Among the highlights from this year’s Main Residency Match were the continued record-breaking program participation, more primary care positions and strength in psychiatry positions.
The 2026 Main Residency Match® was again the largest in the program’s 74-year history, with 44,344 total positions offered—up 2.6% over 2025, which was until this year the highest. There were 1,107 more certified positions offered this year compared with last year, 183 more certified programs and 412 more positions in primary care.
The total number of applicants also was up: 53,373 applicants registered for the Match, 875 more than last year. Among those applicants, 48,050 submitted a certified Match rank-order list.
According to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), some of the main points in the results included that 79.8% of the certified applicants matched to PGY-1 positions and 93.3% of the PGY-1 positions were filled. Here’s a breakdown of applicant PGY-1 match rates:
- 93.5% of U.S. MD seniors matched, the same rate as in 2024 and 2025.
- 93.2% of U.S. DO seniors matched, up 0.6% from 2025.
- 70% of U.S. citizen international medical graduates (IMGs) matched, up 2.2% from last year.
- 56.4% of non-U.S. citizen IMGs matched, a 1.6% decline.
“Match Day represents an extraordinary moment for future physicians,” said NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, BSN. “We are proud to see the Main Residency Match welcoming more positions and securing more training opportunities for applicants as they take the next step in their medical careers and begin practicing in communities across the nation.”
Read this Leadership Viewpoints column by AMA President Bobby Mukkamala, MD, for his reflections on why Match Day holds the promise of our profession.
Primary care positions up
As the nation faces a worsening physician shortage, particularly in primary care, slots for family medicine, internal medicine, internal medicine-pediatrics and pediatrics rose, offering a total of 20,712 positions. That was 412 more than last year, and it marks a new high. Primary care specialties, collectively, achieved a fill rate of 92.1%, a decrease of 1.4% from 2025.
Some highlights:
- Of the 11,632 positions in internal medicine—280 more than last year—there was a 95.2% fill rate, representing a decrease of 1.6 percentage points from 2025.
- Pediatrics offered eight fewer positions this year, with a total of 3,185 categorical and primary positions. The specialty had a 94.4% fill rate, down 0.9 percentage points from last year.
- Family medicine added 134 positions this year for a total of 5,491. The specialty filled 83.6% of the positions, down from last year’s 85% fill rate. Despite the decline, the total number of applicants matching this year is higher than in 2025.
Strength in psychiatry
In 2026, there were 2,516 positions offered in psychiatry programs, an increase of 128 positions. The psychiatry fill rate was 97.4%, with 71 more positions filled than last year. The number of programs also rose by 30 over 2025’s figures.
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The NRMP noted in a news release that match rates for U.S. DO seniors and nonU.S. citizen IMGs in psychiatry have shown a steady upward trend over the past five years, while match rates for U.S. MD seniors have been relatively stable over the same period.
Emergency medicine increasing
After emergency medicine saw more than 500 unfilled positions in the 2023 Match, for an 81.8% fill rate, the specialty saw a 97.9% fill rate in 2025 and a 95.6% fill rate in 2026. While the fill rate declined slightly from last year, the number of offered positions (3,198) rose by 130. And a total of 3,058 applicants matched into emergency medicine programs in 2026, representing a 1.8% uptick.
IMG data reveals visa questions
While PGY-1 match rates among non-U.S. citizen IMGs typically are reported in aggregate, the NRMP offered a breakdown of the differences between applicants who require visa sponsorship and those who do not.
According to 2026 data from the NRMP, non-U.S. citizen IMGs who required visa sponsorship had a 54.4% PGY-1 match rate, a five-year low, compared with the 67.9% match rate for non-citizen permanent legal U.S. resident IMGs (who did not require sponsorship), a five-year high. The highest match rate for non-U.S. citizen IMGs requiring a visa, 59.1%, occurred in 2023, while the match rate for non-U.S. citizen IMGs not requiring a visa peaked this year.
“These data highlight how broader policy conditions could shape future Match outcomes for non-U.S. citizen IMG candidates and inform future recruitment strategies of programs,” the NRMP said in its annual Match Day news release.
Earlier this week, the AMA applauded the introduction of bipartisan legislation to exempt physicians and other health professionals from the $100,000 filing fee on new H-1B visa petitions. The bill aligns with the AMA’s efforts to build and maintain a strong health care workforce to serve the needs of all patients.
Increase in unmatched applicants
Applicants who did not match to a residency position through the Main Residency Match had the opportunity to take part in the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP). This year, 2,862 positions in 941 programs remained unfilled, an increase of 389 positions compared with 2025. Of the applicants this year, 9,696 were unmatched; that’s up by 155 applicants over 2025.
This year, 2,581 positions were placed in SOAP, including positions in programs that did not participate in the algorithm phase of the Match. That’s 330 more unfilled positions than last year. SOAP results will be available in the full Match report published later this spring.
If neither Match nor SOAP landed you the residency position you were hoping for, check out this great advice about three things to do if you don’t match.
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