By 2036, the U.S. is expected to be facing a shortage of 6,300 anesthesiologists nationwide, according to a white paper from Medicus Healthcare Solutions published in May.
The shortage is driven by both an exit of anesthesiologists from the industry due to retirement and burnout, as well as a lack of new anesthesia residents — creating a mismatch of providers and demand for anesthesia services.
While there are 178 anesthesiology residency programs and 1,695 anesthesiology residency positions available in the U.S., around 44% of medical students seeking residencies in anesthesiology did not match in 2024, according to the report.
Here are five other things to know about anesthesia residency programs in 2025:
1. Between 2019 and 2023, there was a 45% decline in anesthesia-based applicants to pain medicine fellowships, according to a study published in the January edition of Pain Practice.
2. Eight states do not have anesthesia residency programs, including Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
3. According to the American Medical Association, the 10 most-viewed anesthesia residency programs in 2025 were at:
- University of Alabama Medical Center (Tuscaloosa)
- University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine (Little Rock)
- University of Miami/Jackson Health System
- University of Florida (Gainesville)
- Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (Phoenix)
- University of Southern California/Los Angeles General Medical Center
- Yale-New Haven (Conn.) Medical Center
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston)
- Ascension St. John Hospital (Chicago)
4. In 2025, things have begun looking up for anesthesiology residency programs. The 2025 match saw 99% of anesthesiology residency positions filled, according to data from the National Resident Matching Program.
5. Still, many anesthesia professionals say that the specialty will need to open even more residency programs to accommodate the spike in demand for anesthesia-related services.
“We have too few anesthesiology residency training sites to develop well-trained anesthesiologists to safeguard patient care (in hospitals and outside at NORA sites),” Angie Edwards, MD, an anesthesiologist in Winston-Salem, N.C., told Becker’s. “This is what distinguishes anesthesiologists as physician scientists best suited to care for a wide variety of patients in unique patient-centric ways. Not every patient is the same. Individual patient care requires a highly skilled physician to draft a patient-centered, safe approach and ensure ideal outcomes. Quality of recovery is dependent upon the anesthesia plan put forth by anesthesiologist physicians. This cannot be achieved through an algorithmic approach, which is where most nursing programs begin. We need to expand the number of anesthesiology residencies and incentivize graduates of these programs to enter the workforce following residency.”