Surgery Residencies Continue to Grow in 2025 Match
March 25, 2025
Friday, March 21, US medical students learned where they matched. Breaking last year’s record, an all-time high 52,498 applicants registered in the 2025 Main Resident Match, representing a 4.1% increase since 2024.
The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) reported another large increase in non-US citizen international medical graduates (up 14.4%) and osteopathic seniors (up 4.5%), which drove much of the growth. The total number of certified residents grew to 47,208, which is a 5.3% increase against 2024.
The Match included 6,626 certified programs—another all-time high—offering 43,237 PGY-1 and PGY-2 training positions, including those offering two new specialties in Public Health and Preventative Medicine and Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The fill rate for all training positions was 94.3% (40,764) for all certified programs.
Surgery Specialties Remain Highly Competitive
Match data show that residencies in the surgical specialties are highly desirable, with fill rates of at least 98.9%.
|
Specialty |
Fill Rate |
Positions |
Unfilled Positions |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Orthopaedic Surgery |
100% |
929 |
0 |
|
Plastic Surgery (Integrated) |
100% |
221 |
0 |
|
Vascular Surgery |
100% |
102 |
0 |
|
Thoracic Surgery |
100% |
54 |
0 |
|
General Surgery |
99.8% |
1,778 |
4 |
|
Otolaryngology |
99.7% |
394 |
1 |
|
Obstetrics-Gynecology |
99.1% |
1,587 |
1 |
|
Neurological Surgery |
98.9% |
268 |
3 |
Despite the increase in positions, primary care saw some of the lowest fill rates, with Family Medicine at 85%, or 805 unfilled positions; Pediatrics at 95.3%, or 147 unfilled positions; and Internal Medicine at 96.7%, or 357 unfilled positions.
All Surgery Disciplines Grow, Led by General Surgery
The 2025 Match Day shows that available and filled positions for all surgical disciplines continue to grow. Available general surgery positions, in particular, have been rising steadily over the years, increasing 14% from 6 years ago. In 2020, 1,536 slots were offered, compared with 1,569 in 2021, 1,622 in 2022, 1670 in 2023, 1,717 in 2024, and 1,787 this year.
Match Day and growing the surgical workforce are areas of keen interest to the ACS. View Bulletin articles from the last 2 years to learn more:
- How Can AI Revolutionize the Match Day Process? (February 2025)
- Trends for 2024 Match Reveal More Applicants Interested in Surgery (June 2024)
- I Didn’t Match. What’s Next? (June 2024)
- Set Yourself Up for Success after Match Day (April 2023)
