Internal medicine is one of the largest physician specialties in the United States. Recent figures from the AAMC, NRMP and ABIM describe its workforce, training pipeline, geographic retention and certification activity across distinct measurement years.
Contents
- Workforce size and national context
- Age, race and ethnicity
- Where physicians remain to practice
- Internal medicine residency and the Match
- Related medicine pathways
- General internal medicine certification
- Specialty certification comparison
Workforce size and national context
The AAMC’s 2021 physician specialty data counted 120,342 active internal medicine physicians, the largest specialty count reported in that specialty report. In 2024, the AAMC Key Findings again placed internal medicine among the three specialties with the largest numbers of active physicians. These figures describe different reporting years, so they should not be treated as a direct year-over-year series.
The broader physician workforce provides useful scale. In 2024, the United States had 1,032,365 active physicians, including 866,460 physicians in direct patient care. The AAMC reported an average of 304 active physicians per 100,000 population and 255 direct patient care physicians per 100,000 population in the same year.
The distinction between active physicians and direct patient care physicians is important when reading these totals. The first figure describes the full active workforce counted by the AAMC, whereas the second narrows the view to physicians classified as providing direct patient care. The two per-population rates follow the same distinction: 304 per 100,000 applies to active physicians overall, and 255 per 100,000 applies to direct patient care physicians. Neither rate is a substitute for an internal-medicine-specific rate, and neither identifies how physicians are distributed among hospitals, outpatient practices or other settings.
Those national rates describe the entire active physician workforce, not internal medicine alone. They are therefore context for interpreting the specialty’s size rather than an internal-medicine-specific physician-to-population ratio.
The AAMC also reported that 23.9% of active physicians were age 65 or older in 2024, while 16.9% were under age 40. Together, these figures show the age distribution included in the national workforce snapshot, although the supplied figures do not break those percentages out specifically for internal medicine.
Age, race and ethnicity
The AAMC’s 2025 Key Findings reported the following race and ethnicity categories for active physicians in 2024:
| Category | Share of active physicians |
|---|---|
| White | 56.1% |
| Asian | 19.8% |
| Hispanic or Latino, alone or in combination | 6.7% |
| Black or African American | 5.3% |
| Multiracial, non-Hispanic | 1.6% |
| Unknown race or ethnicity | 9.1% |
These percentages refer to all active physicians in the national 2024 workforce profile. They should not be read as an internal-medicine-only demographic breakdown. The categories also use the definitions supplied by the AAMC source, including the “alone or in combination” wording for Hispanic or Latino identity and the separate non-Hispanic designation for the Multiracial category.
The age and identity statistics are useful when considering the scale and composition of the physician workforce that supports adult primary care and subspecialty medicine. However, they do not measure patient outcomes, access, quality or the demographic composition of internal medicine practices.
Where physicians remain to practice
The AAMC reported that 67.5% of physicians who completed undergraduate medical education and ACGME training in the same state remained in that state to practice. The median state retention rate was 68.4%. This is a physician-training and practice-location measure, not a percentage of all physicians in the country.
Retention varied substantially by jurisdiction. Hawaii had the highest reported state retention rate at 87.8%. California retained 81.7% of physicians trained in-state, and Texas retained 80.7%. Washington, D.C. had the lowest reported rate at 17.6%.
| Jurisdiction or measure | Retention rate |
|---|---|
| National figure | 67.5% |
| Median state rate | 68.4% |
| Hawaii | 87.8% |
| California | 81.7% |
| Texas | 80.7% |
| Washington, D.C. | 17.6% |
The geography matters: a state retention rate describes physicians whose UME and ACGME training occurred in the same state. It does not estimate the share of internal medicine physicians who stay near family, remain in a particular community or continue practicing in the same health system.
Internal medicine residency and the Match
The AAMC residency report listed 10,379 first-year internal medicine residents and fellows. The source’s figure is a training count, while the NRMP’s 2024 Main Residency Match results describe positions offered and filled in a particular Match cycle. Because the measures come from different reports, they should be kept separate.
The residency and workforce numbers answer different questions. The 120,342 active internal medicine physicians reported for 2021 describe physicians already counted in the active specialty workforce. The 10,379 first-year residents and fellows in the AAMC residency report describe people at an earlier training stage. The 2024 NRMP results, meanwhile, describe available Match positions and the applicants who matched in a defined cycle. A reader can use all three perspectives to understand scale, but none of them alone measures the number of internal medicine clinicians available for a particular community.
In the 2024 Main Residency Match, categorical internal medicine offered 10,261 positions and filled 9,767. That left 494 positions unfilled. The same NRMP results recorded 3,835 matches for U.S. MD seniors and 1,827 matches for U.S. DO seniors in internal medicine, using the categorical and primary internal medicine grouping specified by the source.
The NRMP also recorded 1,123 matches for U.S.-citizen international medical graduates and 3,201 matches for non-U.S.-citizen international medical graduates in that categorical-and-primary grouping. The results listed 137 matches for U.S. MD graduates and 59 matches for U.S. DO graduates in the reported grouping. These categories are reported as separate Match-result counts and should not be combined without a defined denominator because the supplied data do not explain how every category relates to the others.
The AAMC reported that women represented 49.1% of all medical residents in 2024. It also reported that men made up a larger share of residents in internal medicine. The first percentage applies to all medical residents, while the internal medicine statement is a specialty-specific comparison without a supplied percentage.
Related medicine pathways
The 2024 NRMP results included several related pathways alongside categorical internal medicine. Medicine-primary offered 420 positions, filled 416 and left 4 unfilled. Medicine-preliminary offered 1,640 positions, filled 1,507 and left 133 unfilled.
Medicine-pediatrics offered 390 positions and filled all 390. Medicine-emergency medicine offered 31 positions and filled all 31. Medicine-dermatology offered 8 positions and filled all 8.
| 2024 NRMP pathway | Offered | Filled | Unfilled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicine-primary | 420 | 416 | 4 |
| Medicine-preliminary | 1,640 | 1,507 | 133 |
| Medicine-pediatrics | 390 | 390 | 0 |
| Medicine-emergency medicine | 31 | 31 | 0 |
| Medicine-dermatology | 8 | 8 | 0 |
These pathways are not interchangeable with categorical internal medicine. The labels identify different Match options, and the counts describe the 2024 cycle only. In particular, the medicine-preliminary and medicine-primary figures should not be presented as additional categorical internal medicine positions.
General internal medicine certification
ABIM certificates issued by year show the number of physicians certified in general internal medicine rising across the supplied 2021–2025 series. ABIM certified 8,855 physicians in general internal medicine in 2021, 9,466 in 2022 and 9,743 in 2023. The count reached 10,244 in 2024 and 10,383 in 2025.
| Certification year | General internal medicine certificates |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 8,855 |
| 2022 | 9,466 |
| 2023 | 9,743 |
| 2024 | 10,244 |
| 2025 | 10,383 |
These are annual certificate counts, not a count of all practicing internists. They may reflect certification activity in each year and should not be interpreted as the size of the active internal medicine workforce. The figures also come from a different measurement system than the AAMC active-physician counts and the NRMP Match counts.
Specialty certification comparison
ABIM also reported certificates issued in cardiovascular disease. The supplied annual counts were 988 in 2021, 1,035 in 2022 and 1,076 in 2023.
| Specialty and year | Certificates issued |
|---|---|
| General internal medicine, 2021 | 8,855 |
| Cardiovascular disease, 2021 | 988 |
| General internal medicine, 2022 | 9,466 |
| Cardiovascular disease, 2022 | 1,035 |
| General internal medicine, 2023 | 9,743 |
| Cardiovascular disease, 2023 | 1,076 |
The comparison places general internal medicine and cardiovascular disease certification activity in the same ABIM reporting framework for 2021 through 2023. It does not establish how many physicians moved between the fields, how many certificates remained current, or how certification counts translate into patient-care capacity. Those questions require measures that are not included in the reported figures.