2026 NRMP Match results for family medicine

Family medicine* offered 13.4% and filled 12% of the total positions. The overall fill rate (percentage of positions offered that were filled) in family medicine was 83.7%. The following is a breakdown by applicant type:

• 27.4% U.S. MD seniors (28.2% in 2025)
• 25.5% U.S. DO seniors (27.6% in 2024)
• 28.1% IMGs (10.6% U.S. citizen IMGs and 17.5% non-U.S. citizen IMGs)

*Includes family medicine-categorical, plus combined programs: emergency medicine-family medicine and psychiatry-family medicine.

Compared with 2025, family medicine residency programs in the 2026 NRMP Match:

• Offered 133 more positions (5,512 vs. 5,379)
• Matched 39 more students and graduates (4,613 vs. 4,574)
• Matched:
  • 7 fewer U.S. MD seniors (1,512 vs. 1,519)
  • 82 fewer U.S. DO seniors (1,404 vs. 1,486)
  • 41 fewer U.S. IMGs (585 vs. 626)
  • 161 more non-U.S. IMGs (962 vs. 801)
  • 6 more previous graduates of U.S. MD-granting schools (96 vs. 90)
  • 2 more previous graduates of DO-granting schools (54 vs. 52)
• The overall fill rate of 83.7% decreased from 85.0% the year prior and was the lowest fill rate since 2006.
• Family medicine matched (percentage of the total matched in any specialty for each applicant type):
  • 7.7% of all U.S. MD seniors (vs. 8.0% in 2025)
  • 17.7% of U.S. DO seniors (vs. 19.1% in 2025)
  • 19.8% of U.S. IMGs (vs. 20.1% in 2025)
  • 14.3% of non-U.S. IMGs (vs. 12.0% in 2024 and 2025)

Family medicine residency programs in the 2026 NRMP Match compared to 2025

The largest increase for family medicine over the past two years was in matched non-U.S. IMGs. Despite overall growth in the specialty, the number of positions filled with U.S. MD seniors remains 828 below the historical high of 2,340 in 1997, reflecting concerns with publicly funded U.S. medical education system’s ability to train physicians in the most-needed specialties.

The number of unfilled positions after the Main Residency Match and before the SOAP was 899, up 94 from 805 in 2025. In 2019, the number of unfilled positions started an eight-year run of consecutive increases from a previous average of 140 for most of the 2010s. Factors such as the consolidation of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Intern/Resident Registration Program with the NRMP Match, the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented growth in family medicine residency positions all likely contributed to the rise in unfilled positions. The vast majority of family medicine positions are filled by the time the new residency class begins each year, with most filled by the time Match Week concludes.

For example, only 52 positions remained after the SOAP in 2025. The family medicine workforce is growing at a time when family physicians are desperately needed. However, to improve pre-SOAP Match rates, the pace of applicants pursuing family medicine needs to increase in proportion to the growth in family medicine.

The number of unfilled positions in family medicine in 2026 (83.7%, 85% in 2025) reflects the lowest fill rate since 2006. Between 2003 and 2018, the family medicine fill rate went from a record low of 76.2% to a record high of 96.7%. The fill rates have declined since 2018.

Changing pathway into family medicine

The composition of family medicine matches has changed drastically over the last three decades. The fill rate in family medicine for U.S. MD seniors decreased drastically from the historical high in 1996 (72.6%) to the previous historical low in 2005 (40.7%). Over the last 24 years, it has fluctuated, reaching a high of 48.3% in 2012 and then taking a sharper downturn to 27.4% in 2026. These results reflect that the pursuit of family medicine careers among students at U.S. MD schools did not regain momentum after the decline of the late 1990s and early 2000s, despite family medicine’s record growth of the 2010s and early 2020s.

The trend among U.S. MD seniors is deeply concerning for the U.S. primary care workforce. It calls for U.S. MD medical schools to recruit and graduate more students who are likely to enter primary care specialties and practice in underserved areas.

Osteopathic students and graduates continue to make a strong contribution to the family medicine workforce, with a fill rate of (25.5%) despite having less than half (40%) of the number of total graduates matching. That composition has remained fairly steady in the 2020s after a sharp increase in the 2010s, partly due to AOA and NRMP Match consolidation. However, the percentage of U.S. DOs matching in family medicine (17.7%) has declined steadily over the same period, with a slightly sharper decline in the last three years.

Osteopathic schools continue to grow, with over 300 more DO students participating in the 2026 Match than the year prior. It is concerning that 2024, 2025 and 2026 had fewer total DO seniors matching in family medicine and a sharper decline in the percentage matching in family medicine. Family medicine remains a top specialty choice for DO-trained physicians.

Comparing the composition of applicants matched to all specialties with those matched to family medicine:

• U.S. MD seniors accounted for 51% of the total applicants who matched to all specialties in 2026 (19,567 of 38,354 total) but were a smaller percentage (32.8%) of applicants who matched in family medicine (1,512 of 4,613).
• U.S. DO seniors made up a significantly smaller portion (20.7%; 7,928) of the total applicants who matched to all specialties but had a higher percentage (30.4%) of applicants matched to family medicine (1,404) and an almost identical proportion to U.S. MD seniors.
• One-third (33.5%) of family medicine matches were IMGs. U.S. IMGs made up only 7.7% of total applicants matched (2,949) but 10.6% of family medicine matches (585). Non-U.S. IMGs matches increased overall by 80 in the 2026 NRMP Match and had the largest increase in family medicine. This applicant category accounted for 17.5% of family medicine matches and 14.3% of all matched non-U.S. IMGs matched in family medicine.

Family medicine residencies have continued to grow despite federal funding limitations and other policy and legislative threats. Family medicine had more programs than any other specialty in the 2026 NRMP Match. The size of the specialty and broad distribution of programs—which train residents in more rural and underserved communities than any other specialty—may contribute to the number of unfilled positions after the main NRMP Match. Continued growth is important to achieve the needed primary care workforce.

Among U.S. MD seniors, family medicine-categorical had the third highest number of applicants excluding preliminary and transitional positions. The only specialties with more U.S. MD senior applicants were internal medicine and anesthesiology.

Family medicine-categorical had the second highest number of applicants among U.S. DO seniors. Internal medicine had more applicants (2,431), which is a new emergence within the last few years.

Family medicine-categorical also had the second highest number of applicants among U.S. IMGs (1,206) and non-U.S. IMGs (2,804), although it is notable that non-U.S. IMGs had many more internal medicine-categorical applicants (7,764).

Family medicine, including categorical and combined programs, had the most programs in the Match (857), with residencies in communities of all sizes across the U.S.

*The NRMP defines an applicant as someone who submits a certified rank order list of programs. Applicant data will vary from those reported by the Association of American Medical Colleges, which reflects unique applicants in the Electronic Residency Application Service.

These results are a combination of all postgraduate year (PGY)-1 positions that result in eligibility for licensure and board certification in family medicine, which include family medicine-categorical and combined residency programs. The following is a breakdown by program type:

• 848 family medicine-categorical programs offered a total of 5,512 positions and filled 4,613. The overall fill rate for family medicine-categorical programs was 83.7%.
• 6 family medicine-psychiatry programs offered and filled 14 positions.
• 3 emergency medicine-family medicine programs offered and filled 7 positions.

A total of 41,126 PGY-1 positions were offered in all medical specialties in the 2026 NRMP Match, and 38,354 were filled. The following is a breakdown of filled positions by applicant type:

• 19,567 seniors in Liaison Committee on Medical Education-accredited U.S. schools of medicine (MD-granting)
• 7,928 seniors from Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation-accredited U.S. osteopathic colleges of medicine (DO-granting)
• 6,733 non-U.S. citizen seniors or previous graduates of international medical schools
• 2,949 U.S. citizen seniors or previous graduates of international medical schools
• 856 previous graduates of U.S. MD-granting schools
• 318 previous graduates of U.S. DO-granting schools
• 3 were from another pathway (e.g., Canadian, Fifth Pathway).

At the time of the NRMP’s Advance Data Tables release on Match Day, 2,772 Main Match positions were unfilled.

Compared with the 2025 NRMP Match:

• Medicine-primary (primary care internal medicine) filled 21 more positions in 2026 (421 vs. 400) and matched 244 U.S. MD seniors and 36 U.S. DO seniors.
• Medicine-pediatrics (med-peds) filled 9 more positions in 2025 (404 vs. 395) and matched 325 U.S. MD seniors and 53 U.S. DO seniors.
• Pediatrics-primary (primary care pediatrics) filled the same number of positions in 2026 as in 2025 (55) and matched 17 U.S. MD seniors and 5 U.S. DO seniors.

In the 2026 NRMP Match:

• Primary care* positions were 15.6% of the positions offered overall (6,413) and 14.3% of the positions filled overall (5,493).
• Of primary care positions, family medicine accounted for 85.6% of the positions offered and 83.7% of the positions filled.
• Primary care residency programs filled with U.S. MD seniors at a rate of 32.7% (2,098), down significantly from an average of 49.6% between 2014 and 2018.
• Of the U.S. MD seniors matched, 10.7% were in primary care residencies.
• Primary care residency programs filled with U.S. DO seniors at a rate of 23.3% (1,498).
• Of the U.S. DO seniors matched, 18.9% were in primary care residencies, which is a significantly higher fill rate than U.S. MD seniors.

*Defined as family medicine-categorical and combined programs, internal medicine-primary, internal medicine-pediatrics and pediatrics-primary.

In total, 167 more positions were offered in primary care specialties in 2026 than in 2025. Family medicine positions are responsible for almost the entirety of that growth. These results show a year-over-year increase of 2.6% in the number of positions offered in primary care specialties, closely aligning with the increase in positions (2.64%) across all specialties.

The AAFP uses a narrower definition of primary care specialties than the NRMP and many medical schools. Family medicine residency graduates practice primary care at a higher rate (more than 90%) than any other medical specialty. Studies show that most graduates of internal medicine programs subspecialize and do not practice primary care, and close to half of graduates of pediatrics residencies practice primary care. Both internal medicine and pediatrics have a category of dedicated primary care positions, which the AAFP includes in this analysis. Although many internal medicine-pediatrics combined program graduates go on to subspecialize, the AAFP includes these positions because they are also a training pathway to primary care.

This count has some inflation by including positions that will not contribute to the primary care workforce, yet it is much less inflated than the definition used by the NRMP and many medical schools.

Two significant procedural changes to the NRMP Match process affect historical data from the NRMP because they resulted in variances that do not represent the true change in physician workforce trends.

Single accreditation system: From 2014 to 2020, the U.S. graduate medical education system shifted to a single accreditation system under the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The 2020 NRMP Match was the first year in which there was no AOA Intern/Resident Registration Program. This means that a portion of the family medicine growth in the NRMP Match does not reflect new training positions but rather the shift from one matching program to another.

The United States is the only country that trains osteopathic physicians; therefore, the AOA Match did not include IMGs.

The NRMP’s All In Policy: This policy, instituted in 2013, changed how programs offered their positions by requiring programs that had previously only offered a portion of their positions in the NRMP Match to offer all their positions in the Match. Again, some of the overall increases and family medicine increases in the years since 2013 have resulted from a shift in how positions are filled rather than from new training opportunities or an increasing workforce.

More on the family medicine and primary care workforce

The NRMP Match is the largest and most representative mechanism for medical student recruitment into specialized medical residencies in the United States and, as such, serves as a barometer of workforce production.

However, NRMP Match results are not comprehensive of all entry into GME in the United States. The NRMP Match is not the only mechanism through which medical students or graduates are matched with their required GME or residency programs in a specialized field that leads to board certification in a medical specialty (or multiple specialties). Other matching services (e.g., the annual Military Match) and private arrangements outside of the Match also fill residency openings. The results published on Match Day each year also exclude the SOAP.