Rehabilitation specialty
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R): Salary, Residency & Career Guide
Recovery of mobility, function and participation after neurologic or musculoskeletal disease.
Typical Training
3+1 years
Clinical year plus three years of PM&R.
Attending Compensation
$376,234
Average Total Compensation
Employment outlook
Not isolated
Projected Job Growth
Relative Competitiveness Index
64 / 100
Competitive
Start in Medical School
M1 to M4 Preparation
Practical experience, projects and rotation planning.
See the Medical School RoadmapAttending Compensation and State Wages
U.S. Attending Compensation
$376,234
Average Total Compensation
BLS does not publish a separately matched state wage series for this specialty.
Resident Pay by Institution
Clinical year plus three years of PM&R..
2026–27 salaries, five published training-institution examples.
Selected institution
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
$77,049/ year
Pay varies by institution and postgraduate year.
Schedules and Work Setting
Schedule and Call
Inpatient spinal cord injury rounds and discharge planning differ from outpatient EMG or sports medicine procedure lists. Inpatient call may include new rehabilitation admissions and complex medical management.
Practice Settings
Inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient MSK clinics, sports practices and consultation services.
Procedures and Clinical Work
- EMG and nerve conduction studies with training
- Musculoskeletal ultrasound
- Spasticity management
- Rehabilitation planning
Fellowship Training
Fellowship Expectation Index
3 / 5
Fellowship Options
Common Fellowship Duration: 1–2 year(s) beyond residency. Sports medicine, pain and spinal cord injury medicine commonly add focused training.
General rehab and musculoskeletal medicine are available after PM&R residency, but pain, sports and specialized spinal cord injury roles often follow fellowships.
Direct Practice
Inpatient rehab, general outpatient MSK and rehabilitation medicine.
Specialized Practice
Pain interventions and board-recognized subspecialties typically involve focused fellowship eligibility.
Choosing a Path
Compare neurorehabilitation practice with outpatient injection-based practices before planning fellowship.
Potential Fellowship Pathways
- Pain medicine
- Sports medicine
- Brain injury medicine
- Spinal cord injury medicine
- Pediatric rehabilitation
Fellowship Careers From This Residency
Choose a subspecialty to see its training requirements, clinical work and preparation pathway.
Preparing in M1 Through M4
Spend time with a spinal cord injury inpatient and an outpatient sports medicine patient. Their goals, follow-up and procedures make PM&R unusually broad.
Research or QI
A stroke rehabilitation outcomes study, adaptive-device project or spasticity-management QI project gives a clear functional measure.
Common Mistake
Assuming every physiatrist runs a low-call outpatient pain clinic. Inpatient neurorehabilitation and procedural MSK practices have different schedules.
Preparation by Year
- 1Observe inpatient rehabilitation team rounds and a musculoskeletal or EMG clinic.
- 2Meet therapists and ask how the physiatrist coordinates shared functional goals.
Ask a resident this: What does a resident do on inpatient spinal cord injury versus outpatient EMG and pain days?
MD vs DO Match Outcomes
291 of 343 matched to their preferred specialty
194 of 266 matched to their preferred specialty
MD vs DO difference: 11.9 percentage points
Applicant Considerations
The 2024 DO PM&R cohort was sizable relative to several smaller surgical specialties. Osteopathic MSK training can be relevant, but clinical rehab exposure and appropriate rotations still determine preparation quality.
DO Application Strategy
Look for programs with structured DO mentoring, confirm USMLE/COMLEX policy and obtain an evaluation from a physiatrist familiar with both inpatient and outpatient PM&R.
Job Outlook
N/A
Projected Employment Growth
2025 to 2035, BLS occupational projection
No distinct employment forecast is published for this exact specialty.
AI and the Specialty
Potential Workflow Changes
Gait and movement analysis, documentation and rehab monitoring may be augmented; hands-on examination and shared goals remain important.
Sources & Data Notes
Reviewed . National attending compensation uses Doximity's 2026 specialty survey (2025 pay) where available, then verified specialty-specific Medscape, Marit or Salary.com estimates. Doximity, Medscape and Marit report total compensation; Salary.com models base salary. Survey averages, modeled salaries and BLS wage medians measure different populations and must not be interpreted as identical metrics. BLS May 2025 state wages are shown separately and exclude self-employed physicians. The ophthalmology BLS category excludes pediatric ophthalmologists. State figures may be missing, top-coded, or suppressed. Job outlook uses BLS 2025–2035 occupational projections; it is not a local vacancy forecast. Resident stipend examples reflect published institutional scales for 2026 to 2027, by postgraduate year, not specialty. Stanford includes housing in its reported base salary; other institutions handle allowances differently.
The Relative Competitiveness Index uses a fixed score of 25 plus 1.75 times the 2024 U.S. MD preferred-specialty unmatched percentage, rounded, then applies the same 1.225 multiplier to every specialty. Neurological Surgery is 98/100; the score is not the applicant's chance of matching. It is not a 2026 estimate or DO-specific score. The MD and DO percentages compare different unadjusted applicant cohorts who ranked that specialty first. They do not account for application strategy, program selection, scores, or geography. Ophthalmology and urology have separate specialty match processes; other pathways may lack suitable NRMP cohorts.
The 1–5 Fellowship Expectation Index is an editorial assessment of customary career paths, not a measured participation rate or requirement. For residency profiles, compact training labels put specialty years before the clinical base or preliminary year; e.g. 3+1 means three specialty years and one clinical base year, even though the clinical year comes first. Fellowship-defined careers are presented in the separate fellowship explorer. Schedules, procedural scope, preparation suggestions, and potential AI effects depend on the program and practice setting; they are qualitative descriptions, not guaranteed outcomes or forecasts of physician replacement.
For Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R): Doximity 2026, Average Total Compensation, reported under “Physical Medicine/Rehab.” The national estimate must not be treated as a state-specific compensation figure.
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R): Editorial estimate of how fellowship shapes a career path. No observed fellowship uptake percentage is implied. Specialty-specific roadmaps describe illustrative activities, not mandatory publication, shadowing-hour, rotation, or skill requirements. Common fellowship routes: Sports medicine, pain and spinal cord injury medicine commonly add focused training.