General surgery statistics show a large and growing professional community, very high residency match rates, uneven geographic supply, and substantial demand for surgical care. The figures below cover professional membership, training, employment, rural access, compensation, and Medicare data collection, with measurement periods stated for each source.
Contents
- Professional membership
- Residency positions and training
- Workforce supply and rural access
- Employment and compensation
- Training infrastructure and pipeline
- Rural residency investment
- Medicare global surgery measurement
Professional membership
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) reported 93,512 total members in 2024–2025. General surgeons accounted for 51,306 members, or 58% of the organization’s membership, making general surgery its largest stated membership group in these figures. The ACS also reported 67,560 Fellows, 15,883 residents, and 6,321 medical students during the same 2024–2025 period. (ACS Annual Report 2024–2025.)
The membership total was slightly higher than the prior year: ACS membership rose from 93,251 in 2024 to 93,512 in 2025. General surgery membership also increased from 47,654 in 2024 to 51,306 in 2024–2025. Because the report presents these figures across its annual reporting periods, they describe reported membership totals rather than a national census of every general surgeon. (ACS Annual Report 2024–2025.)
New-member activity added another view of the profession’s scale. The ACS welcomed 2,122 new Fellows in 2025, 2,697 new Resident Members in 2024–2025, and 1,806 new Medical Student Members in 2024–2025. These counts describe additions to ACS membership, not necessarily the number of people entering general surgery employment or residency nationally. (ACS Annual Report 2024–2025.)
The ACS reported 124 chapters worldwide in 2025 and members in 93 countries. Those geographic figures indicate the organization’s international reach; they should not be read as counts of surgical facilities, national workforces, or operating rooms. (ACS Annual Report 2024–2025.)
Residency positions and training
The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) reported 1,778 Surgery: Categorical positions offered in the 2025 Main Residency Match. Of those positions, 1,774 were filled, representing 99.8% of the positions offered. In the 2024 Main Residency Match, 1,717 positions were offered, 1,712 were filled, and the fill rate was 99.7%.
The recent NRMP figures show consistently strong filling of categorical surgery positions:
| Match year | Positions offered | Positions filled | Fill rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,778 | 1,774 | 99.8% |
| 2024 | 1,717 | 1,712 | 99.7% |
| 2023 | 1,670 | Not reported in the supplied figure | 99.8% |
| 2022 | 1,622 | Not reported in the supplied figure | 99.8% |
| 2021 | 1,569 | Not reported in the supplied figure | 99.7% |
The 2023 Main Residency Match offered 1,670 Surgery: Categorical positions and reported a 99.8% fill rate. The 2022 match offered 1,622 positions and also reported a 99.8% fill rate. The 2021 match offered 1,569 positions with a 99.7% fill rate. The supplied NRMP figures do not provide filled-position counts for those three years, so the percentages are presented without deriving counts. (NRMP 2025 Main Residency Match.)
Across the period shown, the number of offered categorical positions increased from 1,569 in 2021 to 1,778 in 2025. That is a reported change in positions offered, not a projection of future residency capacity and not a measure of the total number of practicing general surgeons. (NRMP 2025 Main Residency Match.)
Workforce supply and rural access
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) estimated a national average supply of 6.40 general surgeons per 100,000 population. Its geographic estimates varied considerably: large rural areas had 7.71 general surgeons per 100,000 population, urban areas had 6.53, and small or isolated rural areas had 4.67. These are modeled or estimated supply rates, so they should not be interpreted as a direct count of every clinician available for every type of operation. (HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce.)
| Area | Estimated general surgeons per 100,000 population |
|---|---|
| National average | 6.40 |
| Large rural areas | 7.71 |
| Urban areas | 6.53 |
| Small or isolated rural areas | 4.67 |
The contrast between large rural areas and small or isolated rural areas is important when discussing access. A rural label does not describe one uniform level of supply: HRSA’s estimates distinguish larger rural communities from smaller or isolated ones. The lowest listed rate, 4.67 per 100,000, applies to small or isolated rural areas, while the highest listed rate, 7.71, applies to large rural areas. (HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce.)
HRSA also found that per-capita use of general surgeons among Medicare beneficiaries was 13.1% higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Its general-surgery demand model classified this 13.1% difference as a rural demand uplift relative to urban areas. Higher use does not by itself establish why the difference occurs, and it does not mean that every rural community has higher local availability. (HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce.)
The agency modeled a 910 full-time-equivalent increase in demand for general surgeons in rural areas because of shortages of specialist surgeons. The model used county-level population projections from 2023 through 2038 and began with 2023 supply and demand starting points. These dates matter: the 910 FTE figure is a modeled demand result connected to the projection framework, not a historical count of hires. (HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce.)
HRSA’s rural general-surgery workforce work was tied to Senate Report 115-289 and a congressional request for shortage analysis. The policy context explains why the estimates focus on rural supply, demand, and shortages rather than solely on national membership or employment totals. (HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce.)
Employment and compensation
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported 49,380 employed surgeons in May 2025. For surgeons, BLS reported a median annual wage of $364,360 and a mean hourly wage of $175.17. These occupational figures are not limited to general surgeons, so they should be kept separate from HRSA’s general-surgery-specific supply estimates. (BLS OEWS May 2025.)
BLS separately reported 1,190 employed pediatric surgeons in May 2025. Pediatric surgeons had a median annual wage of $502,050 and a mean hourly wage of $241.37. BLS also reported 25,140 employed surgeons, all other, with a median annual wage of $373,930 and a mean hourly wage of $179.78. The categories are occupational classifications and are not interchangeable with the ACS membership category of general surgeons. (BLS OEWS May 2025.)
| BLS occupational category | Employed, May 2025 | Median annual wage | Mean hourly wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surgeons | 49,380 | $364,360 | $175.17 |
| Pediatric surgeons | 1,190 | $502,050 | $241.37 |
| Surgeons, all other | 25,140 | $373,930 | $179.78 |
In its Occupational Outlook Handbook, BLS reported that physicians and surgeons held about 839,000 jobs in 2024. The same source projected 3% employment growth from 2024 to 2034 and about 23,600 openings per year, on average, over that period. Those projections cover physicians and surgeons as a broad occupational group, not general surgery alone. (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.)
Training infrastructure and pipeline
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Data Resource Book for 2024–2025 reported 13,762 total accredited programs and 5,622 total pipeline programs. The ACGME also reported 47,208 certified residents in 2024–2025, up 5.3% from 2024, in a 2025 news release. These totals describe the graduate medical education system broadly; they are not a general-surgery-only resident count. (ACGME Data Resource Book 2024–2025; ACGME news release 2025.)
The 2024–2025 ACGME Data Resource Book reported that 2,531 residents left their programs in 2023–2024. The supplied figure does not state whether those departures were concentrated in general surgery or distributed across specialties, so it is best used as a system-level training statistic. (ACGME Data Resource Book 2024–2025.)
Earlier ACGME reports provide historical context but use older measurement periods. The 2018–2019 Data Resource Book reported 140,391 active residents and fellows and 32,603 residents entering the pipeline. The 2017–2018 book reported 135,326 active residents and fellows and 31,355 residents entering the pipeline. The 2016–2017 book reported 129,720 active residents and fellows and 29,826 residents entering the pipeline. These legacy figures describe their stated years and are not presented as current counts. (ACGME 2018–2019 Data Resource Book; ACGME 2017–2018 Data Resource Book; ACGME 2016–2017 Data Resource Book.)
The 2015–2016 ACGME Data Resource Book reported 9,977 accredited programs. Because the later supplied total of 13,762 applies to 2024–2025 and the categories and reporting frameworks may differ across editions, the two figures are shown as period-specific observations rather than as an independently calculated growth rate. (ACGME 2015–2016 Data Resource Book; ACGME Data Resource Book 2024–2025.)
Rural residency investment
HRSA’s 2025 Rural Residency Planning and Development program could award up to 15 grants. Each grant could be up to $750,000, and the awards span 3 years. The program targets five specialties, including general surgery. (HRSA Rural Residency Planning and Development Program.)
HRSA reported that its 2025 rural residency funding totaled $11.25 million. That total is presented as a funding figure for the program, while the grant description gives the maximum amount per award and the maximum number of awards. The figures therefore describe program capacity and funding scope, not the number of residents ultimately trained. (HRSA press release 2026; HRSA Rural Residency Planning and Development Program.)
The inclusion of general surgery among the five targeted specialties connects residency development with the rural workforce issue identified in HRSA’s supply and demand work. It does not establish that a particular grant created a specific number of positions or that a future shortage will be eliminated. (HRSA Rural Residency Planning and Development Program; HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce.)
Medicare global surgery measurement
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began requiring selected practitioners in nine states to report post-operative visits for global surgery data collection on July 1, 2017. Selected practitioners used a no-pay procedure code to report post-operative visits during the global period. (CMS Global Surgery Data Collection.)
The Medicare global surgery package uses either a 10-day or a 90-day global period. These periods define the bundled post-operative timeframe associated with the applicable procedure package; they are not measures of how long every patient takes to recover. (CMS Global Surgery Data Collection.)
Together, the CMS figures show how post-operative care can be measured within Medicare’s global surgery framework: selected practitioners, in nine states, reported visits during a defined 10-day or 90-day period beginning with the July 1, 2017 collection requirement. The reporting requirement and the global-period definitions are administrative measurement facts, not estimates of the number of general surgery procedures performed nationally. (CMS Global Surgery Data Collection.)