Orthopaedic Surgery
Operative management of musculoskeletal injury and disease.
Orthopaedic surgeons handle joint replacement, fracture fixation, sports injuries, spine pathology, hand and upper extremity, foot and ankle, oncology, and pediatric orthopaedics. Procedurally satisfying, technically demanding, and uses physical principles you can see and feel. Almost everyone subspecializes.
Lifestyle & practice
Resident hours 70 to 80, attending 50 to 60. Compensation among the highest in medicine ($550k to $750k+ generalist, often $700k to $900k+ for spine and joints in private practice).
Common fellowship paths
- Residency length
- 5 years
- Median comp
- $550k to $750k
- Match rate (MD seniors)
- Highly competitive, top scores
High-signal external links curated for residents and applicants.
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons ↗
Specialty society. Annual meeting, OrthoInfo, JAAOS journal.
- OrthoBullets ↗
Structured topic-based study tool used by virtually all residents.
- Orthopod podcast ↗
AAOS official podcast.
- Orthopaedic Surgery forum (SDN) ↗
Long-running medical career forum with active specialty subforums.
Positions
916
All applicants
1448
Seats / app
0.63
From NRMP Charting Outcomes 2024 (most recent biennial publication). Source PDFs: MD Seniors / DO Seniors / IMG. NRMP publishes Charting Outcomes every other year, so this should refresh in early 2026 with the 2025 cycle data.
| Pool | Step 1 | Step 2 | Pubs | Research | AOA % | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MD_seniors | 244 | 257 | 23.8 | 8.1 | 34.2 | 587 |
| DO_seniors | 239 | 251 | 11.2 | 5.1 | — | 93 |
| US_IMG | 222 | 243 | 30.3 | 19.0 | — | 3 |
| Non_US_IMG | 244 | 247 | 38.6 | 3.0 | — | 1 |
Per-applicant-type match rates and mean Step scores published by NRMP every two years. Each row is one applicant pool in one cycle. Step scores reflect what matched applicants in that cycle achieved, not what programs require today.
| Year | Type | Match rate | Matched (n) | Step 1 | Step 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | MD_Senior | 74.3% | 587 | 244 | 257 |
| 2024 | DO_Senior | 45.4% | 93 | 239 | 251 |
| 2024 | IMG | 15.8% | 3 | — | 243 |
| 2022 | MD_Senior | 65.9% | 574 | 248 | 256 |
| 2022 | IMG | 26.1% | 6 | 245 | 255 |
| 2020 | MD_Senior | 80.2% | 645 | 248 | 255 |
| 2020 | DO_Senior | 66.9% | 109 | 242 | 250 |
| 2018 | MD_Senior | 83.7% | 678 | 248 | 255 |
| 2018 | IMG | 40.9% | 9 | 239 | 245 |
| Pool | Share |
|---|---|
| MD_seniors | 83.1% |
| DO_seniors | 14.1% |
| US_IMG | 1.8% |
| Non_US_IMG | 1.0% |