaii Idaho Montana Nevada New Mexico Oregon Utah Washington Wyoming

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