Resident physicians and fellows, like all Americans, have experienced the impact of rising prices, with the annual U.S. inflation rate hovering around 3% for 2025. A recently published report drawing on stipend data of more than 100,000 residents and fellows shows that their pay this year has not kept up, growing at 2.2%—the slowest rate of pay growth seen for physicians in training in four years.
After adjusting the average stipend amount to account for the rise in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, resident and fellow physician pay fell slightly—a 0.48% drop from 2024 to 2025. That data comes from the 2025 “Survey of Resident/Fellow Stipends and Benefits Report,” recently released by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
The AAMC has published the results of the survey since 1968 to provide benchmarking data. In odd-numbered years, the survey is a shorter version that does not include questions about resident and fellow benefits and focuses only on stipend information.
The 2025 report, issued in November, includes data from 350 nonprofit institutions accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and 114,361 residents and fellows—information that was as of July 1, 2025.
Variation by program year
From the first year of residency training to the last years of fellowship training, the average amount of stipend offered by training institutions grows by more than $25,000. The 2025 AAMC survey found that the nationwide, unweighted average stipends for residents and fellows were as follows:
- Program year 1—$68,166.
- Program year 2—$70,499.
- Program year 3—$73,301.
- Program year 4—$77,593.
- Program year 5—$81,807.
- Program year 6—$84,744.
- Program year 7—$89,187.
- Program year 8—$94,215.
Unweighted averages were ones in which every institution held the same weight, regardless of the physician training program’s size.
In the previous five years, the size of the average resident-and-fellow stipend has gone up by different amounts. The percentage increases seen, by year, in unweighted average stipends for program year 1 residents and fellows were:
- 2025—2.2%.
- 2024—4.6%.
- 2023—4.7%.
- 2022—2.8%.
- 2021—0.6%.
AMA policy supports “adequate compensation and benefits that provide for resident well-being and health.” Find out more with the AMA Residents and Fellows' Bill of Rights.
Little variation by specialty
The vast majority of institutions—96.9%—offered the same base stipends across all specialties, and 71.1% of institutions provided higher stipends to chief residents. The average additional amount paid to chief residents, when they received higher stipends that were a set amount, was $5,071.
The survey showed that 47—or, 13.5%—of institutions gave higher stipends to some residents and fellows other than chief residents. In these circumstances, the most common reason given for the higher stipend was that the resident or fellow was faculty, with 21.3% of these institutions reporting that as being the case. Respondents could select more than one answer.
The other most commonly cited reasons for paying a higher stipend were that the resident or fellow:
- Had prior graduate medical education experience—12.8%.
- Had an H1-B visa—10.6%.
- Served as a residency association officer—8.5%.
Meanwhile, 61.7% of respondents cited “other” reasons for the higher stipends.
While the salary differences are clear, residents and fellows also often receive fewer benefits than do practicing physicians. Read more about the types of benefits that physicians in training typically get.
Dive deeper:
- You made it—will your wallet? How to budget in physician residency
- Why child care costs have resident physician parents seeing red
- Resident physician in the big city? You may need a roommate—or four
- How far will your money go in residency? It depends on where you train
Changes by organization type, region
Though stipends were similar, the amounts varied slightly by type of training institution, with programs in general and specialty hospitals offering the highest stipends.
The unweighted averages for each type of training institution, from the first year of training to the eighth, were:
- Medical schools—$67,899 to $90,855.
- General hospitals and specialty hospitals—$68,308 to $96,112.
- Health systems and consortiums—$67,657 to $94,009.
The 2025 AAMC survey also breaks down average stipend amounts across four regions of the country, which, like the cost of living in those geographic areas, varies. The weighted averages for each region, from the first year of training to the eighth, were:
- Northeast—$74,994 to $107,287.
- Southern—$65,076 to $86,768.
- Central—$68,580 to $91,134.
- Western—$77,649 to $107,587.
For financial advice in residency and fellowship training, AMA members can access help in various ways with Laurel Road, an FDIC-insured digital banking platform. Laurel Road also offers a range of customized lending solutions to help physicians run and maintain their practice.
Among other things, AMA members can schedule a free, 30-minute session with a Laurel Road student-loan expert to explore their student-loan repayment or forgiveness options.
