Residency Positions Trend 2021–2025
How has the residency landscape changed over the past five years? This dataset tracks positions offered across all medical specialties from 2021 to 2025, revealing which areas of medicine are expanding and which are contracting.
40,041
PGY-1 Positions (2025)
+13.8%
5-Year Growth
16
Growing Specialties
2
Declining Specialties
Position Trends Over Time
Compare position growth across specialties. Select up to 10 specialties to visualize their trajectory from 2021 to 2025. The default view shows the five largest PGY-1 specialties by positions offered.
Select specialties to compare (max 10):
Complete Data Table
Positions offered by year for all specialties and position types. Click any column header to sort. The "Trend" column indicates whether the NRMP flagged a significant change over the 5-year period.
Specialty | Type | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internal Medicine (Categorical) | PGY-1 | 10,941 | 10,261 | 9,725 | 9,380 | 9,024 | ↑ Growing |
| Family Medicine | PGY-1 | 5,357 | 5,213 | 5,088 | 4,916 | 4,823 | ↑ Growing |
| Pediatrics (Categorical) | PGY-1 | 3,135 | 3,078 | 2,986 | 2,942 | 2,901 | — Stable |
| Emergency Medicine | PGY-1 | 3,068 | 3,026 | 3,010 | 2,921 | 2,840 | — Stable |
| Psychiatry | PGY-1 | 2,388 | 2,261 | 2,164 | 2,047 | 1,907 | ↑ Growing |
| Transitional (PGY-1 Only) | PGY-1 | 1,860 | 1,747 | 1,736 | 1,616 | 1,497 | ↑ Growing |
| Anesthesiology | PGY-1 | 1,805 | 1,695 | 1,609 | 1,509 | 1,460 | ↑ Growing |
| Surgery (Categorical) | PGY-1 | 1,778 | 1,717 | 1,670 | 1,622 | 1,569 | ↑ Growing |
| Medicine-Preliminary (PGY-1 Only) | PGY-1 | 1,600 | 1,640 | 1,715 | 1,774 | 1,833 | ↓ Declining |
| Obstetrics-Gynecology | PGY-1 | 1,587 | 1,539 | 1,503 | 1,503 | 1,460 | — Stable |
| Surgery-Preliminary (PGY-1 Only) | PGY-1 | 1,194 | 1,152 | 1,133 | 1,150 | 1,136 | — Stable |
| Radiology-Diagnostic | PGY-2 | 1,057 | 1,017 | 1,006 | 997 | 986 | — Stable |
| Neurology | PGY-1 | 932 | 878 | 846 | 772 | 715 | ↑ Growing |
| Orthopaedic Surgery | PGY-1 | 929 | 916 | 899 | 875 | 868 | — Stable |
| Pathology | PGY-1 | 622 | 628 | 613 | 631 | 611 | — Stable |
| Dermatology | PGY-2 | 524 | 517 | 499 | 492 | 477 | — Stable |
| Medicine-Primary | PGY-1 | 411 | 420 | 453 | 429 | 441 | — Stable |
| Medicine-Pediatrics | PGY-1 | 398 | 390 | 392 | 392 | 385 | — Stable |
| Otolaryngology | PGY-1 | 394 | 382 | 373 | 361 | 350 | ↑ Growing |
| Physical Medicine & Rehab | PGY-2 | 334 | 336 | 325 | 338 | 327 | — Stable |
| Anesthesiology | PGY-2 | 311 | 305 | 301 | 346 | 339 | — Stable |
| Neurological Surgery | PGY-1 | 268 | 241 | 243 | 240 | 234 | ↑ Growing |
| Physical Medicine & Rehab | PGY-1 | 240 | 219 | 206 | 180 | 157 | ↑ Growing |
| Neurology | PGY-2 | 228 | 225 | 218 | 233 | 254 | ↓ Declining |
| Plastic Surgery (Integrated) | PGY-1 | 221 | 213 | 207 | 194 | 187 | ↑ Growing |
| Child Neurology | PGY-1 | 195 | 184 | 177 | 166 | 159 | ↑ Growing |
| Radiation Oncology | PGY-2 | 179 | 175 | 181 | 166 | 173 | — Stable |
| Anesthesiology | Physician | 152 | 135 | 137 | 114 | 94 | ↑ Growing |
| Radiology-Diagnostic | PGY-1 | 151 | 145 | 143 | 132 | 122 | ↑ Growing |
| Interventional Radiology (Integrated) | PGY-2 | 150 | 137 | 125 | 123 | 121 | ↑ Growing |
| Vascular Surgery | PGY-1 | 102 | 100 | 93 | 84 | 79 | ↑ Growing |
| Public Health and Preventive Medicine | Physician | 65 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — Stable |
| Pediatrics-Primary | PGY-1 | 58 | 61 | 60 | 74 | 75 | ↓ Declining |
| Thoracic Surgery | PGY-1 | 54 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 46 | — Stable |
| Interventional Radiology (Integrated) | PGY-1 | 52 | 51 | 51 | 45 | 41 | ↑ Growing |
| Medicine-Emergency Med | PGY-1 | 34 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 | — Stable |
| Occupational & Environmental Med | Physician | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — Stable |
| Dermatology | PGY-1 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 30 | 30 | — Stable |
| Peds/Psych/Child Psych | PGY-1 | 29 | 28 | 26 | 21 | 21 | — Stable |
| Pediatrics-Medical Genetics | PGY-1 | 28 | 31 | 25 | 30 | 27 | — Stable |
| Radiology-Diagnostic | Physician | 28 | 24 | 27 | 26 | 31 | — Stable |
| Medicine-Psychiatry | PGY-1 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 24 | 24 | — Stable |
| Osteo Neuromusculoskeletal Med | PGY-1 | 25 | 24 | 22 | 16 | 12 | ↑ Growing |
| Pediatrics-Preliminary | PGY-1 | 25 | 21 | 21 | 23 | 24 | — Stable |
| Neurology | Physician | 25 | 23 | 27 | 9 | 21 | — Stable |
| Child Neurology | Physician | 24 | 22 | 26 | 15 | 20 | — Stable |
| Dermatology | Physician | 20 | 29 | 16 | 22 | 20 | — Stable |
| OB/GYN-Preliminary (PGY-1 Only) | PGY-1 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | — Stable |
| Psychiatry-Family Medicine | PGY-1 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | — Stable |
| Radiation Oncology | PGY-1 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 15 | — Stable |
| Interventional Radiology (Integrated) | Physician | 11 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | — Stable |
| Physical Medicine & Rehab | Physician | 11 | 22 | 23 | 14 | 15 | — Stable |
| Radiation Oncology | Physician | 9 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 5 | — Stable |
| Medicine-Dermatology | PGY-1 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | — Stable |
| Medicine-Preventive Med | PGY-1 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 5 | — Stable |
| Pediatrics-Emergency Med | PGY-1 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | — Stable |
| Child Neurology | PGY-2 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | — Stable |
| Osteo Neuromusculoskeletal Med | Physician | 8 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | — Stable |
| Emergency Med-Family Med | PGY-1 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | — Stable |
| Neurodevelopmental Disabilities | PGY-1 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | — Stable |
| Pediatrics-Anesthesiology | PGY-1 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | — Stable |
| Public Health and Preventive Medicine | PGY-2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — Stable |
| Medicine-Medical Genetics | PGY-1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | — Stable |
| Pediatrics-P M & R | PGY-1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — Stable |
| Psychiatry-Neurology | PGY-1 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | — Stable |
| Occupational & Environmental Med | PGY-2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — Stable |
| Nuclear Medicine | PGY-2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | — Stable |
| Neurodevelopmental Disabilities | PGY-2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | — Stable |
| Radiology-Nuclear Med | PGY-2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | — Stable |
| Emergency Med-Anesthesiology | PGY-1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | — Stable |
| Family Med-Preventive Med | PGY-1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | — Stable |
| Medicine-Anesthesiology | PGY-1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | — Stable |
| Osteo Neuromusculoskeletal Med | PGY-2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | — Stable |
| Neurodevelopmental Disabilities | Physician | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — Stable |
| Radiology-Nuclear Med | Physician | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — Stable |
Key Takeaways
- Overall PGY-1 positions grew 13.8% from 2021 to 2025 (35,194 to 40,041), reflecting continued expansion of graduate medical education.
- Physical Medicine & Rehab grew 52.9% over 5 years, from 157 to 240 positions.
- Neurology grew 30.3% over 5 years, from 715 to 932 positions.
- Vascular Surgery grew 29.1% over 5 years, from 79 to 102 positions.
- 16 specialties showed significant growth while 2 showed declining positions, suggesting a broad expansion of residency training capacity.
Data Source
Data is derived from NRMP Main Residency Match reports published annually from 2021 through 2025. "Significant Change" designations reflect whether the specialty showed a notable directional trend over the period as indicated in the source data.