How Much Do Resident Doctors Make? (By Year and Specialty)

You’ve finally made it through medical school, matched into a residency program, and are ready to start earning your first real paycheck as a doctor. But how much do residents actually make?

According to the 2025 Medscape Resident Salary & Debt Report, the average medical resident earns approximately $75,000 per year. But there’s a lot more to it than that.

In this guide, we’ll break down resident salaries by year and specialty, explore what your hourly wage looks like, and show you how resident pay has evolved.

How Much Do Resident Doctors Make?

While resident salaries have been climbing steadily, here’s how the numbers have evolved:

This represents steady growth over the past decade, but the numbers tell a more complicated story when adjusted for inflation. A resident earning $55,400 in 2015 would need to earn $77,464 today just to maintain the same purchasing power. At $75,000, the average resident salary still falls short of that threshold. Despite ten years of nominal increases, residents are actually earning less in real terms than they were a decade ago.

In fact, the 2025 Medscape Resident Salary & Debt Report found that 95% of residents believe most residents aren’t paid enough, a sentiment that has only grown stronger as compensation continues to lag behind inflation. And it’s hard to argue with that sentiment when you consider the grueling reality of residency life, which can require 80+ hour workweeks.

How Much Do Resident Doctors Make Per Hour?

The hourly rate tells a different story. While the 2025 average of $75,000 might sound reasonable, residents often work far more than a standard 40-hour week.

According to Medscape, 79% of residents worked with patients for more than 40 hours per week, and 22% saw patients for more than 70 hours a week. Here’s what those hours mean for your paycheck:

• Working 50 hours per week: approximately $29 per hour
• Working 60 hours per week: approximately $24 per hour
• Working 70 hours per week: approximately $21 per hour
• Working 80 hours per week: approximately $18 per hour
• Working 85+ hours per week: approximately $17 per hour

The ACGME officially limits residents to 80 hours per week, averaged over four weeks. But, in reality, this limit is often exceeded. As Dayna Isaacs, MD, MPH, an oncology/hematology fellow in California, told Medscape, “Despite our crucial role in patient care, hospitals often perceive us more as students rather than essential employees, when it comes to compensation and benefits.”

This disconnect is particularly striking when you consider that residents are making life-or-death decisions while earning less per hour than many retail workers.

The paradox of being trusted with someone’s life but not trusted with fair compensation creates a unique form of professional frustration that’s hard to find in other fields.

How Much Do Residents Make by Year?

Resident salaries increase incrementally each year of training, but not by much. Residency length is determined by medical specialty. For example, at the shortest end is family medicine, which lasts 3 years, and at the other end is neurosurgery, which lasts at least 7 years, which is quite a long time to make a resident’s salary.

Here’s the breakdown by training year.

The progression shows incremental growth throughout training, with pay holding flat between years one and two before climbing through the third year and beyond. The most significant jump occurs between the third and fourth years, where salary increases by $7,000, reflecting the greater autonomy and responsibility that come with more advanced training. Residents in longer specialties, such as neurosurgery or plastic surgery, who reach years four through eight earn the same average as their peers in that range.

The increases aren’t massive, but when you’re working 60-80 hours per week and trying to make minimum payments on six-figure student loans, every extra thousand dollars makes a difference.

The real challenge arises with more extended residencies.

Take neurosurgery residents, who endure 7 years of residency training after medical school. If you start medical school at 22, graduate at 26, and then spend 7 years in residency, you’re 33 before you see your first paycheck as an attending physician. That’s seven years of earning resident-level wages while your college friends in other fields have been climbing corporate ladders and building wealth.

How Much Do Resident Doctors Make by Specialty?

While most residency programs pay similar amounts during the first year (PGY-1), there are some variations by specialty. However, detailed specialty-specific salary data for residents is limited, as most recent surveys focus on overall averages rather than breaking down pay by field.

It’s important to note that resident salary differences are relatively small, typically ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 across specialties. The significant salary differences occur after residency, when specialists average $200,000 or more per year, compared to primary care physicians.

Additionally, these variations reflect the different training stages included in the averages. For example, some specialty salaries include residents in PGY-4, PGY-5, or higher, while primary care salaries include only residents in PGY-1 through PGY-3, who typically have lower yearly salaries.

FAQ About Resident Doctor Pay

How much do first-year resident doctors make?

First-year residents typically earn around $68,000 annually, according to 2025 data. This is the baseline salary that increases incrementally as residents progress in their training.

How much do resident doctors make per hour?

Depending on the hours worked, the hourly rate varies significantly. For example, working a 50-hour workweek equals about $29 per hour, while working an 80-hour workweek, which can be typical for some demanding specialties, drops to just $18 per hour.

This wide variation occurs because residents are paid a set salary, regardless of the number of hours they work.

Are resident doctors underpaid?

95% of residents surveyed believe residents aren’t paid enough.

The demanding nature of residency training, including overnight calls, back-to-back shifts, and the high level of responsibility, contributes to this widespread feeling of being undercompensated.

Many Target workers who earn $15 to $24 per hour make more than doctors in training. This creates the “cheap labor” problem in medicine. Hospitals can use residents as inexpensive labor under the guise of training, even though residents provide care comparable to that of mid-level providers who earn significantly more.

This financial burden is crushing. The average student debt upon graduating from medical school is over $260,000, and that number grows with monthly interest.

How much do residents make compared to fully trained doctors?

The difference is substantial. At $75,000 per year, residents earn only 25% of what licensed primary care physicians earn and just 16% of what licensed specialists make per year, according to the 2025 Doximity Physician Compensation Report.

For context, primary care physicians average around $295,000 annually, while specialists average $470,000, and surgical subspecialties push considerably higher, with neurosurgery topping out at $749,000. The light at the end of the tunnel is significant, but the journey through residency requires financial planning and often debt accumulation.

What Does This Mean for You?

Think of residency as your financial apprenticeship. Every shift you work is building toward attending-level compensation, which will place you in the top tier of earners. Residents who set themselves up for long-term success use these years to master both medicine and financial management.

Your strategy? Live modestly now, make smart financial moves with your loans, and remember that this phase has a clear endpoint. While the hours are demanding and the pay feels modest, you’re investing in a career that offers both purpose and financial security that few professions can match.

Want to learn more about the financial journey of becoming a doctor? Check out our guides on How Much Do Doctors Make by Specialty and Why Are So Many Doctors Broke? to get the complete picture of physician compensation.