Congratulations to the class of 2026 – Match Day is here! Soon-to-be medical school graduates around the country simultaneously opened their envelopes today to reveal where they would spend their residency for the next several years. This year broke records as the largest Match Day in history.
Match Day is the culmination of Match Week, which began on Monday when students were notified whether (but not where) they had matched with a residency program. For those who did not initially match, the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance (SOAP) program also began Monday to help pair unmatched students with unfilled positions. Matching candidates with residency programs has been managed by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) for the past 74 years.
“Match Day represents an extraordinary moment for future physicians, and we are proud to see the Main Residency Match welcoming more positions and securing more training opportunities for applicants as they take the next step in their medical careers and begin practicing in communities across the nation,” said NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN, in a press release.
Record Number of Positions and Applicants for 2026
This year’s Main Match included 44,344 offered positions, the most in the program’s history, which is 2.6% more than last year’s total of 43,237. Of this year’s offered positions, 41,482, or 93.5%, were filled – a decrease of 0.8% compared to 40,764 positions filled, or 94.3%, in 2025.
Main Match Day Total Positions
The number of post-graduate year-1 (PGY-1) positions offered also set a record this year, with 41,126 available spots – an increase of 1,085, or 2.7% more than 2025. Of these positions, 38,354 were filled – another historical high – which is 687, or 1.8%, more than last year.
This year’s match also added 183 certified program tracks, bringing the total to 6,809.
The number of applicants who submitted certified rank order lists grew this year to an all-time high of 48,050, which is 842, or 1.8%, more than last year’s 47,208 applicants.
US MD seniors remain the largest applicant group with 20,934 applicants, which is an increase of 566, or 2.8%, more than last year. The match rate for US MD seniors is again 93.5%, which has held steady since 2024.
This year, the match rate for PGY-1 for US DO seniors was the highest ever at 93.2%, an increase of 0.6% from 2025. There were 8,503 active applicants, an increase of 111, or 1.3%, over last year.
US citizen international medical graduates (IMGs) made up 4,210 active applicants in 2026, a decrease of 377, or -8.2%, from 2025, and the PGY-1 match rate rose to 70%, the highest on record. Since 2022, the PGY-1 match rate for US IMGs has trended upward while the number of applicants has declined.
Non-US citizen IMGs accounted for 11,944 applicants, which is an increase of 479, or 4.2%, from 2025. The PGY-1 match rate for this group declined to 56.4%, the lowest level observed in 5 years. Changes in federal immigration policies have placed increased attention on visa sponsorship, and considering applicants based on sponsorship requirements may provide additional insight into this group of applicants, noted the NRMP press release. As such, in 2026, foreign-born IMGs requiring visa sponsorship had a PGY‑1 match rate of 54.4%, a 5-year low, compared with 67.9% for those not requiring sponsorship (US permanent residents), which is a 5‑year high.
Positions Added to Primary Care, Fill Rates Dip
The primary care specialties – which include family medicine, internal medicine, internal medicine-pediatrics, and pediatrics – continue to represent the largest share of positions in the Match. Primary care added 412 positions this year for an all-time high of 20,712 available positions. This category’s fill rate was 92.1%, which is a decrease of 1.4% compared to 2025’s fill rate of 93.5% for the combined specialties. This increase in the number of positions offered continues the recent upward trend toward adding new primary care physicians to the workforce.
Primary Care PGY-1 Positions Filled on Main Match Day
Family medicine added 134 positions this year, for a total of 5,491 positions offered. The fill rate decreased to 83.6% from 85.0% last year, leaving 899 positions unfilled. The NRMP noted that it will convene a panel to study student interest and recruitment methods for this specialty to support the growth and sustainability of the specialty.
Internal medicine added 280 positions, for a total of 11,632 positions offered. The 2026 fill rate was 95.2%, a 1.6 percentage‑point decrease from last year.
Internal medicine-pediatrics offered 404 positions, six more than in 2025, and achieved a 100% fill rate, which is a 0.8 percentage‑point increase from last year.
Pediatrics offered 3,185 positions this year, which is eight fewer than in 2025, and filled 3,006 positions, resulting in a 94.4% fill rate, a 0.9 percentage‑point decrease from last year.
Changes in Key Medical Specialty Matches for 2026
Emergency medicine offered 130 more positions this year, for a total of 3,198 positions. Applicants who matched with a position rose 1.8% this year, with a total of 3,058 matched applicants. However, the fill rate decreased by 2.3 percentage points compared to 2025, for a fill rate of 95.6%. Since the specialty saw declines in the 2022 and 2023 Main Residency Match years during the COVID‑19 pandemic, fill rates have been higher in subsequent match years.
Psychiatry added 30 programs and 128 available positions this year, offering a total of 2,516 positions with a fill rate of 97.4%. A total of 2,451 positions were filled, representing an increase of 71 filled positions compared with 2025; however, 65 positions remained unfilled, up from eight the prior year. Since 2021, match rates for US DO seniors and non‑US IMGs in psychiatry have shown a steady upward trend, while match rates for US MD seniors have varied over the same period.
Several specialties experienced changes in the number of MDs matched for this year. Of the top 10 specialties filled by MD students, neurology saw the largest increase of 8%, with 999 matches this year compared to 925 in 2025. Orthopedic surgery grew 3.7%, followed by anesthesiology (up 3.4% ), OBGYN (up 3.2%), and psychiatry (up 3%). The only decrease among the top 10 specialties filled by MD students was in pediatrics, which dipped 1.2% from 2,988 positions in 2025 to 2,951 filled this year.
Top 10 Specialties: Highest Number of Positions Filled by US MD Seniors and All Applicants
Fellowship Matching Service Oversaw Largest Match in 42-Year History
Matches for the NRMP’s specialties matching service, which matches advanced residency and fellowship positions, reached an all-time high for 2026. The program included 15,846 applicants who competed for 15,358 fellowship positions across 6,606 programs. This year’s match added 738 available positions compared to 2025, and 12,963 of this year’s 15,358 positions (84%) were filled. NRMP reported the top five subspecialties filled for MD and DO graduates (among subspecialties that offered at least 30 positions):
For MDs: Reproductive Endocrinology, Pediatric Surgery, Urogynecology & Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, Complex Family Planning, and Hand Surgery
For DOs: Spinal Cord Injury Medicine, Sports Medicine, Emergency Medical Services, Pain Medicine, and Clinical Ultrasound.